Capítulo 1572: 34
Chapter 34: The Battle of HogwartsNotes:
Good morning everyone, here's this week's chapter. Another big one this time :)
Hope you'll like it
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After Minerva had informed Amelia Bones of the potential intrusion in the DoM, leading to her sending off aurors to a dozen different locations, Remus and Hermione came into her office. The Head of Gryffindor had left to get Mione and the Marauder's Map, so they could monitor the grounds. As a preventative measure, all students had to go to their common rooms (those of age that insisted on helping and were deemed skilled enough by the teachers were allowed to assist though) and the teachers raised the defences. Sure, the wards were strong, but they activated the castle's further protections, those that couldn't be sustained all day.
The first aurors arrived quickly and started guarding the entrances into the castle. But since they got there via portkey, no one noticed the open main gate. Not the castle's big doors, but the entrance gate near Hogsmeade Station, where the carriages would pass through.
It wasn't just a mere gate, but a magical one, connected to the wards and enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw herself. When it was closed, it strengthened the wards. When it was open though, the wards were weaker. Why, no one really knew.
Maybe because the wards on full power at all times wasn't possible, and when the gate was open, Hogwarts would welcome people entering its grounds. A symbol, meaning "come in". Or at least that's the most popular theory. Others claimed that it was the location itself. Hogwarts was built on grounds saturated with magic, and this spot's unique magical signatures or energies were weakening the wards here, so an enchanted iron gate was built to counteract that effect. It was one of those things discussed by scholars over the centuries, and on one has gotten any closer to an answer.
And because of that anomaly, that "weak spot", the Dark Lord had ordered Marcus Flint to open the gate, or to be precise, let Filch do it. Afterwards he met with the other Dark Lord followers in the castle (there were seven of them, sixth and seventh year, five Slytherins, one Ravenclaw and one Hufflepuff) to prepare for the assault on Hogwarts. None of them were marked or openly prejudiced, so no one would really suspect them.
Hermione was still a bit furious about Harry just leaving and rushing to the DoM, but she understood. Besides, an actual assault on the Ministry's most secret department during the day with the aurors being aware of his return…it had to be a distraction. So who would be next? Hogwarts?
Those thoughts were interrupted by Harry and Severus returning through the floo, causing Minerva to look up from the directives for Hogwarts' wards (she'd probably need a decade to read all the guidelines and directives for the entire castle that the past headmasters had left behind) and Mione to forget the Map she was monitoring. Since both wizards appeared to be a bit exhausted, Hermione first rushed forward and hugged Harry tightly before asking what happened.
"He's got the prophecy. A DoM spy, don't know why he didn't use him last time around. The unspeakable guarding the prophecies can retrieve them with the so-called "Gloves of Delphi"."
"And you didn't get him?"
"No, he somehow managed to manipulate the veil to temporarily act as a portal."
"He did what?"
Minerva too knew about the Veil of Death and was shocked about that. Something like that was definitely unheard of.
Then Severus spoke up, as sarcastic as always.
"Even better, Riddle sent Death Eaters through to us while Shafiq escaped. And since we weren't expecting anyone else but the one unspeakable we did lose a few aurors to an ambush."
Mione saw that this wasn't the full truth.
"And? I know that's not everything."
Harry nodded, looking sad
"You're right. Voldy sent Rookwood, Dolohov, Rodolphus Lestrange and Barty Jr. Quite a nasty fight. Severus took on Rodolphus, Moody fought Crouch, Croaker duelled Dolohov with the assistance of the aurors that weren't busy setting up defensive spells and I took on Rookwood."
"Rookwood? You fought Augustus Rookwood, Harry? Gosh, you're mental. Thank god you're alive."
"Oh, I nearly had him, Mione. The Elder Wand is quite the help. But I might have been a bit arrogant, and then I got distracted. We all did."
"Why? What happened?"
Severus was the one to answer the question.
"Crouch. Haven't seen such a vicious attack in a long time. Demonic flame and transformation of the ground into hardening quicksand followed by a bone-liquifying curse. That was more horrifying to watch than some of the Cruciatus tortures by the Dark Lord."
"Moody?"
Harry and Severus nodded, causing both Mione and Minerva to look rather grim.
But they didn't have time to look grim for a long while, because Minerva felt the wards being attacked.
"Fuck!"
Shortly before they were expecting Unspeakable Shafiq to open the portal into the DoM, Voldemort presented his final plan to take down Hogwarts to all the Death Eaters. While four of his best would cause a distraction at the Ministry, they'd attack the school. And once Hogwarts had fallen, the whole society would follow. The school was the country's backbone.
Their "Junior Death Eaters" would open the passage starting under Honeydukes and the big gate. Then three groups of curse breakers would take on the wards at different spots to lure the teachers and aurors (which certainly would be there) out. The Dark Lord and his main force would then use the big gate. With his stronger core and the assistance of Nathaniel and Nott they would weaken the wards there so much that they could enter. Then they'd spread out in groups to attack the castle.
Bella had the task to use the secret passage, together with Alecto Carrow, Greyback and his wolves as well as a few low level Death Eaters to attack from the inside.
"And, my followers, don't dare forget my orders. Try to prevent too much pure blood from being spilled, even though we won't be able to stop it entirely from happening. Severus and the Potter boy I want for myself, alive."
The shopkeeper at Honeydukes looked up from the book he was reading, as the shop's door opened. An unusual time for customers, but he wouldn't complain. He greeted the two people entering, before he saw something rather strange. For a moment the facial features of the two flickered and seemed to change into other faces, but after a fraction of a second it stopped again, making it seem as if it had only been imagined. Little did he know that the glamour nearly failed when entering his store, thanks to some old and long forgotten wards. And because he didn't know about it he relaxed and looked at his book again.
At the same time Bella was quietly debating with Alecto, if she could torture the man. The latter insisted on a quick and clean kill to get into the school undetected. The argument that Bella could have loads of fun at Hogwarts if she just held back here actually worked, and so Alecto lifted her wand.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"What are you doing, Alecto?"
"Like I said, clean and quiet. Unforgivables do have the tendency to get noticed if the ministry is looking hard enough, and you know it. Now he can't move or scream. Go ahead, have some fun and break his neck."
Since her brother was absolutely insane too (not so intelligent though), she knew how to handle such a person.
And after the shopkeeper was dead, they signalled the others to come in. The entrance to the tunnel was exactly where the stupid rat had said it would be. Their part of the mission had been a complete success.
Because they all had sneaked out of the common room after the teachers had controlled who was in attendance, the "Junior Death Eaters" were not really arousing any suspicion. They didn't volunteer to fight (which would be strange with their family background) but stayed in the common rooms until the teachers left to work on the wards. Then they met and planned.
Marcus Flint had another idea. In his house there were a few children of those that would attack the school soon, maybe he could talk to those. They could cover for them if a teacher came back and if necessary they'd be a secret weapon. So he approached Malfoy (with his two stupid followers) and Pansy Parkinson in a quiet corner of the common room.
"So, you guys. The Dark Lord will attack the school today, and your fathers will all be here too. I know that you all hate Potter and his friends, so are you on board?"
He did have his wand in his hand, clearly signalling that they'd get obliviated or worse, if the answer was anything but a yes.
Draco, still angry at Potter and the fact that he couldn't do anything against him, nodded. Crabbe and Goyle did so too, but well, they were not really bright and followed Draco into everything. Pansy was just as eager at nodding, she had gotten some encrypted messages from her mother stating that her father was the Dark Lord's right hand man these days. She wouldn't fight, no, she wasn't trained for that yet, but she'd help as much as she could.
The wardbreaking teams were in position, and after the Dark Lord commanded them to start through his Dark Mark, the response came quickly. After about two minutes of wardbreaking the first auror troops came into close proximity of the wards and started firing spells at the Death Eaters. The fire was quickly returned, but since both were behind shields (the aurors behind Hogwarts' wards and the Death Eaters had at least ten wizards per team just to do shield charms), not much happened. It would eventually be a race between the two groups, who could break the shields faster than the others.
Just a few minutes after the first fights had started, the Dark Lord and most of his Death Eaters (he had about seventy of them with him) approached Hogwarts via the path coming from Hogsmeade. Once they were close to the wards, Voldemort stepped forward and reached out for the magical shielding with his left hand. He felt it, solid as a wall and with some nasty defences if he should try pushing through. But that was obviously not what he had planned. While telling his curse breakers to step forward he himself began weakening the wards.
"Oh damn it, someone is attacking the wards at the gate."
Mione looked up from the map as Minerva said that. She was still supervising the map while Severus and Harry both took a pepper-up potion so they'd be ready for battle.
"But…that should be closed, because that's where the wards are the weakest.
Harry groaned and tried to get up, but the potion was not yet fully working, and he knew that he'd have to wait at least ten more minutes to be battle-ready.
"So that's…oh gosh, I should really wait the ten more minutes…where Riddle will be. The other attacks divided our attention and now he's attacking the weakest points. Whoever imperiused the others when Greyback attacked must have opened the gate."
"But only staff can do that and we check all staff members for dark magic regularly."
Minerva and Snape both looked at each other, realising who the most likely victim must have been.
"Damn! We don't check Argus because he's a squib. He couldn't have been the one to imperius the students so he stayed unchecked."
Harry then tapped his mirror, calling for Moony and told him where Argus Filch was currently located. It was then that Hermione saw the group of people coming through the tunnel from Hogsmeade.
"Remus! Greyback is coming through the tunnel under the one-eyed witch. He's got about a dozen people with him. And…oh no. I've got to go."
"Mione?"
"I'm sorry, Harry. I know you want to come with me, but that's a fight I need to do. It can't wait and you're not ready yet."
"Who?"
"For one, Alecto Carrow. And…Bella."
Harry closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He knew that Mione had to go after Bella, as a revenge for the torture and killing at Malfoy Manor. There was no way in stopping her aside from with force, and no one would want to mess with her. With all her training she could easily take on Minerva or Severus and have good chances. And she wouldn't be alone.
She headed for the door of the headmistresses office but then hesitated. This would be a dangerous fight, and she couldn't just leave.
That's when she turned around and walked up to Harry, who was sitting on one of Minerva's couches. She kneeled down in front of him, and Harry grabbed her hands before facing himself to get on his feet, pulling her up with him. And as they were standing there, just centimetres apart, knowing that they had many challenges ahead of them, all of them potentially ending badly, they knew what to do. It just simply felt right.
As both kids were about to kiss each other, both Minerva and Severus wanted to turn away to give them some privacy, but on the other hand they wanted to see the binding.
Harry and Hermione looked deeply into each others' eyes, then Harry softly cupped her cheeks with his hands and leaned forward. Their eyes closed as their lips touched for the first time, soft and gently. But slowly their kiss got more and more energetic, while the magical power within their veins began to flare up. What exactly happened was hard to describe, but it felt like the magical energy was floating from one to the other and back. On a mere magical level it was hard to say where the one stopped and the other began, as they were one.
The kiss didn't stop for another minute or so (by now it was a French kiss), but not only because they were enjoying the kissing. Their magic felt like it was one and their consciousnesses felt like they were intermingling, touching each other. Harry and Hermione felt each others' emotions, their love, and to some level even what the other thought. Not that this was much right now, they were much too focussed on snogging until realising that Severus and Minnie were watching. And Bella was approaching the castle too.
Now blushing, the two of them ended the kiss, and the bright white light that had been surrounding them slowly faded, enabling them to see the two grinning teachers. And Minnie was the first one to speak up.
"I think that congratulations are in order, but we've got more important things to do. Let's all manage to survive the day and then we'll celebrate."
"You're right. Then I'll be going after Bella now, you know I have to."
"Yes, I know. Stay safe."
"You too. I love you, Harry."
He briefly hesitated, surprised by the word that sounded so true and perfect.
"And I love you too, Hermione."
When Remus hurried into the Gryffindor common room to inform Professor Bagshot (she was too old to fight and looked after the lions that had to stay back) that Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback were using a secret passage to get into the castle and that he'd send a guard to them, Neville overheard them talking. He couldn't believe it, the fucking Lestrange bitch was here, and he felt so confident in his skills from Harry's training that he thought he could sneak out and go after her himself. And once Remus Lupin was gone, going after Bella himself, Neville took the opportunity of Bagshot telling some tales of the past to calm the younger years to discreetly leave the common room.
Sure, the young boy had no chance of keeping up with the werewolf, but he wasn't too slow either. And so Neville arrived at the statue that concealed the secret passage. Well, he stayed hidden behind a corner and waited for something to happen. Just moments after him Hermione, two aurors and Professor Babbling arrived, each of them pointing their wand at the statue. Then Mione came up with a suggestion.
"They still need about a minute or so, how about we flood the tunnel?"
"Generally yes, a good idea, but they are probably fast enough to vanish that, they have more manpower. Besides, we'll lose the element of surprise. But I could…"
Professor Babbling lifted her wand and began chanting long latin phrases combined with complex wand movements. Small runes, glowing fiery red, began to appear all over the statue.
"What is the password of that passage, Miss Granger?"
"It's Dissendium . Oh! That's brilliant."
She understood only about half the runes and chants, but it seemed like Professor Babbling was putting a ward on the statue that reacted aggressively when one spoke the passphrase. The exact consequences Hermione didn't fully comprehend, but it must be sort of an elemental backlash, probably fire magic. That was the professor's speciality.
And while Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't expecting a trap, she considered the possibility and ordered one of the low level Death Eaters to speak the passphrase (after they had transfigured the stone slide into stairs). Nearly all of them put up their shield charms on her orders (not that all the wolves actually could perform one, so they waited unprotected and mostly behind the others with shields) and then they opened the secret passage.
All hell broke loose once a huge firestorm made its way through the tunnel and killed three Death Eaters and two wolves. Since Professor Babbling hadn't had much more than a minute to put up the wards it wasn't as strong as it could have been and just lasted seconds, but it still was effective. Aside from the fact that Bella Lestrange was now furious.
Just moments after the fire started (and ended), the statue exploded, and with it a part of the floor. Despite shields the wizards got pushed back a bit and that gave the Death Eaters enough time to rush into the castle.
Remus was among the first to recover from the blast and once he saw Greyback, he began to attack. The werewolf and two of his followers began to run away though, but they didn't flee. They were spreading out. And since they all were just facing Lupin, Babbling, two aurors and Hermione, they had an advantage. Some of the Death Eaters and other wolves were either facing the aurors or spreading out. Alecto battled Babbling and Remus hunted down Greyback and two wolves.
Then, as the last of them, Bellatrix Lestrange stepped out of the giant hole in the floor. It was just like she had expected. Their welcoming party was already busy and so she could walk freely through the ancient castle and torture and kill mudbloods. And she already saw one to start with.
Hermione.
Little did the crazy witch know that she was about to face a time travelling witch that was well-versed in many fields of magic, trained in combat, a veteran of the second wizarding war and she was holding a grudge. Bella had killed her last time around, and now she'd get her revenge.
"Ha, little mudblood. Time to play now!"
Hermione just laughed and threw a silent stunner at Bella, which she dodged, but just barely. The laughter on the bitch's face faded and she looked rather serious now.
What followed was something more colourful than any lightshow in the world. Both witches were fast, casting wordlessly and using rather unknown spells. After a few attempts of a killing curse, which Hermione always blocked with conjured objects, Bella stopped using unforgivables and focussed on quick casting of violent spells.
Hermione slowly began to sweat after two minutes of dodging spells, but she wasn't the only one getting exhausted. Still, she had to continue, and thanks to Remus' training and some of the spells from the Potter Grimoire or the Black library she could easily claim to be of equal skill.
Babbling at the same time tried her best at fighting against Alecto Carrow. She would have nearly had it a few times if not for one of the other Death Eaters attacking her too. It seemed as if Alecto was familiar with Ancient Runes and managed to avoid most of the traps the professor built. And thanks to her speed, Babbling had to rely mostly on combat spells, having no time for complex runes.
At the same time, Tom Riddle finally managed to properly exploit the weakness within the wards and weaken them so much, that all his Death Eaters that were with him could break through and enter Hogwarts' grounds.
"Spread! Move in groups of at least five, attack the aurors that keep out other teams from entering. Curse breakers, help those from the inside. Spread! Let's conquer Hogwarts."
Then he turned to his right hand man.
"Nathaniel, perform the ritual I gave you, so that the ministry group can portkey through the wards."
What Nathaniel Parkinson was performing was essentially the same ritual as they did to get into Azkaban, but on a smaller scale. They had already prepared the runic circle at Riddle Manor and now only needed to summon those Death Eaters through the wards.
Though the Dark Lord was disappointed to see only Augustus and Dolohov. He demanded an explanation.
"My Lord, it was the Potter boy and Snape. They knew someone went after the prophecy, probably a notification spell that Shaifq didn't see, maybe old family magic. Aurors and unspeakables were already waiting for us. Snape killed Rodolphus and Bartemius after the latter killed Alastor Moody. And Potter, he's bloody strong and claims to be the Master of Death. And I even believe that."
Nathaniel looked up at those words. To hear about Barty's death was sad, he respected the brilliant though mad man. Moody's death actually cheered him up. But the Master of Death?
"He has the Elder Wand?"
"I think so, Nathaniel. I saw it, and I saw the cloak. He even had the ring with the stone on his finger, it started glowing once he channelled a lot of his magic. It had the Peverell coat of arms on it."
Now the Dark Lord was both curious and furious. He hadn't known about the Deathly Hallows before Nathaniel had told him the tale in Albania, the downside of not being raised by wizards. He had even begun to suspect that the Gaunts (Morfin had bragged about that before his death) were actually related to the Peverells and might have a Hallow. And now, the description of that ring made it sound like he had already held one of them in his hands once. Potter had destroyed a horcrux.
"Broad golden ring, red gem with the symbol of the Hallows scratched into the stone?"
"Yes, my Lord. Why?"
"The…the bloody boy has one of my horcruxes."
"One of? I figured you made one, but more than one? How is that even possible?"
"You two are among my most trusted followers, so I can tell you. I wanted seven parts, six horcruxes. The last one failed when I wanted to kill Potter."
"SIX SOUL PIECES?"
Augustus Rookwood couldn't believe it. During his time in the DoM he had researched horcruxes when studying death, and what the Dark Lord told him just sounded insane. He briefly told his Lord that by now he only had a fragment of his soul left, a very small one. So small that he wouldn't have thought it possible to even exist. And the Dark Lord listened, because Augustus was an expert on the subject.
"It sounds like I might have miscalculated that. I want to see your research about that after the battle, Augustus. But now, back to the so-called "Master of Death". Is Potter really that strong?"
Once Rookwood told him what kind of powers the boy had used, he was astonished. Not even he had done those things at that age. He'd need to face Potter today and eliminate the threat.
"But could it be the horcrux that makes him so strong?"
"No, I doubt it. It would drain him and create a new you…just like with the basilisk incident. My Lord, did you create one as a teenager?"
"Yes…yes, I did. How did you know?"
"Because then he destroyed that one too. They fought you, or a spirit of you. Now that all makes sense. Someone opened the Chamber of Secrets, as we know, but my spies claimed it was a "spirit, claiming to be a teenage Tom Riddle." Potter used a family magic spell to destroy it. That's why the ring is still intact."
Lord Voldemort was furious, and that was why he himself now started to join the battle, as new troops seemed to arrive. Nathaniel and Augustus stayed back for a moment though.
"Nathaniel, you have no idea how unstable he must be. The remaining soul always splits in half. You can calculate yourself how much is still left."
"Yes, and with Potter being so strong, he could actually fail. And now that he's Master of Death…They are friends with the goblins as well, and their magic could be used to track the soul pieces. How high do you think the chance is that he's mortal?"
"Likely. And since I know that you're not all about purity and the cause, but here for the power too, let me give you this."
"What's…emergency portkey?"
"Yes. Out of Hogwarts and into a bolthole of mine in Scandinavia."
The two men agreed that they would escape if the Dark Lord would fall. They were just here to gain power, not more. And even if they didn't like muggles or mudbloods, they were smart enough to know of their intelligence and power. The whole "blood purity" was nonsense.
But still, they'd fight, because if they would win, they were at the top with the Dark Lord himself.
By now the ministry had sent even more troops, as much as they could offer without abandoning any other potential target. Many people aside from the aurors had volunteered too, people like Arthur Weasley and his eldest two sons, Sirius and even some of the Order members that weren't Dumbledore fanatics.
But when a handful of armed goblins entered the Ministry of Magic and demanded to see the Minister, everyone was surprised. Amelia met with the delegation, led by King Ragnok's oldest son. They wanted to fight too, and because the situation was and would be dire, she promised to bring the changes in creature law in front of the Wizengamot herself, without any bargaining.
And so, a more or less equal force to the Dark Lord's troops portkeyed into Hogwarts' Great Hall and began spreading over the grounds.
Harry and Severus had by now regenerated, and even if the boy wanted to join his soulmate in fighting Bella Lestrange, he knew that she and the others could manage that. He had to face Voldemort. Minerva kept on working on the wards and various protections (like animating the statues) from within her office, because that was Hogwarts' centre of power.
Remus had managed to stop Greyback and at least one of the two wolves and faced them now in a corridor. It was a brutal battle, because despite favouring the wolf powers, Greyback was a bloody terrifying wizard, proficient in silent casting, battle magic and the Dark Arts. His companion was not even remotely that strong, but the continuous attacks from two wolves were hard to handle for Remus.
After about thirty seconds of fighting, the second werewolf wizards just collapsed, having a major cut on his chest that bled a lot. Only a fraction of a second later, Fenrir Greyback had to face not only Remus Lupin, but also the former Duelling Champion Filius Flitwick. And together they managed to land a few hits on the man's body, causing him to weaken and stumble. But before one of the two wizards could land a deadly hit, Filius collapsed. A stunner had hit him, and only the werewolf's heightened senses allowed him to dodge the one heading for him. It was a Ravenclaw student, a seventh year, that had attacked Filius and now tried attacking Remus too.
It was only thanks to a coincidence that he couldn't even start casting another spell. Because the seventh year Gryffindor Percy Weasley was one of those out in the corridors to fight against the intruders, and when he saw the Claw attacking teachers, he just acted.
"Diffindio!"
And since Percy was undoubtedly magically strong and just acted intuitively, not dialling back the power in the spell, it caused such a deep gash that the Claw just collapsed and died instantly. Despite the pain that knowledge was causing him, the young man didn't stop. Oliver Wood, who was just a few steps behind him, threw a bludgeoning curse at Greyback, causing the werewolf to fall backwards.
Remus sensed the opportunity, and his inner wolf, Moony, took control of the situation. One silent Sectumsempra and Fenrir Greyback's head was no longer connected to the body. His hunt was finally over.
But the fight wasn't.
Filius was already getting up again, cursing himself for that stupid oversight. Getting cursed by a student, no matter how good (except Harry and Hermione probably) wasn't good for his ego.
"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Wood. Good job, thank you. And please, Percy, don't beat yourself up about what you did, you had no choice. And there will be a time to grieve and regret, but not now. Apparently we have some Death Eaters among the students. Though not marked, that we would have picked up. You two come with me now, we have to hunt."
The facial expression of their head of house was definitely terrifying and showed his lycanthropy. He was ready to hunt down every single intruder, and he wanted their help. That they could do.
Filius promised Remus to spread the word of the student Death Eaters and of Greyback's death while heading towards the spot where Bellatrix Lestrange and Alecto Carrow had been.
Over there, at the crater around the secret passage, the fight was still ongoing. Neville Longbottom was still hiding around a corner and occasionally throwing hexes and curses at some of the Death Eaters, but not too much to get noticed. He had realised, that despite all his training, he would be dead within seconds in any direct combat.
Hermione, getting just as weak as Bella, then tried reaching for Harry with her mind. She felt his presence now more than ever before, and she touched his consciousness. He was worried for her and heading down towards the main battlefield outside of the castle to find Voldemort.
And Harry felt her reaching out. He saw what she saw for a brief moment, and then decided to try something out. When they kissed he felt her magic like it was part of his' and vice versa. So could he…yes, he could.
A rush of power ran through Hermione's veins. Not too much so Harry would be weak, but enough to cast a strong tornado spell, infused with something called "angelic fire". Not as strong as fiendfyre, but also easier to shape and control.
This flaming tornado (about two and a half metres high and one metre in diameter) headed straight for Bellatrix Lestrange, and the witch was getting more and more afraid the closer it got. Hoping that her surprisingly powerful enemy would either have to drop the storm to dodge, or get hit with her curse, she tried it once more.
"Avada Keda.."
Neville Longbottom, not the timid boy he had been in the last timeline, but a strong and brave Lord Longbottom now, jumped forward and yelled " Confringo! " He knew that it wouldn't be too strong, his blasting curse was rather weak, but it did its job in hitting Bellatrix Lestrange, the woman who had tortured his parents into insanity, in the stomach. She gasped for air and never managed to finish the killing curse, and then the fiery storm came for her and engulfed her. After about two seconds of screaming it was quiet again and the storm faded. Bella was nothing more than a body, burned so much that one couldn't even identify her anymore. She was dead.
Filius arrived just in time to see that happen and quickly deflected all the curses heading for Miss Granger and Mr. Longbottom before taking out the rest of the Death Eaters and wolves around the crater, weakened from fighting aurors. Only one werewolf and one Death Eater (plus the second wolf that had accompanied Greyback, which Remus was already hunting) were left, and the unknown number of students.
Oh, and Alecto Carrow of course, who was still battling Babbling. Both had taken quite some damage, so when Filius and Hermione (despite being a bit exhausted) both cursed Alecto, she collapsed. She wasn't dead, but she might die either way because of her wounds. They bound her and brought both her and Professor Babbling into the hospital wing, where St. Mungo's healers were already waiting.
Harry had by now met up with Sirius on the battlefield. Because that's what it was. Before the reinforcements arrived, the Death Eaters that breached with Riddle at the main gate had attacked the auror teams that were busy keeping the curse breakers away from breaching. During those fights (with more auror than Death Eater losses), all three teams of the Dark Lord were able to break through. Now the aurors and professors were facing around one hundred and twenty Death Eaters plus about forty werewolves (obviously not transformed, and most of them not too strong magically, but physically much stronger than humans).
Together Sirius and Harry were battling quite a lot of Death Eaters, but Harry decided against going for the Elder Wand or any massive spells to not weaken himself.
When he felt Hermione's joy, he reached out for her and saw what she had seen and done. He laughed out loud.
"What's so funny, Prongslet?"
"Mione killed Bella! She burnt that bitch alive."
Everyone who heard that, got more motivated and seemed to get a boost of energy. If Voldemort's most terrifying follower was dead, then they could do it. No one of them was undefeatable, not even the infamous Bellatrix Lestrange.
The Death Eaters though got terrified by that and relayed the message back to the Dark Lord, who was currently fighting Kingsley Shacklebolt, Septima Vector and three senior aurors at once. Riddle was furious, because that meant his attempt at storming the castle hadn't worked.
Severus Snape had left the headmistresses office shortly after Harry, heading towards the secret tunnel where Hermione was bound to be fighting Bella, when he ran into two Death Eaters. No, one Death Eater and a werewolf. Severus cut them into pieces before they could even lift their wands. That was the benefit of living in this castle for such a long time, he knew how to move unseen. Then he received word of the dead student that was assisting the Dark Lord. Sure, it was a Ravenclaw, but if there was a Claw involved, then some of his Snakes too, most likely. So Severus headed into the dungeons.
"WHO OF YOU SUPPORTS THE DARK LORD? DON'T LIE TO ME, I KNOW THAT HE HAS FOLLOWERS AMONG THE STUDENTS!"
That was an entrance not a single Slytherin would ever forget, because Snape was both furious and terrifying. It didn't take Snape more than a second to establish, which five students were missing. He asked his students where they were, and judging from the reaction he figured that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, possibly Parkinson were in on it. For a moment he thought about Nott, but then saw the look of disgust and hatred on the boy's face, remembering that he had even thanked Harry for getting his father arrested. The rest of the students seemed innocent.
"Malfoy!"
"Sir?"
"Where are they?"
The blonde ferret (he had seen the memory of the ferret incident, quite hilarious) began to sweat, clearly nervous.
"Uhm, Flint said that they were gonna look for you and Professor Sinistra to join the fight. They wanted to help us."
Severus nearly burst out laughing as Daphne snorted because of the very very bad lie.
"Well, seeing that your father is out there, I think you have a different side in the conflict than we do. And after the fight is done I'll have to check the sorting hat for damages. How you got sorted into the house of the cunning is something I don't understand. Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson! You three and Malfoy come with me. Í'll lock you up myself until we have won."
Pansy now realised that Snape had scared them all with his entrance to try and sort out the guilty ones. And he had managed that pretty well.
"Well, Professor, I think you won't be alive for much longer. I hear the Dark Lord wants you alive and for himself. My father sits at the Dark Lord's side, and I'll gladly join them to watch you die for your betrayal of our cau.."
" Stupefy! Oh come on, don't look at me that way, Nott. As if you hadn't considered doing the same."
"Considered yes, Daphne, but only that. Your Gryffindor boyfriend is a bad influence on you."
"Oh shut up, Nott."
Snape shook his head, tied up the four students and led them (well, he levitated Pansy) into one of the unused dungeon cells. Those were once used to restrain mad students (and troublemakers) during Phineas Niggelus Black's time as headmaster. No normal student could break out of those on his own, and especially not without their wand. Because those he took of them and handed Daphne. That girl would one day be a good prefect (if the Gryffindor influence won't get too much).
Once he had closed the door, Severus listened in on the conversation the four had. He knew his students, and the chance of Crabbe or Goyle saying something incriminating was pretty high
"Who d'you reckon are the two others Flint has? Like he said "trust me and my six buddies. We know our way around Dark Magic."
Severus grinned and then stopped listening in, since all he heard was Malfoy shouting at Goyle for saying that out loud.
He cast his Patronus, still the white doe.
"Go and tell Minerva that there are seven. The dead Claw, five Snakes and an unknown one. The Slytherins are…"
And once the headmistress was informed of that, he began making his way to the battlefield outside. This day wasn't over.
Notes:
So, that's it for this week. As always, let me know in the comments what you think.
Until next week, see ya :)
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