Hermione felt a strange sense of deja vu as she slogged through the snow with Harry. The only real difference she felt was that it was even deeper this time, which made their progress incredibly slow. She'd tried to cast several charms and spells to help them out, and that did the trick for a while, but soon recasting the same charm every 3 minutes became too strenuous to do.
Which meant they were back to soggy pants and wet socks, not to mention the impending danger of frostbite. Hermione had never before wanted to apparate more than she did right now, and she cursed the fact that Voldemort couldn't have made his stupid, stinking offer after they'd learned apparition. Or… in summertime.
But alas, their misery was close to being over, their destination visible just up ahead. The small town of Peebles slowly came into view, the houses almost entirely white from the heavy snow. She and Harry had been on many dangerous missions before in their lives. Hunting dark wizards, winning tournaments, repelling hordes of dementors, etcetera, but Hermione doubted she was ever worried as much as she was right now.
"Why do you look so pale? We're just robbing a Tesco." She heard Harry ask from beside her, his legs knee-deep in the thrice-damned snow. And when he put it like that, it did sound silly in comparison to all the other things they had done, but back then they had backup. People to fall back on. Now, they were entirely alone.
"A week and a half ago we merely got a place to sleep, and look how that turned out." She said with more bite than she'd intended, feeling bad almost immediately. "Sorry Harry, it's just… I worry." She felt him stumble over to her, taking hold of her gloved hand with his own.
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will go smoothly." Harry said giving her an understanding look, and as always, his earnest tone helped calm her racing thoughts. They would be fine, it was only a Tesco. Filled with people. People who could recog- No! Everything was going to go perfectly to plan.
When they were about to exit the forest, they took a slightly longer break, using that time for Hermione to cast a few charms on them both. When she was done, Harry was back to being blonde, and her hair now matched his. She really wanted to change their eye colour too, but she'd never tried that spell before and she didn't want to accidentally blind them.
They had a rather long argument about this trip in the morning, where she argued they should go under the cloak, and Harry argued that would make them too cumbersome and slow, and they would never make it back to their cabin before night set in. Eventually, Hermione was forced to admit he was right, but that didn't mean she was entirely comfortable with going into the open with only a few minor hair-colour-changing charms.
Luckily for them, however, the snow that had been their foe for the past week and a half, now made itself very useful. The streets of Peebles were completely deserted, not a single person or car in the immediate area, and the two of them used this benefit to quickly make their way to where the Tesco was located. As the sign became visible around the corner, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, her legs feeling like they were about to fall right off, and her face entirely numb from the biting cold.
But just as they were about to leave the snowy sidewalk and make their way towards the shop, the quickly approaching sound of an engine made them turn around. A second later, an orange snowplough came racing around the bend, and Hermione saw and felt Harry step in front of her, putting himself between her and the racing machine.
Hermione couldn't get her wand out in time to do anything, but somehow the plough driver managed to swerve at the last moment, missing them by about an inch. As the plough stopped a few dozen yards further down the road, Hermione realized she was holding her wand in her hand, quickly putting it back in the pocket of her jacket.
"Bloody hell. Okay, Hermione?" Harry asked from beside her, and she nodded shakily, shaking off some of the snow the plough threw their way as it passed. She next started brushing the snow off of Harry's jacket and head, when a loud voice interrupted her.
"Oh mah god, a'm sae sorry ye two." A panicked middle-aged man was approaching them, wearing a bright orange vest and beanie, a guilty expression on his face. Hermione knew she should stay quiet and not place any unnecessary attention on them, but they'd nearly been killed and the adrenalin was still coursing through her veins.
"What the hell were you thinking going down such a tight road at this speed!? You could have killed us!" She erupted, pointing a threatening finger towards the flustered driver.
"Really sorry lassy, bit ah didnt expect a' body outdoors in this weather." She could hardly understand the man through her anger and his heavy Scottish accent, but she was still about to fire back with a retort when a hand on her back stopped her.
"It's okay, we're fine. Just be a bit more careful next time, yeah?" Harry said calmly, at which the plough driver nodded emphatically. Hermione felt her heart rate returning to its normal state, and her outburst suddenly felt like a very childish act. Feeling embarrassed at breaking her own rules of not attracting any attention, she simply nodded to show the man she agreed with Harry.
"Of corse, sorry." The man said, before scratching at the stubble on his chin as he looked them over, "You aren't from here, are ya?" He asked, evidently trying to speak slightly more correct English, but Hermione felt her apprehension increase at that. Thankfully, Harry's voice remained incredibly composed as he answered.
"No, we're not. We're just visiting our grandparents."
"Huh. Tell me, hae we met afore, ye look mightily familiar." The man's eyes narrowed, and Hermione's heart stuttered in her chest, her panic deepening.
"No, I don't think so. We need to go, have a nice day." Harry remained stoic as he spoke, not a trace of nervousness in his voice as he wished the man a good day, the man saying the same in return. But Hermione had seen the brief flicker of recognition in the man's eyes, and she was certain they had been recognized.
"We should get under the cloak and get out of here." She whispered leaning into Harry, the pair still walking towards the Tesco just up ahead.
"Relax, I don't think he recognized us." Harry said in return, adding before she could argue, "Besides, we haven't eaten since yesterday evening. We need to get some food – and warm ourselves too when we're at it – or else getting captured will be the least of our worries." The fact that she was beyond cold hit her at about the same time as the hunger did, the adrenalin that was injected into her veins from their near hit now starting to slowly run out.
"Fine, but we grab what we need and then we immediately get out." She relented, the imminent need for warmth overpowering the sense that told her just how stupid and careless they were being. They entered the Tesco with their hands grasped together, and Hermione shivered as hot air washed over her.
She immediately pulled Harry further into the store, past a rather bored and disinterested-looking cashier, who didn't so much as look their way as they passed by him. Incredibly, or maybe predictably due to the awful weather, they seemed to be alone inside the store, the cashier excluded. As they reached the back wall of the store, where the food aisles were located, she released Harry's hand and immediately started to put cans of food into her backpack.
"My fingers feel half-frozen." Harry said from beside her, flexing his digits to try and get them warmed up. She could relate, the movement of her fingers and arms feeling sluggish and uncoordinated due to the cold, not to mention her feet, which felt frozen solid. And this was despite them both wearing gloves and boots, and she shuddered to think how many fingers they would have lost had they not robbed that store in West Linton.
"How are you intending to get our bulging backpacks past the cashier? We're out of money." Harry asked after a few minutes of them throwing all the food in sight into the backpacks, Hermione shrinking it so they had more space to play with.
"We'll use the cloak and sneak right past. By the time they realize we'd stolen half their food, we'll be long gone." She formulated her plan, regretting the fact that they hadn't walked in under the cloak too. The cold was really lowering her thinking capacity. When their backpacks were full despite the shrinking charms, they closed them and Hermione cast a lightweight charm on them to make them carriable.
"Come on, we need to go." She said to Harry, who nodded once and produced his cloak from the pocket in his jacket. But just as they both squeezed under the fabric, she heard the automatic door at the front of the store open.
"Ministry Aurors! Come out with your hands up!" Hermione felt her heart stop at the loud shout, sharing a panic-filled look with Harry before they both took out their wands. Still under the cloak, they began to slowly start making their way towards the front of the shop.
"Who the hell are you suppo-"
"Stupefy." The cashier's surprised voice was cut off by the yelled spell, followed immediately thereafter by the sound of his body hitting the floor. Hermione was beyond scared by now, holding herself together only thanks to Harry's steadfast presence beside her.
"We need to try and sneak past them." He said in a whisper, and she nodded to show him she agreed.
"Come out Potter, we know you two are in here." One of the Aurors said to the air, and Hermione felt her breath hitch.
"They had to have used the Homenum Revelio spell." She quickly whispered to Harry, that being the only explanation she saw where they could know they were in there.
"Come on, Pott-" The Auror was cut off by the sound of the door opening once again, several pairs of boots thumping and… clicking onto the scene.
"Well, here comes the rogue squadron." Hermione heard the same Auror say, only a single aisle now separating them from the exit, but also from the wizards.
"What's the situation?" A new voice said, and Hermione felt Harry flinch next to her, her breath catching in her throat.
"Remus." Harry whispered, his eyes wide as saucers as he met her gaze, the previous confidence now nowhere to be seen.
"Potter and his girlfriend are assuredly in here. We're trying to get him to come out peacefully." The Auror said sounding almost bored, and Hermione held her breath to hear how Remus would respond. Despite everything that had happened, she still silently hoped the Order was here to help them.
"Harry, Hermione, come out, please, I promise we mean you no harm." Remus said loudly, his tone almost bordering on pleading. She could see Harry was about to say something, but still unsure of their intentions, she quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. She was not going to trust Remus on blind faith alone. There was silence in the store for a few painfully long seconds, before a new, unknown voice spoke up.
"Do we start searching, or…?"
"Might as well. Kenneth, go right with Max. Me and Cleo have the left. Kingsley, you and your team guard the door so they don't slip out past us." The presumably four Aurors began moving towards them from either side of the aisle as soon as the yet unnamed Auror finished speaking, and Hermione nearly yelped as Harry placed a hand on her back, pressing her closer towards the aisle.
Seeing as their aisle was the first in the row, it took only a moment for the two pairs of Aurors to appear on either side, their wands pointed directly towards where they were huddled under the cloak in the middle of it.
"Revelio. Accio Invisibility cloak." She heard one of them say, and she gripped her wand tighter, preparing to fight back, but to her immense surprise the cloak remained completely still.
"Huh, that's weird, my Homenum says they are right in the middle of this aisle." One of the Aurors to their right commented, looking stumped.
"There's nowhere to hide, so… what can they be using?"
"No idea, but they are right here." The words from the Aurors disappeared into the background as soon as she felt Harry lean in towards her, whispering into her ear.
"We make a run for it on three." Not seeing any other option, she inclined her head slightly in agreeance, her heart beating like mad in her chest.
"3…"
"You two go forward, me and Cleo will cover."
"2…"
"Come on Potter, we know you're here. Stop playing games."
"1…"
"Stupefy."
"Stupefy."
"Now." Harry said in the last second, the two red spells striking the place where they had been standing moments before, sending products flying everywhere. Using the Auror's temporary confusion to their advantage, they quickly and quietly slipped past the closer pair, walking so close to them that Hermione felt the air current the Auror's arm produced as he shrugged to his colleagues.
"Huh." The Auror they'd just passed said, but they didn't stay around to listen, now hurrying as quietly as possible towards the exit. Remus, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley were positioned close to the door, the latter two restraining an incensed-looking Remus.
"Let me go, I won't let them capture him." She heard Remus hiss, trying to shake Kingsley's firm grip on his shoulder.
"We need to play this smartly Remus, we can't just start fighting the Aurors." Kingsley replied, but it was at that exact moment that disaster struck. Too busy staring at the Order members, Hermione failed to see the leg of the unconscious cashier poking from underneath his booth, and with a loud yelp she went tumbling forwards, pulling Harry with her. In the end phase of the fall the cloak came off of them, revealing their sprawled-out forms to the four wide-eyed Order members.
She could barely find her bearings and stuff the cloak into her pocket before she was dragged to her feet by Harry, his wand pointed directly towards the still petrified Order members. None of them pointed their wands at them even as they recovered from the shock, Remus' hands held out in a placating manner. But before their former DADA professor could speak, the Aurors zeroed in on them, their wands decidedly out and ready.
"Hands up! Surrender, now!" Said the leading Auror, but Hermione had no intention of complying, levelling her own wand towards them. They were now flanked on both sides, a wall to their back.
"You need to listen to them, please." She felt the hot and burning feeling of betrayal sting her insides at Remus' words, her last hopes disappearing in a ball of fire.
"You'll be taking Harry over my dead body!" She growled in return, the grip on her wand so tight she was afraid she'd break it.
"Please, you need to trust me on this." Remus continued, his eyes pleading with her to listen to him, but she wasn't that stupid.
"Ok, fun's over, let's finish this." Said the lead Auror, and both Hermione and Harry spun to face the bigger threat, the Order still wandless at the moment. The lead Auror's wand tip glowed bright red.
"Stup-"
"Surprise!" Everybody present spun to face the new voice, the spell dying on the Auror's lips. She could hear Harry gasp beside her, and she couldn't help but do the same as her eyes came upon the figures entering the store. Because there by the door was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange, flanked on either side by her Death Eater buddies.
The Order had now hastily extracted their wands, all pointed towards the newly arrived Death Eaters, while the Aurors had split their own, two wands pointed towards them and two towards the newly arrived dark wizards.
"Aw, how nice of you to capture Potter for us!" Bellatrix cackled manically, twirling her wand between her fingers, while her henchmen pointed their own towards them.
"We're not giving Harry to you. No chance." Remus said looking like he was barely restraining himself from firing off a curse, the rest of the Order members wearing similar expressions.
"Piss off wankers, we've got this under control." The lead Auror added snidely, but Bellatrix's expression didn't so much as twitch.
"Potter has been promised to the Dark Lord. Are you saying you won't hold onto your end of the deal?"
"The Minister of Magic himself has ordered us to capture Potter. And that is what we're going to do, what he does with him next isn't our concern." There was pure ice in the lead Auror's voice as he spoke, and this did wipe Bellatrix's smile from her face.
"Wrong answer." She said simply, the four Death Eaters entering combat stances. Hermione stepped closer into Harry at that, their sides touching and their wands at the ready. The tension in the store could be cut, and everybody seemed to just wait from where the first spell would be fired. Only for the automatic doors to open again.
"Linton police, hands up!" The wizards spun in shock, a dozen or so rifle-armed policemen storming into the shop, their sights on everybody present, fingers on the triggers. The policemen were followed by half a dozen ununiformed men, pistols held in their hands.
"MI5, you're all under arrest under terrorism charges." One of the men said, before himself spinning around in shock as a further dozen armed men entered, the newcomers looking surprised at the number of people in the small shop.
"Interpol, you're under arrest."
"What the fuck is happening." Said the Auror leader looking dumbfounded, the wizards having backed into one corner while the muggles stood opposite them, the four death eaters in the middle. And facing this U-shape of wands and guns, were Harry and Hermione.
"Focus on shielding, we're running as soon as the chaos starts." Harry whispered into her ear, and she replied with a barely audible 'ok'. She felt as if her knees were about to fold underneath her, her vision starting to grow black from how fast her heart was beating.
"I said hands up!" The leading MI5 guy shouted again towards the wizarding side, his own pistol pointed towards Harry.
"Drop the… sticks." Ordered one of the Interpol guys, his eyes not so much as flickering away from his rifle's sight.
"How about you gentlemen leave? Pretty please, I would hate to mar my dress with your blood." Bellatrix said with a giggle, half of the guns in the room moving to aim at her.
"Everybody calm down. Just… let's calm down." It was Remus who spoke up, his wand beginning to glow a dull silver, and Hermione knew exactly what this meant. He was about to cast a Confundus charm, probably trying to get the muggles to leave. But she knew they needed this chaos if they wanted to have any chance of escape.
So, taking a deep breath and mentally apologizing for all the destruction she was about to cause, Hermione pointed her wand at the floor just before the muggle line, firing off a non-verbal Bombarda. The spell streaked across the room and struck the floor, pelting the muggle police with pieces of rubble. A second later, pandemonium erupted.
The muggle firing line opened fire at once, and the wizards responded in kind. Hermione quickly cast a shield, Harry doing the same next to her, and they were just in time as bullets started peppering their defences. The room was filled with shouts of 'protego' and 'stupefy' from the wizarding side, while the muggles responded with gunpowder and lead.
"Come on!" She heard Harry shout to her over the chaos, grabbing her hand and pulling her along the wall towards the exit, their shield still being peppered with bullets. And while a Protego spell was more than enough to stop them, the sheer number of projectiles hitting their shield was putting a lot of strain on their magic, sweat already starting to pour down her forehead with the exertion of holding her shield.
Slowly but surely though, they made it to the exit, but the door was blocked by half a dozen muggles, shooting into the wizarding ranks at seemingly random. Hermione took a quick glance around herself, her heart clenching at the sight. The wizards were holding up well, no surprises there, with only one of the Aurors and one of the Death Eaters on the floor, the rest continuing to fight.
But the muggles were having a very bad day, nearly half of their number were out cold or worse. The 'or worse' part seemed to have been mainly coming from the Death Eater ranks, as while the Aurors and Order members seemed to be using nonlethal spells, the Death Eaters were firing off Avadas like it was Christmas.
"Keep your shield up, I'll clear us a path!" She squeezed Harry's hand to acknowledge his plan, putting all her focus on maintaining her shield. Seeing her do her part of the plan, Harry dropped his own, going on the offensive. He fired several stunners in quick succession, the Interpol members blocking the doorway going limp one by one.
"Come on!" She didn't waste any time, letting Harry drag her through the door and to freedom. As they got outside, she took one last look into the shop that was by now in a complete state of destruction.
The muggles were still holding several defensive positions, but their numbers had been cut by more than half, the four Order members and two of the Aurors facing off against them, Dolohov and one other Death Eater she didn't recognize seemingly helping them. Bellatrix though, was locked in what appeared to be an intense duel with Kenneth the Auror, both of them oblivious to the larger battle at hand. She had no time to see who came out on top, however, as Harry pulled her back towards the main street.
Feeling beyond exhausted, she dropped her shield, already thinking of a plan of escape. She knew they had to get out of here before the wizards finished with the muggles, but they were on foot and the snow would make any sort of a quick escape impossible.
"Stop!" She barely had time to react, before she felt Harry push her to the ground, a loud bang coming from somewhere behind her at the same time. She heard Harry's pain-filled grunt as she hit the snow, followed by a shouted 'Stupefy'. As she looked up from her now prone position on the snowy ground, she just about caught the policeman crumble, his rifle still smoking as he went down.
Her eyes slowly went to Harry, who was standing silent and still, his wand still pointed towards the unconscious muggle. And then her brain registered the red snow underneath him, and her panic transformed into full-blown terror.
"Harry!" She exclaimed whilst getting back to her feet, moving to stand in front of him and scanning his body. He'd been shot in the left leg, about two inches above and to the left of the knee, a copious amount of blood seeping from the wound. Her parents were doctors – the fact that they fixed teeth irrelevant – and as such Hermione had some basic first aid and human anatomy knowledge.
Taking a second to assess the injury in front of her, and judging by the amount of blood he was losing, she concluded the bullet had pierced his femoral artery. And that, Hermione knew, was very, very bad news. Harry was already going white in his face, and she knew there wasn't any time to lose.
Wasting absolutely no more time and heedless of her surroundings, she quickly discarded her jacket, before pulling off her hoodie. She ignored the freezing air that bit through her thin cotton shirt, instead grabbing her wand and pointing it towards the hoodie. The two Diffindos she cast were incredibly sloppy, but they did the job, cutting her hoodie into three long rectangular pieces.
"Hold on, Harry, hold on. I got you." She said in a shaky voice, her hands trembling like crazy as she rolled one of the pieces of cloth into a strip, tying the two ends together. She next reached up and pulled Harry's wand from his hand, sticking the wand into the loop before lifting his leg and pulling it to just above his wound.
She used the wand as leverage to tighten the loop tightly around his leg, hoping her improvised tourniquet would do enough to stop the bleeding for the time being. She had just finished tightening it, when Harry swayed dangerously above her, and she barely managed to catch him as he fell over.
"H-hold on, please. Y-you'll be okay." She spoke through the lump in her throat, sitting on the cold ground and holding him close to her chest with one arm, the other keeping pressure on the wound with the remaining cloth of her hoodie. Harry was pale as a ghost, his eyes unfocused as they stared at the sky somewhere past her head.
Straining her ears, Hermione could hear no more gunshots from the direction of the store, which meant the wizards had won the battle. That also meant that they were bound to be discovered any second, laying in the snow only a short distance from the entrance. She wracked her brain desperately for an idea, any idea, knowing the consequences of getting captured.
And then it hit her.
"Dobby!" She shouted with desperation in her voice, her free hand wrapping around Harry's terrifyingly cold one. A small pop later, and the little elf was standing right next to them, his eyes widening as he saw her holding a limp Harry in her bloody hands.
"What has happened to Harry Potter?!"
"Dobby, I need you to apparate us back to the cabin, ok?" She told the elf, who seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilation.
"Now, Dobby!" She half-shouted, spotting none other than Remus Lupin emerging from the store, his eyes immediately finding them in the snow. The werewolf's eyes widened as his brain seemed to register their positions and the blood, not to mention Hermione's wand that was now pointed his way.
"No, Hermione, don't-" She didn't hear the rest, as Dobby's small hand grabbed her leg, and then she was pulled in all directions, feeling like she was going to suffocate. The feeling lasted for barely a second, by which point she met the hard wooden ground, Harry landing in her lap a millisecond later.
They were safely back in the cabin, but Hermione knew the battle wasn't yet over. Harry's breathing was shallow and quick, the veins in his neck bulging out, his eyes glassy and lips blue. The tourniquet, in tandem with her holding pressure, had seemingly mostly stopped the bleeding, but Harry had lost a lot of blood.
"Miss Grangee must help Harry Potter sir!" Dobby said tugging at his ears, the little elf looking entirely overwhelmed. She pointed her wand towards Harry's wound and got to work, casting several healing spells in quick succession. She was sure she cast none of them perfectly, what with her shaking hands and the fact that the spells themselves were mostly meant to heal minor injuries, not something so catastrophic, but she was out of options.
She put everything she had into these healing spells, the exhaustion starting to overwhelm her. As she finished, the wound didn't look any better, but Harry's breathing calmed somewhat and his lips regained a hint of colour. He was still missing a lot of blood, but at least he now wasn't losing any more.
"H-how are you feeling?" She asked brushing his wild hair out of his face, leaning over him to meet his gaze.
"L-like I'd been shot." He said so feebly that had she not leaned so close she would have never heard him. She released something between a laugh and a sob at that, tears running down her cheeks.
"I-I stopped the bleeding. Y-you'll be fine. You'll be just fine. I promise." She said brushing his cheek tenderly with her relatively clean wand hand, the other covered almost entirely in his blood. Her shirt and jeans were like ways covered in his life essence, not that Harry's pants looked any better. The entire scene was like something out of a horror movie, but Hermione didn't much care. He was alive. She pulled him a bit closer to her body, wanting to warm him up, his hand that she was holding in her own still entirely too cold.
"M' jus gonna take a nap." He was out as soon as he finished the sentence, his head lolling backwards and tension leaving his shoulders. She knew it normally wasn't the smartest idea to let one sleep after losing so much blood, but what else could she do. Unwilling to try waking him back up, she cast a monitoring charm, which showed her his slow but steady heartbeat, and repositioned so that his head was on her lap, both still on the wooden floor.
"Is Master Harry going to be okay?" It was only as he spoke that Hermione realized Dobby was still there, and she gave him a comforting smile.
"Yeah, I… I think so." She said with a breathy exhale, before smiling fondly at the nervously shuffling elf, "Thank you Dobby, you saved our lives." The elf immediately reddened, looking almost as uncomfortable as Harry when given praise.
"Does Harry's Grangee need Dobby to do anything else?"
"Could you please put some wood in the stove and get a fire going? It's rather chilly." She asked, now dressed only in a thin shirt, her winter jacket somewhere in Peebles, and her hoodie in several pieces around them. Dobby nodded excitedly at her order, and not before long the fire was burning, slowly chasing the cold away. Hermione remained seated on the floor, Harry's head in her lap, running her fingers through his hair.
"Here, Miss looks cold." She snapped from her trance at Dobby's offer, the elf holding out one of the blankets. She thanked him and covered both herself and Harry, his hand already feeling warmer in hers.
Her thoughts next turned to just how close she'd come to losing him. Too close, that was for certain. And she couldn't help but blame herself. She should have made them turn around as soon as they were recognized by that idiot of a muggle, but she didn't. And then, just as they were about to safely escape underneath the cloak, she tripped. Not the first time she did that either, now that she thought about it.
She was here to protect her best friend, the one person in the world she cared most about, but an insidious voice in her head was telling her all she did was put him in danger. The analytical side of her brain refuted that statement hotly, but that little voice grew ever louder the longer she watched Harry's still deathly pale face.
She knew it was silly, but even after all this time, after 6 years of growth, she sometimes still felt like that little bossy girl that first entered Hogwarts. Terribly afraid of disappointing those she loved – who were still her parents at that point – and afraid that if she did fail, everybody would leave her. 6 years of experience behind her told her it was a silly notion, but in moments like this, she wondered for how long Harry would stand her if she kept messing up.
She resolved to do better. She would make Harry proud, and more importantly keep him safe, whatever it took. She would get that blasted Horcrux out of his head, and then she would help him kill Voldemort. Because Hermione Granger never failed when she set out to do something, and she had no intention of doing so now either.
Albus Dumbledore arrived to a scene of complete and utter chaos. He was still a bit tired from the ordeal of growing a new arm, so his apparition hadn't been as smooth and accurate as usual, but it did the job. Nothing could have prepared him for what met his eyes as he looked around though. The store he'd appeared next to was destroyed, several large chunks of the wall simply missing.
And the ground around him was full of people. Muggles, rather. Dead or unconscious muggles as far as he could see, their weapons still held in their hands. The sound of spell fire drew his attention to the side of the store, where Bellatrix Lestrange was engaged in a duel with a young Auror, who seemed to be just barely holding on.
Remus Lupin was standing a few yards away from him, staring at a large puddle of blood on the floor, while Nymphadora and Kingsley protected him from gunfire that was coming from the direction of the muggle police cars parked in the street. Another two Aurors were still in the store, duelling a pair of black-robed Death Eaters. He could see nobody else standing.
"Enough!" Using a quick Sonorous his voice carried across the scene, all of the aforementioned wizards and witches freezing simultaneously. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded, walking over to Kingsley and pointing his wand towards the muggle barricade. His knees wobbled as he cast the most powerful large area Confundus he could manage, and the gunfire ceased immediately. The Ministry obliviators would have to do the rest.
"We had Potter, but then the muggles showed up. He managed to escape in the chaos." Dumbledore nodded grimy at that, before looking at a distraught Remus, who was still staring at the blood splattered all over the snow.
"Okay, Remus?" He asked, his question finally causing Remus to look away from the grisly scene.
"T-this is Harry's blood. He'd been shot." Dumbledore's heart rate quickened at that, although he remained calm and impassive on the outside. It was a lot of blood.
"How did they escape?" He asked to try and distract himself from the very real possibility that Harry might not have made it.
"A house elf apparated them." Dumbledore sighed, knowing one particular little elf that was almost certainly the culprit. There wasn't much he could do for Harry though, and he trusted Miss Granger was going to do everything in her power to save him. There were certainly still things to do here though.
"Where's Alastor?" He asked next, looking around and not spotting the grizzled old Auror anywhere.
"Dead." It was Kingsley who answered, continuing in a morbid tone, "Got hit with a stray Avada that those bastards were throwing around all willy-nilly." The large wizard looked in disgust towards the Death Eaters, who were still facing off against the Aurors, although the active fight had seemingly turned into a cold war of glaring. Dumbledore sighed deeply, sadness at the loss of yet another old friend flowing through him. Alastor wasn't just a friend either, he was one of their best fighters, and his loss would diminish their already pitiful numbers.
Dumbledore, now well and truly angry, stomped off towards the intense face-off, several background pops telling him that the Ministry backup had arrived. As the obliviators and healers descended on the confused muggles, Dumbledore faced off against Bellatrix, the witch still wearing a large grin.
"We have a truce. What do you think you're doing?" His voice thundered, his scorn directed towards the Death Eaters as well as the Aurors. Bellatrix barely reacted, Dolohov glared at him, and the Aurors bowed their heads looking ashamed.
"They started it!" Said the lead Auror, Felix Cavendish, who Dumbledore remembered as a rather boisterous Gryffindor student.
"It was actually Potter's mudblood who started it. It's not my fault I accidentally hit your friend in the fray of battle." Bellatrix said sweetly, smirking as the Aurors looked ready to resume their fight.
"You'll pay for killing Cleo." Said Kenneth Sommerville, a recently graduated muggle-born Ravenclaw, who Dumbledore didn't remember ever even speaking to.
"Oh, and sorry for the cripple too Dumbledore, he got in the way." His blood boiled at Bellatrix's sugary tone, and had he not been tied to a vow he would have finished them all right here and now.
"Macnair's dead." Said a new voice, one belonging to Corban Yaxley, the Death Eater limping to stand next to his colleagues.
"Shame." Said Bellatrix with not a twitch in her expression, before smiling sweetly towards young Kenneth, "See you round, Kenny." And then the three dissaparated, and Dumbledore relaxed somewhat. He took another long look around the scene, watching with a frown as the healers worked on the many injured muggles, the obliviators running around like crazy. What a mess.
And yet despite Alastor's death, Dumbledore found his main source of concern laying with a young raven-haired wizard, whose blood stained the snow not 50 yards away from him. He really hoped Harry was okay.