Chapter Six: The Lighting-Struck Tower

Ron sat on the cot, numb to what just happened. Harry's words kept racing through his head, dripping further in like venom. They'd done something to him, that was the only explanation that made sense. Didn't Sirius say something about another school opening in London? But he'd also mentioned a parent, and it sounded like Crouch'd been sent to protect him … Ron's stomach turned over in knots. It had to all just be an awful dream.

Ron searched around the room again, his wand was sitting on a table with a bunch of other equipment. Ron tried to ignore the dried blood on several of the blades. The Death Eater left behind, Crabbe, paced back and forth in front of the door.

"Shoulda stayed in muggle services." He muttered to himself under his breath. "I weren't anywhere near the Riddle brat with that spell."

From out in the hall, the boom of spells seemed to get closer. The Death Eater took notice, he pointed his wand back at Ron. He opened the door a crack, peeking out into the corridor. A blast sent the Death Eater flying backwards into the opposite wall.

Ron'd never been so happy to see Sirius and Lupin in his entire life. Lupin immediately ran over to Ron. Sirius kept his eyes focused on the Death Eater.

"Releshio," he said, freeing Ron.

"Thanks," Ron's voice cracked. From the other end of the room, the Death Eater began to stir. Lupin checked to make sure the rest of the room was clear.

"Avada Kedavra," Sirius shouted, and with a flash of blinding green light the Death Eater stopped moving. Ron jumped, the light still flashing before his eyes. Lupin, stepped in between Ron and the body, shielding it from his view.

"Ron," he said gently. "We need to know where Harry went."

"I didn't—he was—is that man dead?" The question felt stupid, but deep down he didn't want it to be true. Sirius conjured a white cloth to cover up the body, he looked ashamed.

"He'd have done the same to us." Lupin helped pull Ron back up to his feet. "Ron—"

Ron pushed past Lupin. He grabbed his wand, still shaking, from the other side of the room. He didn't care what it was, he started grabbing different Death Eater weapons from the table and shoving them in his pocket. There were three little bombs that looked similar to a firework his dad bought, two gleaming red potions, and a second set of handcuffs.

"They must've done something to him," Ron said numbly. It was important to explain to them. "They make people do things when they don't want to …"

"We know that, Ron," Lupin said. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. Ron felt a lump forming again in his throat.

"He said the astronomy tower," Ron felt his vision start to cloud, he wished they'd both look away. "They're going to do something to James."

Before either Sirius or Lupin could stop him, Ron ran as fast as he could down the corridor. Like hell, he'd let them go alone. He could hear Sirius and Lupin following close behind.

James felt the building shake beneath his feet, he concentrated everything he had into the spell. Far beyond the school he could see wandlight gleaming in the forest, there were more of them waiting, only a small portion could make it through the holes in the barrier at once … James forced himself to keep going, they would be okay. Sirius would get the boys to safety, and then he could focus on evacuating the castle. From out of the corner of his eye, James saw a flicker of movement. No, he just needed to hold them off long enough—

"I've thought for a really long time about what I actually wanted to say to you."

There was a flash of silver, and James felt blood weep from a deep cut on his shoulder blade. He let go of the spell, staggering back into the building. Soft footsteps sounded from the beams overhead. The light from spells outside occasionally flashed upwards into the tower, like a thunderstorm. There—James spotted a figure watching him.

"Stupify," he groaned in pain. But the figure deflected the spell wordlessly, he dropped down to the astronomy tower floor, still pointing his wand back at James. He was much younger than James originally thought, it was like looking back at his own old school pictures ...

"I didn't even get to meet her, you know," Harry continued, seemingly talking more to himself than to James. "She barely lived long enough to name me, before your stupid old schoolmaster killed her. And where've you been all these years?" There was a flash of purple, and James felt like he'd been punched in the jaw by an iron fist. He crumpled to the floor. "Playing schoolyard with your old mates."

Another spell threw James across the room, he hit the stone pillar of the building before falling back to the floor. He ducked behind a couple of crates to dodge another spell.

"N-no," James's heart sank when he realized his wand was still on the other side of the room at Harry's feet. "I never gave up looking for you both. But what about everyone else here? Do they really deserve to die for something I did?"

"This is … bigger than I expected," Harry said, losing a flicker of confidence that'd been there a moment prior. "But that was the deal: I go in, cripple your protections, and then, only then do I get to kill you."

"They're lying to you," James could still salvage this, he just needed to get him to stop. "Everything they say at that school is a lie." From behind him he could hear Harry give a short laugh, cold and humorless.

"I wouldn't know," he said, almost jealous. "My tutors come to the house instead. The Dark Lord is many things, but forgiving is not one of them, not even to his own children … I had to beg for months to be allowed this moment, to do this one remaining thing ..."

"If you really wanted to kill me, you'd have done it already." James could feel his blood staining the box behind him. "You look just like her, you know, you have her eyes," he blurted out, and his son paused.

"James!" Sirius shouted from the bottom of the stairs, and James's heart sank. He'd been so close … His friends and son were going to rip each other to pieces for no reason. He heard footsteps running up the stairs and—

"NO—" James shot out from behind the crate. Spells shot from every corner in the room, ricocheting off the stone walls. Harry moved much faster than James would expect from a dueler his age.

Ron ducked behind Lupin as he shot a stunning spell towards Harry, who'd already started facing off against Sirius. From below Ron could shouting, Lupin'd sounded an alarm on their way to the tower.

"Get down!" Lupin yelled to Ron. He didn't need to hear it twice—Ron felt a spell graze the side of his face, razor sharp like barbed wire. Immediately, two thoughts crossed Ron's mind that were beyond reason or fear: that they were going to kill each other if he didn't stop them, and it was four on one. Ron launched himself into the middle of the duel, tackling Harry. Both of their wands clattered uselessly to the floor.

For a moment, Ron felt like he had the upper hand, before Harry shot his right leg over Ron's neck, pinning him to the floor. A demented look crossed his face, as Harry took out a sharp fang from his left bracer—

James grabbed his wrist, wrestling the fang out of Harry's grip as he dragged his son kicking and screaming off of Ron. From outside in the clocktower, the bell chimed once again, the gong echoing through the walls like the wail of a ghost. Ron pushed himself back to his feet, shaking uncontrollably. Sirius was holding his right arm, breathing heavily from the pain. Harry'd stopped fighting James, he'd gone pale as if he'd been stabbed too. Lupin looked unharmed, keeping his wand pointed directly at Harry.

"What have you done—" Harry spat at Ron, before the room descended into madness again. A small bulb, like the one Ron'd grabbed off the table landed directly at his feet, shooting a plume of white smoke directly into Ron's face.

Ron's eyes and mouth burned breathing in the smoke, around him he could see more spells shooting in from the window. James yelled in pain as a figure darted through the smoke, apparently unharmed.

"Now see that's just unfair," a lofty voice spoke from outside, a gentle breeze broke through the open astronomy tower balconies pushing the smoke back out. Perched on the railing was Crouch again, several more Death Eaters were in the room. Crouch did the faintest of double takes as he saw Ron, but if he cared it didn't show. Their masks must've protected them from the gas, Ron thought, as he noticed Harry lower one away from his face again. He'd broken away from James, and was standing next to Crouch by the end of the tower.

"I can still—"

"No," Crouch said, pushing himself off the balcony railing and into the room. He picked up the basilisk fang and Harry's wand from the floor. From down below, Ron could hear more footsteps approaching the astronomy tower, he didn't know if they were members of the Order or not.

"But Barty—"

"Shut your mouth, Harry," Crouch hissed in warning, "I didn't come all the way from the ministry just to get killed because of you."

"Just when I thought you couldn't get any worse, Crouch," Sirius's voice seethed with rage. "You're a mass murder and a bureaucrat."

"Amusing," Crouch said, shooting a fiery red spell towards the stairwell, as Neville, Frank, and several other members of the Order.

"Avada—" Frank began to perform a deadly curse. There was a flicker of white as Crouch threw something with deadly accuracy. Only the fang didn't hit Frank, instead Ron heard a dull thud as Neville fell to the ground. He gasped for air, yellow venom trickling into his blood steam. Immediately Sirius and Lupin resumed their attack, James stood frozen in horror.

Crouch deflected their spells, remorsely watching as Frank tried to save his dying child.

"Morsmordre," he said, shooting a spell into the air, above the astronomy tower the stars exploded into a constellation figure that Ron'd only seen once before. The dark mark loomed dangerously overhead, and far in the distance Ron could see several people retreating from the castle. Harry stood, blankly staring at Neville as he stopped moving.

"But didn't you know?" Crouch said, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Your children are the way to the future." James shot a stunning spell towards Crouch, but it was too late. The two dissapperated with a faint snap, as did the remaining Death Eaters in the tower. Far in the distance in the forest, Ron saw a second dark mark snake its way into the sky.