CHAPTER 103: The Only One He'll Ever Fear (Part 2)

Room of Requirement

12:45 a.m.

It had been just under an hour since Harry had walked out of the Room of Requirement and Daphne had never felt so anxious.

Harry had been supposed to go and come back rather quickly, it had put her on edge since the beginning. And she wasn't the only one. As soon as the doors had closed behind Harry, Pansy had immediately dropped onto a chair that had formed right behind her. She went quiet, almost unnaturally so, it was hard to tell if she was even breathing. Like a coil about to spring. Like a predator carefully waiting to pounce on its oblivious prey. She didn't say anything even as Draco awkwardly tried to start a conversation with her. Not even Theo - who looked lighter than he had in months, that nagging chip plainly removed from his shoulder - could get her attention.

Daphne couldn't help but be reminded of the girl she had known before fifth year. Pansy and Harry had been the outcasts of the group. Two loners who avoided each other just as fiercely as they avoided the rest of them - unwilling to speak to them unless the situation demanded it. After Halloween both of them had changed, covering up a murder had a way of unwillingly bringing people together, even if it was just for self-preservation. It was almost unnerving to be reminded how calculating, how utterly detached the girl could be during those moments of pensive silence.

Time passed, and the boys began to join them in their worry. Draco had begun rambling, pacing all over the room as he listed off potential reasons why Harry hadn't returned. It was keeping him sane, but it was discouraging Theo as the boy began looking towards his watch over and over again. As for Blaise, the boy had kept to himself, his hands shaking, occasionally touching at his neck where the small, still open wound Montague had sliced open was.

Daphne was hit with a heavy sense of déjà vu, transported back to a night not dissimilar to this one.

"He's not coming," Theo eventually told them. He looked at Pansy pleadingly, but the girl didn't even turn to look at him. He was growing more anxious, Daphne could almost see all the conclusions fall into place just behind his eyes. She had begun to wonder the same a few minutes back, not daring to believe it just yet. But if anyone knew Harry, it was Theo, and her heart was suddenly lifted at the possibilities.

"He probably got held off by Scrimgeour," Draco suggested, but it was clearly the wrong thing to say.

"Bastard was either arrested or he went to the Ministry. Either way, he's not coming."

There was something here, a stomach-churning feeling Daphne desperately latched onto. Her mind was racing, eyes turning to everyone inside the room as she wished for time to slow down. It was the answer, right in front of her, so close she could almost grasp it. But it still eluded her.

Theo and Draco began rowing, trying to fill the tense silence that had filled the room, to find something to focus on beyond their own unease. Daphne quickly tuned them out, Elijah's words from earlier in the night dancing around her head. Still teasing her. Controlling her. Elijah Montague was still only an inch away from death, trapped inside the black, floating cube in front of her, but Daphne could almost feel him breathing down her neck. And even the added time she'd gained from Harry's disappearance wasn't enough to placate the demons lurking in her mind.

It wouldn't matter. Not if she didn't find a way to fix this.

"Bickering about this won't change anything," she finally snapped, glaring at the two boys

"Then what do you suggest?" Draco prodded, and Daphne turned away.

There were many things she could suggest, Harry had made it painfully easy the moment he turned Elijah's plans back against him. But none of them helped her. She was lucky nobody had suggested any of them. Even Pansy seemed lost, relentlessly trying to find a way out of zugzwang as time continued to trickle down. Suddenly she looked up at Daphne, staring so deeply into her eyes that it felt impossible to break the connection. Daphne's heart was caught in her throat, her entire body instantly went rigid. But then she blinked, and it was gone. Pansy Parkinson was lost again in her silent world while Theo and Draco kept looking at Daphne expectantly.

"We need to get a teacher," she eventually said. A poor option, but the only one she had right now.

"A teacher?" Theo echoed.

"Are you mental?" Draco shouted.

"It worked last time, didn't it?" Daphne retorted.

"This isn't like last time," Theo snapped back.

"No, you're right. It's worse. At least last time, the six of us were together. Harry's either locked up or dead, and neither of does things suit us."

"Don't say that," Pansy voiced coldly.

"You heard what they said - Elijah's goons," Daphne continued. "Harry went to stop the other Death Eaters. It's highly likely one of the other teachers saw him. If we can get them on our side, convince them that Harry was genuinely trying to help, we might be able to go to sleep knowing what happened to him."

"We promised Harry we would stay here to guard Montague," Draco said.

"And Harry promised us he wasn't going to do anything stupid," Theo rebuked acidly. "Things change."

"I'm not too eager to bet my life on Harry accepting tha-."

"Oh, my God, shut up!" Blaise suddenly snarled from the corner, silencing Draco. "We're not doing this shit again. What Harry wants doesn't matter if it's going to fuck us all over again."

A silence filled the room, but it wasn't long before Pansy broke it. "We can't stay here for much longer. The teachers will start looking for us eventually. Whatever we choose to do, we have to do it now."

"Can't we just leave him here?" Theo asked. "We're the only ones who can enter this room."

"We can't," Pansy said grudgingly. "If we leave, Montague dies."

"And then we're left with another corpse on our hands," Blaise added.

"We could drop him with the other corpses and say one of the Death Eaters killed him," Draco suggested.

"The Aurors would see right through it," Pansy said.

"Not if they're too busy with whatever… well… you know," Draco shrugged slightly, the action oddly reminiscent of a nervous firstie in a way that he had never carried himself.

"We don't all need to go for a teacher," Daphne spoke up. "There's five of us. We could split up, and have some of us track down a teacher while others stay here to guard Montague. Maybe we could even look around the castle for Harry."

"Yeah, because I'm sure he'll get lost on his way up here," Blaise said sardonically.

"I'm just brainstorming here, okay?" She snapped. Her words, for once, were genuine.

Pansy didn't look too convinced. "Theo, seek out one of the teachers. Try to find what actually happened," she eventually said. "If Harry did actually help then maybe Daphne's right, and they'll help us find Harry."

Theo hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"No," she said. "But it's not like we don't have much of a choice."

Nodding stiffly, Theo looked around the room at the four Slytherins before taking his leave. His eyes landed on Blaise, analysing the boy even after Pansy lifted her eyebrow in disapproval. The two of them kept staring at each other, interacting through vague motions and glances that Daphne couldn't focus on. She was falling, suspended mid-air with the ground only a few feet away. The only thing stalling her fall was the fact that somehow, they were buying into whatever she had been spewing.

"Come on," Theo finally said, beckoning Blaise over. "You need to get to the infirmary."

"Theo-"

"Not now," his tone was firm enough to silence Pansy. "Come on, Blaise."

After a few more moments of silent communication between the two of them, Blaise relented and followed Theo out of the Room of Requirement. Pansy glared at their backs as they left, and Daphne was surprised Pansy hadn't tried harder to keep Blaise here. Eventually, she turned back towards the two of them. "We need to secure the Montague's other goons."

"What other goons?" Draco asked.

"The ones we left alive," Pansy rolled her eyes. "We can't have them talking to the Aurors. Or worse…"

"Our parents," Daphne finished for her, nearly smiling as the pieces finally fell fully into place.

Draco suddenly paled at the notion.

"Precisely," Pansy nodded tersely.

"Are you… will we…" Draco looked sick, and Daphne couldn't blame him. That was exactly how she was feeling. It was different seeing Harry do it. As gruesome and revolting as it was, there was always that frail, delicate veil in their minds that separated them from him. It didn't matter that she had wanted Harry to kill Graham. It didn't matter that she helped cover it up. She hadn't been the one to drag that knife through his face, so she hadn't been guilty of anything.

She wouldn't have Harry protecting her from that anymore.

"No," Pansy shook her head. "Not yet, anyway. But we need to keep them hidden. Away from the Aurors or anyone else they can talk to."

"Alright," Draco nodded shakily.

Pansy studied her carefully, and Daphne had a sinking feeling that she was beginning to show how antsy she was getting. "Can I trust you to make sure Montague doesn't escape," she asked.

"Do you even have to ask?" Daphne asked coldly.

"Yes."

Not trusting her voice, Daphne nodded.

Draco eyed her slightly wearily, his mind most likely reliving their previous conversation with Elijah. He looked like he wanted to say something. Worse. He almost looked like he wanted to stay. But Pansy quickly shut it down, ordering him around and all but dragging him out of the Room of Requirement with her. Still, even after that Daphne remained rooted to the spot. She didn't move a muscle, she even stopped breathing altogether. The seconds passed, but it took a whole minute before Daphne finally let out a shaky breath as she realised this hadn't been a setup.

It had all felt too easy. She hadn't even been forced to lie. It sent shivers down her spine, and Daphne tried to focus on that rather than the task in front of her. But even she couldn't allow herself to indulge in it for longer. There wasn't time to waste… even if she didn't really need a lot of it.

Her feet started moving on their own, slowly walking ahead as the towering marble cube slowly split apart, revealing a bloody, wheezing Elijah Montague. The sight of all the deep cuts Harry had carved across his body was ghastly, but it was the stench of blood that made bile rise up her throat as she stood before him. Gone was the tall and proud Elijah Montague, this man was delirious, rambling in mutterings as he clung to the barest hint of life he had left. Killing him was a mercy, she was sure of that now. And yet, it didn't make it feel any easier.

Before she could stop herself, Daphne reached out and pulled his chin up, cringing at the gory feel of the open wounds beneath her palm. His eyes were hazy, looking around aimlessly before they landed on hers. "You…" he whispered, a snarl growing on his face.

"Me," her voice was cold and confident, and everything she wasn't feeling like at the moment.

"You… you betrayed us!" He spat - blood and saliva drooling down his lips as he spoke. "You… betrayed him. What… what do you think he'll do… once he… once he finds out?"

Daphne let go of him, watching as his head immediately dropped without her support. She could feel her entire body vibrating, her heart was beginning to pound so hard she could almost hear it herself. She looked at her trembling hand, and in the blink of an eye, a small knife with a long grip appeared in her palm. It felt almost weightless, but not for a moment did she doubt the sharpness of the blade.

She pushed past her hesitancy and raised it to his neck, trailing it up his skin as she forced him to look up at her.

"You… you don't have the balls," he let out a mixture of a grunt and a laugh as his entire body shook.

"You used to think you were so… smart, didn't you?" She whispered, moving the knife from left to right as she began leaving tiny cuts on his neck. "So much better than us. Your brother thought so too."

"I'm not… my brother."

"No," she agreed. "You're more pathetic. Graham made me terrified of him all on his own. You had to run to Mister Snyde before you even dared to touch me."

"And you… you had to run to Potter."

"I did," she nodded solemnly. "And even after it all… I let myself be tormented by another Montague once more." Her hand moved faster than she could have thought, impaling Elijah straight through his throat with the lean blade. Blood began trickling down onto it, dripping down to the ground as Elijah's eyes widened. Daphne quickly pulled it out and let go of it before a single drop of blood could get near her. The knife disappeared before it hit the ground as blood kept pouring down Elijah's throat.

"Never again."

Department of Mysteries

12:45 a.m.

Alarms blared all around Sirius, the torches lighting up the stone chamber extinguished long before he had arrived. Blood trailed down his ears, his heart pounding inside him as he was being forced back by the combined assault of the two snatchers in front of him. And the only conscious thought currently in his mind was cursing Harry Potter.

The bastard had abandoned them from the moment they got here, and whatever this place was, it wasn't something either he or Remus learned much about before he was thrust into the darkened room with two robed figures who immediately spotted him, freaked out, and hurled curses at him. The multicoloured bolts flying all over the room were the only thing allowing Sirius to grasp his surroundings before his eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of illumination in the chamber.

Sirius continued retreating, nearly tripping backward in a mishap that caused him to put up his shield a second too late as his shoulder was graced by a blue curse. Years without practice had made him rusty, and Potter taking his wand from him and depriving him of magic only served to make it worse. But the men in front of him weren't Death Eaters, not in the way that Bellatrix and the others were.

They were thugs. Lowlifes or hired muscle. He could still deal with those.

But as much as he tried, he was barely allowed enough respite to continue shielding and dodging. Using their sheer force, the two of them were determined to continue pressing until he was dead. And as Sirius began parrying their spells, they began colliding all over the chamber. The stone gargoyles near the ceiling were shattered, the walls and floor singed or blasted apart.

Remus' eyes shone, marvelling at the vast space around him. Planets, stars, and galaxies surrounded him as he floated in the void of space. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, it felt so real. If it wasn't for the fact that the air hadn't been pulled out of him or that his lungs hadn't immediately ruptured, Remus Lupin would have been sure he had apparated straight into space.

It took a few minutes, but Remus managed to learn how to manouver around the place. Moving, almost flying across this fabricated replica of outer space. It quickly became apparent just how large he actually was, or how small everything else was. Planets like Jupiter - which surprisingly had their own pull of gravity - could be easily traversed in a matter of minutes. Other incongruences were soon to present themselves as well, those being just how fast he could move around the entire solar system and how insignificant the distance between planets was compared to the real thing. Even the asteroid field he crossed was a contradictory mess, with the field itself being rather small while the asteroids themselves were unexpectedly large.

And yet, if not for the pressing situation, Remus could have spent hours losing himself inside this unimaginable wonder.

His eyes wandered through the constellations that surrounded them, losing himself in the very much alive space beyond as bright shooting stars lit up the blue and black setting and variegated nebulae glittered and pulsated around him. It was a truly incomparable sight.

Too engrossed, he barely heard the vicious scream behind him before his entire back exploded in pain. He was launched through space, the burning sensation under his shoulder getting more and more painful - as if something was eating through his skin and muscles, a living parasite desperate to burn his entire back as fast as it could.

Remus fumbled for his wand, rolling in the vastness of space, before he grabbed it and managed to place a shield in front of him that absorbed two violet curses. Aiming as best as he could, Remus began treating the spreading curse, managing to stop it after a couple of moments. But before he could even start thinking of healing him, two cloaked figures flew towards him.

One had a nondescript Death Eater mask while the other one had been decorated with bows and knives and a dead deer all across the mask.

It was then that Remus actually felt his breath being robbed from him.

"Remus Lupin!" A childish voice cackled, hurling two killing curses. Remus contorted his body, barely managing to avoid both curses as he flew backward, away from the form of Bellatrix Lestrange. "How's my dear cousin?"

Sirius felt as his back suddenly hit a wall, cool and oddly shaking, there was nowhere left to go. He could hear faint sounds behind him, menacing gurgles and frantic scratches. There was something behind him. It instantly put him on edge. One of the snatchers shouted something. Sirius parried one of the curses to a small wall right beside him. There was a loud screech, a bright light in front of him, and, acting purely on instinct, Sirius rolled away right as a forceful bang erupted behind him.

There was a gasp from the snatchers a few feet in front of him. A cry of true horror. Sirius turned, spotting a hulking beast behind the busted glass cage. Seven feet tall, red eyes, its bones twisted, enlarged, and dry blood all over its mouth. It gave a guttural, inhumane growl before it leaped up towards him.

Sirius froze, the large creature reaching the apex of its jump before he managed to react. Throwing himself on the ground, teeth gritting as his back crashed onto the cold, hard stone beneath him, Sirius raised his wand and flung the beast forward mere moments before it landed on him.

He quickly turned on the ground, watching with grim satisfaction as the large creature landed on top of one of the snatchers, biting into his throat as the other snatcher cried: "Incendio!" A scorching blaze burst from his wand, instantly lighting both on fire and causing the pair to throw themselves onto the ground, desperately trying to avoid the relentless flames.

Sirius took his chance, pushing himself up on one knee and training his wand on the other snatcher. But before he could cast the spell he was yanked out from his sights, as if an invisible force had come in and claimed him for his own. The burning corpses subsequently disappeared, replaced by another tall figure in dark robes holding a red-headed boy by the scruff of his shirt.

Remus had never been a terrific dueller, not in the innate way that James and Sirius had been. Even back during the First Wizarding War most of his efforts rarely saw battle, with Dumbledore having him attempt to sway more werewolves to their side as Greyback re-entered the country and began to convert most of the werewolves to his side, killing those who defied him. In the very few confrontations he'd had, it was the endless hours of studying and mastering various advanced spells and curses that kept him alive far more than any proficiency he had for duelling.

None of them would save him now as he faced Bellatrix and Rodolphous Lestrange. Rodolphous was nothing more than a distraction, an above-average snatcher who relished on killing his victims slowly with the arsenal of dark curses he favoured. It was Bellatrix who would end up killing him. Fast and vicious, despite her superficial madness there was almost a cold and methodical approach to how she beat her opponents. On the outside, she was laughing wildly, but every move she made, however small, was fully intentional and carefully thought out.

Her barrage of curses had caught him a few more times, breaking one of his toes and hitting him with a torture charm that began pulling his teeth apart - managing to actually tear one out of his mouth before he protected himself with a shield charm and used the counter-curse on himself. But as soon as she noticed his affinity for shields, she began to abuse the three Unforgivable Curses, intermingling them with her other spells at any given time and forcing him to fly and dodge as best as he could rather than try to defend himself.

He was forced to use his surroundings just to cling to life. He distracted Rodolphous by enchanting various moons from the planets nearby and launching them toward the man while he focused on Bellatrix.

"What's the matter, Werewolf?" Bellatrix mocked, launching three green curses and a light blue one. He immediately flew backwards, twirling his body to avoid the green curses before blocking the blue one launching a blasting curse and an incarcerous spell back to back. But Bellatrix had been expecting it, batting away the first curse before allowing herself to be hit by the incarcerous charm, only to slash through the ropes and then launch them at him.

They flew around his neck, immediately tightening as they did their very best to crush his larynx through their sheer force. And at that moment he knew he was dead. Remus fought helplessly against the rope, one final futile attempt that Bellatrix shut down by cursing him with various cutting charms that severed his face and torso. He should have been dead, would have been had Bellatrix not been in a playful mood.

Bellatrix kept cursing him, but Remus focused on overpowering her spell on the ropes, managing to pry himself off their hold and fly away. He was bleeding all over, his body refusing to cooperate, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw Rodolphous blast the last couple of moons into pieces before his eyes settled on Remus. Using whatever strength he had left, he aimed his wand towards Neptune and flung it across the cosmos, straight towards the two Death Eaters as he quickly began flying away.

Bellatrix only laughed, relishing the chase.

A grin escaped Harry as he finally managed to control his travels within the Department of Mysteries, managing to move from room to room as his eyes were already scouting for the rest of the Gryffindors. Only three more left. Four if he counted Hermione. Five if he happened upon Longbottom again. A part of him really hoped he could bring himself to leave the moron to rot in here.

He teleported through the Department of Mysteries, going from empty room to empty room as fast as he could. He barely paid attention to his surroundings, completely overcome with his mission, it wasn't until he stumbled upon a room with a Death Eater that he finally took action. Pulling out his knife, he jumped on him, stabbing the man in the back before forcing the both of them down onto the ground. Before either of them touched the ground he moved to the next room, surprised when he felt the man teleport with him.

Harry used the Death Eater to cushion his fall, pulling the knife from the man's back as he stood up. Kicking the groaning body on the floor, he quickly looked around the small, triangular library he was in before he moved away.

He carried on like that for a while, coming across more vacant he quickly dismissed. The only other time he loitered was when he appeared in a large church-like room with thirteen orbs floating above their respective pedestals as he noticed two robed figures standing there, awkwardly and without purpose, barely talking. He quickly went on the offensive, relying on his ability to move through the Department of Mysteries as he appeared and disappeared inside the room, slashing at them with his knife before quickly continuing with his pursuit.

Harry didn't know if his efforts were fatal, he actually doubted it. But if he got most of the Death Eaters to focus on their own wounds rather than the Weasleys, it would make his job much easier.

It was when he appeared in a large, round chamber that he finally found what he was looking for. The place was littered with burning corpses, alarms were squealing, and three large, human-like beasts attacking lurching towards two figures - their desperate attempts only warded off bursts of flames Sirius Black was casting.

Moving into action quickly, Harry began shifting the room around him. The floor pulled him as he stood on his two feet, the stone tiles coming to life, moving and adjusting before his eyes as Harry advanced onto the creatures as he teleported around the place. Using what he knew, he finally pulled out his wand and cast the fire-making spell. The burst of flames coming from Scrimgeour's secretary's wand was weak, barely having a chance to form before it crumpled upon its lack of power. But the short distance made up for that, managing to burn the backside of one of the creatures and gain the attention of the other ones.

As the two launched themselves at him, Aurora appeared behind him and helped him as her wings flared up and sprouts of fire rained from above. They howled, jumping from side to side as they tried to avoid the pouring inferno, only for Sirius to rush forward, Ronald Weasley dropping to his knees as soon as Sirius left him.

Letting Black risk his own life, Harry rushed towards Weasley and knelt beside him. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, but he was in a much better condition than his brother. The boy looked up at him, confusion written all over his face before Aurora swooped in from above and the two of them disappeared in a blinding flash.

The chamber suddenly went quiet and Black snarled coldly behind him. "What was that?"

"You're welcome," Harry said coldly.

He felt someone tug at his shoulder and Harry saw red. He quickly grabbed onto the hand and pulled Black forward, sending them both toppling to the ground as Harry shifted the two of them to another room. They appeared in one of the small rooms Harry had seen earlier, a small potions station not unlike Snape's office, with a dozen cauldrons filled with various potions simmering on their respective tables.

Elbowing Black on the ribs, Harry removed himself from the man's hold. He hurriedly stood up and kicked him in the face, the blow sending Sirius reeling back slightly and Harry saw his chance, stepping on one of the man's hands as he glared down at him.

"Final warning, Black. Don't fuck with me."

"Or what?"

Harry didn't answer. Killing him wouldn't serve him besides the momentary satisfaction. Instead, he reached down, grabbing him by the robes before teleporting from room to room, dropping Black on the first one with a Death Eater in it.

Sirius's elbows hit the ground painfully, the rough floor cutting at the skin. Heart pounding with rage, he quickly lifted himself up and studied his surroundings. The bastard had dropped him off in a long hallway, yet another cloaked figure standing in the centre, studying one of the people chained to a chair. It was a woman, but her entire body was wrong. Her face told him she was well over a hundred, but one of her arms was so small he had almost missed it while the other was that of a regular adult. One of her legs was wrinkly and shaking while the other one was strong and muscled.

They were all like that. The dozens of people around them. Each with a different configuration of body parts taken from different points in their lives.

The figure turned to him and Sirius immediately raised his wand at it. He quickly recognised the man, the markings of an eagle and a lightning bolt in his mask telling him everything he needed to know.

"Malfoy," he growled.

"Black," the man said, in that irritating, almost amiable tone of his. He scanned Sirius, looking him up and down and Sirius could almost see the smirk behind the mask. "Azkaban did you wonders, I see."

"Where's my cousin?" He began moving towards him, wand raised and eyes deadly alert for any signs of movement from Malfoy.

"Eager to see you, I'm sure. Unfortunately for her, we're on a bit of a schedule, and I can't afford any further distractions."

Malfoy moved so fast, pulling his wand from his robes and catching the curses Sirius had hurled at him mid-air, launching them back at him with an aggression that contradicted his tone. He was hit by his own blasting curse, his left arm bursting from the eruption and his dislocating as he landed on the floor.

Biting his lip, Sirius rolled away from the further barrage of curses, using his wand to launch a few of the cauldrons at Malfoy's back, but the bastard managed to intercept them. Taking advantage of Malfoy's distraction, Sirius rushed forward, sending a shower of curses that the Death Eater managed to block at the last second.

Malfoy pulled out the potions from their cauldron, the liquids flying around him, avoiding each other in their dance. And before Sirius could do anything he was banished across the hall right as the potions soared after him and crashed together only a few feet in front of him. The explosion was thunderous, and Sirius couldn't manage to do much besides cover his face before he was blown backward all the way toward the wall at the end of the corridor.

His entire body was shaking, his arms and legs felt as if they were being burnt over the oven. You've gone through worse, Sirius reminded himself, forcing himself to stand back up and face his foe.

"And to think I used to enjoy our little spars," Malfoy said casually, walking towards him without a care in the world. "You're out of practice, Black."

Remus felt a yank behind his neck, pulling him out right as the poisonous green curse was about to strike him in the chest. He collapsed as soon as his feet felt the floor beneath him. Doubling over, he coughed and wretched and stained his arm with blood. "Remus!" Someone cried out from far away, almost like a whisper of the wind, and before he knew it, he felt someone grab him by the arm and pull him along.

The world was shaking, and he was suddenly thrown into a wall where he firmly collapsed. His robes were soaked, and Remus fumbled for his wand as he attempted to heal his wounds and apply the necessary counter-curses. But he could barely see straight, his blurry vision filled by a mop of red hair and bright lights sporadically lighting up the room.

Someone said something to him, and then they were gone. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, he could still feel the Rodolphous' curse inside of him. He panted and wheezed, his mind fuzzy, he had to actually intone the counter-curses as his mind kept drifting, but it was getting harder and harder to talk. Eventually, he got it, the effects slow but gradual as everything began becoming clearer. He rushed through healing whatever he could, the sound of spell fire becoming louder and louder before there was a sudden snap that was followed by a haunting cry of agony.

Using all the strength he had, Remus pulled himself off the ground and found two robed men advancing towards George Weasley. He was bleeding from his torso, and his right arm had gruesomely been twisted backward in a scene that made him want to spew. They kept coming at him, assaulting him with a flurry of blue and yellow curses that made George convulse violently.

"Thought you could beat us, Blood Traitor?" One of them snarled.

"You preppy cunts are so pathetic." The other one added.

Remus pulled up his wand and went into action, but he was barely a few movements in when there was a sudden burst of fire right in front of him. The spell died in his mind, and for a moment, he felt his heart stopped. But then Harry sprouted from the flames, pulling out a knife in a practised motion and stabbing one of the men in the neck as his phoenix lurched itself on the other man's cranium and immediately flared up, lighting the man below it on fire before flying away, squeaking indignantly.

Harry ignored the flailing, burning corpse as he knelt down next to the Weasley boy as the phoenix started healing him. Remus limped forward, managing to hear George brokenly whisper "Thank you," and then he was gone, disappearing in a burst of flames with the phoenix. And before he could say anything, Harry turned to him, looking at him as if he were nothing more than dirt on his shoe.

"Well done with that."

"I… I was- I couldn't- I… I tried-"

"Stop!" Harry commanded. His voice no longer held the bratty squeak or the petulant anger it once had. It was direct, unwavering, devoid of any emotion or indications of familiarity. And in many ways, it was more scathing than when he was actively trying to be cruel to him. "Just, for once, shut up and do your fucking job right."

London

1:00 a.m.

"Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

The Aurors were running back and forth all over the place. Grabbing their brooms, shoving the rest of the strays into their cells, hurrying into action as they rushed to head over to the Ministry. To head over to Potter. It was that surge of hatred he felt at the mere thought of the boy that had kept him quiet, serene in his cage as more and more of his snatchers were stuffed with him.

For once, Antonin wasn't laughing.

He was no longer bound, the Aurors deeming him a non-threat after his wand was taken away, and he was locked in the makeshift prison they had set up on the street. The cotton walls of the tent had been charmed to be all but unbreakable. The bulky, iron bars were immovable even if everyone inside tried to tear them down. But none of that mattered. The Aurors had given him everything they needed, and now they had managed to breach into the Ministry.

This was what he was waiting for.

There was no need to wait, the Aurors were too busy to pay attention to him. Antonin had singled out his victim the moment she had walked in - a girl no more than sixteen, unruly, with a strong attitude and a harsh glare at anyone who approached her. A silly child in a fit of rebellion. He pounced on her, stabbing his long nails into her neck in jagged, vicious moves. She tried to fight him off, but he had her pinned to the ground, blood trickling down his fingers as he tore her neck open with his bare hands. Her grunts and whines for help went unanswered as everyone in the cell immediately scampered to the edges, shocked and terrified.

His reputation preceded him and no one dared interfere, even as the light went out of her eyes.

He immediately went to work. He ripped up her robes, harshly, almost desperately, until he had torn through all the fabric covering her and revealed her naked torso fully. Using the blood already on his hands, Antonin began deftly tracing circles and lines over her belly, digging deep into her neck for blood any time he needed more of it. He kept at it, inscribing the runes in their respective places and muttering in Russian. The blood-drawn symbols began to slowly light up, and once they were all blindingly bright, Antonin reached for his own face.

The snatchers began muttering in fear, but their voices were soon drowned out by his own screams of pain as he pulled out his right eye from its socket. The sounds were guttural, primal, and the pain almost unbearable, but he snapped the nerve that tethered his eye to his head before he opened the girl's mouth and dropped the eye inside.

As soon as he closed her mouth, it started. Her entire body began vibrating wildly, lighting up entirely as if her insides had suddenly grown a million suns. There were shouts and demands from the others, but Antonin tuned them out as he grabbed the girl's corpse and threw it towards the door. They were all yelling for help, some even trying to claw their way out of the tent, but Antonin just smiled, closed his eye, and waited.

There was an explosion. He heard it happen, but it didn't feel harder than a gust of wind for him. It couldn't have lasted for more than a second, but after the ear-splitting detonation, there was nothing. Not a single sound inside the whole tent besides the crackling of the fires spread throughout the tent.

He opened his eye, barely paying attention to the red, gory mess around him as he stretched himself on the spot, his back cracking and a small groan leaving his lips. There was nothing but blood and corpses. The sturdy iron bars thoroughly levelled, leaving a large, gaping hole from which he exited his cell. The entire tent was a wreck, having almost fully collapsed within itself. He walked along the extensive hallway, kicking any dead Auror he came across until he found the one that he was looking for.

Kneeling down, Antonin grinned at the mutilated face as he reached into the Auror's robes and pulled out his wand. He shook the blood off it, lasting a final blasting curse at the Auror who had taken away his prized possession before he twirled it in the air and opened all the cells in the entire place. Slowly, whatever snatchers were still alive began peering out, hesitantly making their way out towards him.

"Let's go, boys," he said wickedly as they huddled around him. "Night isn't over just yet."

That's it for this chapter, thank you all for reading!

Welcome to the GRAND FIFTH-YEAR FINALE! Sit back and enjoy, we're going to be here a while ;)

By the time I'm posting this, I'm THIRTEEN chapters ahead, and have just finished writing the third chapter of the last arc of fifth-year titled No Rest For The Wicked! THERE ARE OFFICIALLY TWO CHAPTERS LEFT BEFORE I FINISH WITH FIFTH-YEAR! If you are interested in learning how to get early access to them, join my discord server using the following link: discord . gg / jyPfbGqhJT

As always, thank you for reading, favouriting, and commenting! I appreciate all of you! :)