Chương 48: Chapter 48: The Storm
The weekend morning started off rather nice at first. Despite the exams starting on Monday, Neville was in good spirits all things considered. The first indication that he had of trouble was a shout of surprise from Hannah as she backpedaled and tripped over him. Twisting, Neville managed to catch his girlfriend before she hit the ground. The maneuver also happened to give him a clear view of the charging mass streaming through the gates of Hogwarts' grounds. Black cloaks were the majority though there were several camouflage fatigues, military uniforms and mangy rags mixed into the grouping.
A large, toothy grin spread across his face as Neville keyed his Comm Stone. "Emergency Broadcast. All units stand up; attack commencing, frontal assault. Longbottom coordinating decoy retreat. Disconnect." Levering Hannah back to her feet he turned to his other girlfriend and waved towards the two students near the giant squid. "Susan, get them inside. Hannah you grab the group by the tree. Remember none of the others are real so ignore the rest!"
"We're on it, Nev," Susan said pulling her wand and setting her features in stone. "Don't be stupid and attack Bellatrix or Crouch before the rest of our side shows up." Her warning delivered, she ran to grab the two volunteers and usher them back into the safety of the castle.
"You get yourself killed by being a hero and I'm going to slap you hard enough to wake you right back up," Hannah said as she moved to her assigned group as well.
Neville shook his head at his partners as a loud gong rang throughout the grounds. A silvery border briefly flashed to life around the perimeter wards before fading back to the normal invisible nature of the defenses. Neville knew that was the signal that a newly added aspect of the wards had just been dialed up to maximum. This layer handled physical 'deterrents' preventing any non-authorized personnel from exiting. Knowing that the Death Eaters were now trapped on one of the most fortified grounds in the country almost set Neville to chortling. Suppressing the urge, he turned to face the oncoming terrorists…never once losing his smile.
Neville's comm call cut off and a loud gong reverberated through the castle corridor. Hermione gave herself two seconds to panic before suppressing as much of her fear and worry as she could. "The Death Eaters are here, everyone!" she yelled. A gasp came from the direction of Madame Pince near the front of the room. Hermione didn't know whether it was from shock at her shouting in the library or from the content of said yell. Either way, it wasn't worth worrying about. "Everyone not staying to assist in the defense begin evacuation procedures!" Books dropped to tabletops and Hermione ran towards the entrance. She skidded to a stop in front of Pince and pulled out the utility belt Harry had given her. Draping the belt over her shoulders Hermione turned to the librarian. "Madame Pince, can you handle directing the students to the seventh floor exit? I have to get down and help on the front lines!"
"I-I have this covered," Pince said swallowing hard and clutching her wand like a drowning man clinging to a boat. "Stay safe, Miss Granger."
"You as well, Madame." Hermione finished cinching the belt and tore out of the library streaking towards the stairs. She took the steps two at a time praying that Neville was able to get the people inside before anyone was hurt. Hermione kept running as she started checking off the list of priorities and actions that needed to be taken. She was on the second floor landing as the entrance hall doors clanged shut.
"Students inside!" Susan yelled as the doors shimmered with the protective wards springing to life. "Where's – BUGGER!" Hermione hit the ground floor just in time to see Susan swing back to the door with a scowl and wand raised. "Drop the wards! I need to get my boyfriend away from his revenge before the army of arseholes kills him!"
Hermione grabbed the red-head's arm and started dragging her to the side. "Secret passage is one corridor over. Our own people will be streaming out from the others now so Neville will be fine."
"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to fucking kill him," Susan mumbled as she followed behind.
"Hannah okay?"
"She got her group and headed up to the hospital wing. Neville is so dead!" The two teens skidded to a stop and Hermione pushed in the second brick above the sculpture shifting the section of wall to the side. "Let's go! He better have killed Bellatrix and made this idiocy worthwhile," Hermione heard Susan mutter.
As her friend surged forward, Hermione couldn't help the slight shiver that ran through her. "Harry, you better not be taking similar stupid risks," she said scowling and rushing out to join the battle.
A muted gong sounded down inside the cavernous not-so-secret room beneath the castle. Lily Potter reacted immediately, jumping to her feet along with the group of allies around her. "Everyone up! For those who didn't hear, Longbottom is the current defense and the attackers are advancing! Move your arses and let's make those bastards bleed!" Shouts of agreement and determination met her proclamation. A small grin spreading at finally getting the chance to pay back the people who'd taken her husband from her, Lily led the group of goblins and French Aurors out from the Chamber of Secrets into the Forbidden Forest. They had dug up through the ceiling of the original tunnel in order to make a second exit closer to the school. That effort's worth was immediately evident as the group of defenders streamed out of the trees and took the Death Eater army on the right flank.
The spell volley launched by the French and the thrown axes lobbed by the goblins cut down twenty of the black robes and five of the uniformed men before anyone was even aware that they were under attack. Shouts of surprise rang through the Death Eaters and the next volley of spells slammed into shields. Several of the goblins had closed the distance enough by that point though to leap into the fray directly and Lily saw Snapfist riding a camouflaged man to the ground. The mercenary had an axe embedded in his chest and his mouth was stuck open in shock.
A flash of purple light from near the castle doors caught her attention and Lily caught a brief glimpse of Neville tossing spells out at the attackers. She didn't have a chance to angle to help him though as the army of Death Eaters finally started to return fire on her troops. Shields sprang to life, blocking most of the barrage. The few curses that made it through splashed somewhat harmlessly on the Armor Robes.
One French Auror started to laugh as he dropped his shield and lobbed a Feedback Stone at the group. "Zis is almost too easy!"
Scowling, Lily barely had enough time to think he shouldn't have said that before their fortunes turned. A scream of rage wrenched her attention and she could only watch helplessly as Griphook, cackling madly while swinging a sword through the legs of a Death Eater, was struck from behind with a curse that cut his back open to the bone. The goblin dropped to the grass twitching while Lily's eyes narrowed. She found the one who launched the spell just in time to see a green light streaking towards her from the same man.
Lunging to the side, Lily barely managed to avoid getting felled by the Killing Curse again. Scowling, she locked eyes with the Death Eater and the world seemed to slow. Travers. The man who'd killed Marlene. Screaming in rage, Lily jumped forward and sent spell after spell at the murderer. She ignored the rest of the battle raging around her and focused solely on Travers.
"Woman possessed! I like it!" Travers taunted as she sent a blood-boiling curse at him. "The fiery ones are always fun to play with! Reminds me of my last bitch before they tossed me in the hole. McKey or something."
Lily roared. "I may not be powerful enough to kill Voldemort and avenge James, but I am sure as bloody hell strong enough to fucking kill you!" Lily pulled one of the Spikers from her side and sent a four-foot long stone hurtling towards him. Travers dodged the spike with little difficulty…unfortunately for him, his move put his head directly in line with the bone-breaker launched from her wand. The shattering sound his skull made sent a grim sense of pleasure through her as blood burst from his crumpled head. Travers fell and Lily turned, hunting for a new target.
The dull gong of the activating wards sounded and Shiva launched to her feet. "They're attacking! Let's go everyone, we need to get out there and support the others!" Shouts of what she could only assume were agreement rang out in Bulgarian behind her. Shiva ran launched a spell at the ward anchor nearby shattering the illusion surrounding her small group camped on the side of the lake in their small hollowed out section of the grounds. Jumping up the shallow embankment they'd dug, her troops surged forward into the left flank of the army in front of them.
The Bulgarian Aurors sent multicolored spells streaming towards the Death Eater army felling a large number of the mercenaries with the first volley. As the nearby enemies raised their shields Shiva held up her Yamato Cannon and unleashed hellfire towards them. The rune stone dissolved in her hands, but the roiling ball of destruction cut a swath through the attackers incinerating some and flinging others to the side before it petered out. Shouts of encouragement rang through her troops.
"Shame we can't use more of those…" Shiva muttered as she moved closer to a group of allies focusing on sharpshooting support rather than entering the fray. It was too dangerous to use too many wide area spells once the battle was joined – the risk of collateral damage was too high. So she and others more suited to support roles would be picking and choosing the best possible time for their hits. Shiva set about casting defensive wards around the snipers as one fell to a piercing spell from the Death Eaters. Flashes of light from the far side signaled the arrival of Lily's prong of the pincer assault bringing a determined nod from Shiva.
"Stay safe, Lils," Shiva murmured finishing her first armor layer and shifting to the second.
McGonagall ran to the top of the Astronomy Tower as Neville's call cut off and the gong echoed through the staircase. Panting she burst through the door at the top to find her trio of Gryffindor Chasers manning the Mortar Circle. "Girls, can you see the Death Eaters?" she asked pushing forward to the side of the Tower facing the entrance gates. A sea of black and tan robes were evident on the lawn rushing forward towards a lone defender standing in front of the castle gates.
Her question grimly answered, McGonagall turned back ready to scold the Chasers for not having already started to support the Housemate only to find Alicia already inside the circle with her hand clutching the guidance stone. "Angie, angle?"
"Five degrees left, ten up."
"Roger," Alicia set her stance and her muscles clenched as the runic circle under her feet whined. The air crackled briefly and the circle flashed orange as a small ball of energy shot from the guidance stone and arced over the railing. McGonagall watched it splash into the grouping of enemies advancing on Neville scattering the leading front.
"Left Flank is out of cover and moving to engage. Right Flank close behind," Katie growled. "Swift to half power."
"Half power," Alicia nodded and shifted her right foot back enough to cover a small rune segment behind her.
"Two degrees right, three up," Angelina said gazing down at the army. Alicia twisted slightly and the runic circle flared again as another ball of magic leapt from the stone.
McGonagall smiled at her lions and raised her wand. "Well you three seem to have this tower in hand. Let's get a few more allies into the mix shall we?" She twisted her wand into a complex swirl of movement ending it with a raised flourish and a shout that covered most of the grounds, "Piertotum Locomotor!" Grinding sounds rang out from throughout the castle and McGonagall felt her connection to the varied suits of armor and statues establish itself. She nearly laughed as they took a step off of their pedestals and one near the gates got lucky. Rowle happened to be passing it at just the right moment for a swing of the newly animated guardian to remove his head from his body. Shivering with righteous glee at the success of her spellwork, McGonagall yelled, "Hogwarts is under attack! Defend the school! Defend your home!" She turned to see Angelina raising an eyebrow at her and shrugged. "I've always wanted to use that spell."
The comm call in his ear and the gong ringing through the castle walls had Sirius surging to his feet with Amelia and Remus close behind. "Neville's out there, let's go!"
"Susan too," Amelia stated a grim mask of stone settling over her features as Sirius tore the door open and flew out. "She's not going to leave him behind and I'll be damned if I lose any more family to this insanity."
Sirius barely noticed the Floo in his office flaring to life as he turned the corner and ran down the corridor. "We'll keep her safe, Amy," Sirius said before falling silent and conserving his air for the run to the grounds. They reached the window on the second floor and swiftly jumped out of it, landing on the cushioned section of ground below. Running around to the front of the castle, Sirius was just in time to see death rain down on the front row of attackers and a second, larger ball of magical energy tear through a section further down the line.
He lined up with Remus and Amelia and sent a quick severing curse into the feet of the Death Eaters jumping over their fallen foes sending them falling to the ground bleeding and screaming. A series of spells flew wild, streaking far over the heads of the army, causing Sirius to twist about trying to find the source. He barely had to turn before finding Neville locked in battle with his cousin and laughing. "Not so little anymore am I Bella!?" Sirius was about to move and cover Neville was he felt a pull an arm wrap around his waist and roughly haul him backwards.
Sirius tumbled to his arse as a sickly green Killing Curse flew above him. "Watch the group not the bitch!" Marian Davis shouted from behind him. She rolled back and sprang to her feet leaving Sirius blinking in confusion.
"Remy, down!" Narcissa's shout sent Sirius' head twisting in confusion again though he managed to catch sight of Remus dropping underneath a second Killing Curse.
"Stop gawking at the reinforcements and get attacking!" Amelia yelled hauling him to his feet. Sirius scowled at himself and nodded. Turning back to the battle he felt his blood freeze. The Death Eater who had been throwing Killing Curses their direction was none other than Peter Pettigrew.
A deep growl shuddered through his chest and throat and he jumped forward leaving everyone but Remus behind. The two men leveled their wands at their former friend and ran. "Peeettterrrr!" he shouted. Flicking his wand, Sirius sent an entrail-expelling curse towards the silver-armed rat only to see the man shift into his rodent form to avoid it and quickly shift back to human to jump out of the way of Remus' blood-boiling curse.
"You're getting rather blood-thirsty old friend!" Peter yelled as he tried to push back enough to be enveloped by the line of Death Eaters behind him.
Sirius roared and pulled out one of the Fishing Line stones Harry had included in the gear set thrusting his hand forward. A shrill shriek of terror was music to his ears and confirmation that he'd latched onto the correct Death Eater. Yanking his arm back, Sirius watched Wormtail fly towards him head first. The man's wand lifted, but a spell from Remus separated the piece of wood from the traitor's body – along with a large chunk of his silver hand.
Stretching out his own hand, Sirius dropped the rune stone and caught Peter by the throat holding him close. "This is for the Marauders, you fucker!" Without allowing time for the traitor to shift forms, Sirius thrust his wand into the man's stomach and sent out the most powerful reducto he could manage. Blood sprayed and coated his robes while Peter's weight was suddenly vastly reduced. The light left the man's eyes and Sirius smiled grimly as the ex-Marauder gurgled his last and fell dead at Sirius' feet.
"For James," Remus murmured next to him. A firm hand closed on his arm and Sirius looked up. "We have work to do, Padfoot." Sirius nodded and turned to run to Amelia's side.
Fred and George ran down the passage to Honeydukes with Luna close on their heels and Coco huffing in exertion next to her. All three had heard the gong signaling the beginning of the Death Eater's attack and had immediately hurried to the secret tunnel. They were working with the Australians who had asked to be housed in Hogsmeade. They were going to be the ones cornering Voldemort's forces and preventing them from escaping. Reaching the end and tossing open the door, the three students and one snorkack flew out and ran up the stairs.
"Hey, mates, nice of you to join us. The others are already heading out!" a grinning face called out in greeting and running along beside them. "Some crazy woman showed up a minute ago and said you'd catch up if you knew what was good for you."
"Tonks', mother arrived quickly," Luna said chuckling as they sprinted up the road to the gates.
George nodded. "Agreed. This is a long run…wish I had volunteered for something else…"
Fred snorted and rolled his eyes. "Think if we hadn't had all that cardio last year during the practices for the Triwizard!"
"Or this year with the DA," Luna commented.
"Whatever fitness program you got going for you, sheila, keep it up," the Australian Auror said raising his eyebrows at her. The twins were sweating and huffing around their words, Luna looked like she was out for an afternoon stroll; she was smiling, breathing easily and not even remotely flushed.
Luna just smiled and kept running. They reached the gates just in time to see the defenders slam into the rear of the Death Eaters. About twenty black cloaks fell before they turned and responded. Spells bounced off of the Aurors' shields and robes with only a few falling to green Killing Curses. Fred grabbed one of the vials off his belt and lobbed it into the main mass ahead. It had disappeared into the Death Eaters for barely a moment before an explosion rocked the grouping and shouts of pain and surprise rang out. The ground under the Death Eaters had just turned into a large swamp catching at least fifteen people in its muddy water. "George!"
"Got it!" his brother yelled tossing his own shimmering blue vial into the air and launching a spell at it. The two collided just over the new swamp with the resulting burst sending a bolt of lightning to the ground. The bolt hit the swamp water and the screams of the Death Eaters sounded for the barest of moments before abruptly cutting off as they fell to the ground twitching.
"Lightning-in-a-Bottle," George said laughing. "Never was able to make that one safe!"
Andromeda Tonks sidled up beside the new arrivals scowling. "Stop congratulating yourselves and get to fighting. This ends tonight. None escape!" She turned back to the fight and seeing a prime target jumped forward, her mouth curling up into a large grin. "Antonin, long time no see! Perhaps you'd like to answer for the insanity of my sister?"
Dolohov stepped from the line of Death Eaters and cocked his head with a chuckle. "Don't look at me Blood Traitor, that bitch was always crazier than a Lovegood."
"True, but you and the brothers gave her direction! We could've pointed her towards safer obsessions! I will not let you walk away!"
"Bring it, Tonks."
Andromeda's lips parted and her teeth bared in a toothy grin. "You forget…I'm still a Black at heart." Her wand whipped forward and a bone-breaker curse flew towards Dolohov who only barely managed to skip back a step and levitate a rock in the spell's path. Fred tried to assist Andromeda but his spell was batted to the side and the Tornado Can he threw after it was batted further down the line in an instant.
Andromeda scowled and shouted, "Get back, boy! He's mine!"
"Too confident by half, little Black!" Dolohov shouted back. Andromeda leaped over a Cruciatus and sent another bone-breaker at him. As Dolohov levitated another rock laughing, Andromeda smirked and leveled a Spiker rune stone with her other hand. As the debris from Dolohov's defense fell, his eyes widened at the giant spear leaping towards him. Hurriedly erecting a shield, the spike slammed against it shattering into hundreds of pieces…along with the shield itself. Andromeda's final spell had already left her wand and the organ-rot curse soared through the gap in defense splashing purple fire across his chest. Dolohov's eyes widened and his mouth fell open in shock before he keeled over, twitching for several seconds and then ceasing all movement.
"Who wants to tangle with the Black Family next?!" Andromeda screamed twisting her head in search of a new opponent.
Fred could only gape momentarily before running to catch up with his twin. "Bloody scary that one is. We don't mess with Tonks from now on, brother."
"Right you are, Fred," George replied. His head snapped up and he grinned. "What say you to taking out the Dark Incest Twins?"
Fred glanced in the direction that George indicated and snorted in amusement. It appeared that Amycus and Alecto had escaped Azkaban with Voldemort's raid and decided to join in on the fun. "I say we should remove them from the board. They give twins a bad name."
"Aye, that they do." George hefted one of his few remaining potion vials and tossed it towards the Death Eater siblings. As soon as the bottle smashed on the ground between them letting loose a green gas, both Carrows turned to glare at the Weasleys with wands raised. They tried to cast a curse, but the instead of the incantation only a donkey's braying issued from their mouths accompanied by a sparking from their wands.
"Careful of what you breath, folks!" Fred shouted as he sent a severing curse into their chests. His spell combined with George's simultaneously launched one nearly cut the evil siblings in two. Grinning both moved aside to clash with a new Death Eater.
A shout of rage immediately drew their attention to the left before they had gone more than a single step. "Get him, Coco! Tear his throat out! Show them the power of the crumple-horned snorkack!" It seemed all nearby battles stopped at that voice. For his part, Fred could only stare slack-jawed as the diminutive Coco, The Crumple-Horned Snorkack, tore at Mulciber's throat with her claws and teeth. A spray of blood flew from the man and his body started to fall. The snorkack immediately leaped off the dying man and onto the back of a WSS soldier tearing into the space between his shoulder blades and leading to a scream of pain issuing forth.
Cackling, Luna raised her wand and pointed it at a frozen form of a man staring in shock at the scene. Fred's eyes narrowed as he saw it was none other than Marcus Flint. That finally broke him from his paralysis and he started to run towards his blonde friend.
"Not so, Loony now am I, Flint! Let's see how you like being the one getting beaten down!" Luna was suddenly a blur of motion twisting and leaping and sidestepping across the grounds. She dodged every spell sent her way and flung conjured rocks towards those in her chosen path. In a matter of moments, Luna was next to Flint with her wand driving into his chest. The ex-student had enough time to sneer at her before Luna's reducto tore a large chunk from the middle of his body.
Luna turned to Fred and George with a smile that had dropped all pretense of her default persona. "Come on boys! We have a Kraken to unleash and wrackspurts to exterminate!"
Victor Krum jumped and knocked his girlfriend out of the way of a Killing Curse twisting as they fell to ensure she landed on the side away from the WSS crowd. Growling he rolled and transfiguring a wall of stone to cover their return to their feet. "These Vizarding Nazis are far more efficient than the others."
"Yeah," Millicent said glaring at the uniformed men. "But that just means we can feel even more accomplished when we kill them, Vik."
Viktor shook his head at her. "Millie, I vould much prefer a living woman attending my games then a satisfied corpse. You need to watch your left side."
"Oh I'll be at your games, big boy. You just focus on clearing us a path through the monsters and back towards Shiva's group. I'm not the only one bleeding."
Viktor shrugged. "It is nothing. Scratch. I've had vorse during practice sessions! Now grab your vand, Millie! Ve charge!" Turning to the crumbling wall, Viktor sent a large radius blasting curse at it sending the debris flying towards their foes. Shouts of surprise and grunts of pain greeted his maneuver and many of the WSS men dropped with their chests oozing streaks of blood. Millicent followed up his assault with a thrown Freezer and a flame whip. The spewing water flashed to steam and scalded Death Eaters and mercenaries dropped to the ground clutching their burned bodies.
Rushing through the gap, Viktor angled towards the island of safety. A flurry of spells at his back had him diving over Shiva's wards with Millicent half a step behind him. She cried out in pain and fell to floor next to him, most of her left foot mangled beyond repair. Millicent clung to him with one hand even as she leveled her wand and shot off a piercing spell dropping Scabior to the ground with a perfect hole through the center of his skull. "Gotcha fucker…"
"Medic!" was all that Viktor could scream as he hurriedly tried to cast the few healing spells he knew to staunch the blood flow.
"Looks like I'm not dancing anymore," Millicent muttered.
Viktor scowled and shook his head as a Healer dropped to his side. "You vill dance better than Mad-Eye Moody, I assure you of that."
Millicent gave a weak laugh and the Healer looked up at him shaking her head. "Carry her to the back of the group and have her use her portkey. I can't heal this here and she needs immediate attention."
"Da. You did well, Millicent. Now let us help you and I will pay them back tenfold." She smiled back at him and Viktor felt his heart warm. She would live and she would be fine.
As he levitated her out of sight of the attackers, Viktor couldn't help an errant thought…oh how the media would die when they learned their Quidditch hero was involved with someone missing part of a limb!
Tracey Davis had long since surpassed rage and settled into a wonderful neutral ground she liked to think of her Angry Place. Others probably called it something elegant like Tranquil Fury, but unlike some of her friends, she wasn't fancy like that. She also wasn't prone to Berserker moments like she'd recently learned Neville was. As she had ran out of the secret passage at the heels of Flitwick, Narcissa and her mother she was treated to the rare sight of Neville Longbottom, Former Shrinking Violet Extraordinaire, not only going toe-to-toe with Bellatrix Lestrange…but winning.
Her headlong rush nearly saw her tripping over her own two feet seeing Voldemort's Number Two placed on the defensive. Bellatrix was forced to block nearly every spell Neville sent her direction and those she ducked were wide enough – and powerful enough – to keep the line of Death Eaters behind her at bay.
"Well, fuck me sideways…" Tracey mumbled as Neville sent a Cruciatus Curse towards Bellatrix managing to strike her on the leg for an instant before her previously conjured rock smashed into the ground in front of her breaking the beam.
"Miss Snake cannot stand still in this place," a small tinny voice said beside her and a tiny hand clutched her free hand pulling her forward. "Miss Snake must keep moving to avoid being a target!"
Her trance snapped, Tracey looked down and raised an eyebrow at the House Elf running along with her. "Dobby, I thought you were attacking with your friends?"
"Dobby is attacking with his friends!" the elf said shaking his head. "House Elves popping the Aurors in around the sides. Dobby and Kreacher takes ours in and come to help our friends now!"
Tracey jerked her head up fast enough to see the ancient Black Family House Elf running full tilt towards Neville and Bellatrix holding a kitchen knife high and with the locket from Regulus Black on bouncing on his chest. Her eyes widened as the elf raised a hand and screamed, "Mistress Bella brings shame on the family! Kreacher will see Bad Mistress' head in the rubbish bin!"
"You tell her, Kreacher!" Neville shouted. "How's it feel to be insulted by your Aunt's own elf eh?!"
"Neville stop insulting her and kill her!" Susan snarled knocking him out of the way of an entrail-expelling curse. "I swear to Merlin, if you don't kill this bitch I am going to do it for you in a moment!"
"Aww, Widdle Baby Nev-Nev is getting yelled at by a girrrl!" Bellatrix mocked tossing a Killing Curse in their direction only to have it blocked by a thrown plate courtesy of Kreacher.
"That I am! Where's your husband, Bella? Oh right, he's sleeping with the Inferi now! What about your other boyfriend, Voldemort? He too much of a little coward to join you at the front?"
"How dare you mock the Dark Lord!" Bellatrix yelled and sent another Killing Curse towards the trio. Neville dodged to the side and a large grin split his face.
"I've been practicing something I think you'll appreciate, Bella," he shouted. Leveling his wand Neville shouted to Kreacher and Susan, "Kreacher, Sue, water after she dies! Fiendfyre!"
Tracey's mouth dropped open as a flaming bear issued forth from the tip of Neville's wand. She wasn't the only one shocked to stillness – it seemed like everyone turned to momentarily stare at Neville's use of the destructive flame curse. Bellatrix grabbed her chest obviously trying to portkey away only for her eyes to widen in shock as a spasm of pain wracked through her body and her legs fell out from under her. The flame animal bore down on her splitting into a griffin and a badger in addition to the bear. The three animals converged on the Death Eater whose screams rang through the area and abruptly cut off.
Water issued from Susan's wand and Kreacher's hands dousing the flames streaming from Neville's wand. The reduced flame creatures leapt into the line of Death Eaters felling two more before dying out completely.
Snorting in astonishment Tracey turned to the remaining enemies and froze. Her face warped into a scowl and she took a brief moment to force herself deeper into her Angry Place. Lucius Malfoy was directly ahead of her.
Tracey lunged forward, barely noticing the pitched duel to her side as Flitwick took apart Selwyn with a complicated spell chain or her mother screaming in rage at Avery before launching a blasting curse into his skull.
Her headlong rush towards the object her utter hatred was joined by Dobby and Narcissa. "My ex-husband is mine. Miss Davis you can – "
"That man almost got my soul drained in a teenage Voldemort wannabe and might as well have sicced a basilisk on my girlfriend and her partner! He is MINE!"
"Dobby will assist in killing Bad Old Master!"
Narcissa cast a glance at the other two and gave a short nod. "Very well, we do it together." Casting her gaze towards Malfoy, Narcissa shouted, "Lucius, dear, have you learned yet the difference between tradition and bigotry?" He whipped his head around, the blonde hair flying across his face not quite masking the shocked expression. "I suppose it doesn't matter because Hell doesn't particularly care about semantics!"
Tracey watched as Narcissa sent a flame whip streaming towards her ex-husband. Lucius parried with a shield and sneered at them. "A woman, a girl and an elf? You seriously think you can defeat me?!"
"Yes," Tracey responded narrowing her eyes. She punched her wand forward sending a Killing Curse towards the man who had nearly destroyed her life before she'd even had a chance to truly start it. Lucius' eyes widened as her spell streaked towards him. He tried to leap to the side yet a quick conjuration by Dobby had him smacking into a wall of stone and falling back directly into the path of Tracey's spell. The green beam struck Malfoy over the chest and he dropped bonelessly to the ground.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Tracey muttered lowering her wand slightly.
"Didn't think you had it in you, Davis. Well done," Narcissa nodded to her. "Our work isn't over yet."
"No, it isn't." Tracey turned and hurried forward looking for a new target to introduce to her Angry Place.
Gabrielle was not supposed to be here. She had been told to stay home. She had been told to 'stay safe'. She had been told she was 'too young'.
Like that was going to happen!
Her sister had been fighting this sadistic bigots for months. Her ex-crush-almost-big-brother had been fighting them for years. Her mother and father were fighting in the battle today. Her recent best friend, Tori, was fighting. Gabi would be damned if she was going to stay snuggled up at home!
So she'd snuck away from the elves, grabbed a broom and flew to the United Kingdom. Once she got over the border it had been easy to summon the Knight Bus and catch a ride to Hogwarts. She'd gotten lucky with the timing. She'd barely had a chance to grab a bite to eat from the kitchens and push down her remaining nausea from the Bus before the castle started going crazy. A dull gong reverberated through the walls and the sounds of running footsteps pounded outside the hidden door. Many of the elves dropped what they were doing and rallied around one particularly ancient fellow who started issuing soft orders.
Gabrielle wolfed down the last bite of her meal and hurried over to the elves arriving as several started to pop away. "Wait! Take me wiz you! I am 'ere to 'elp!"
The old elf turned to her and sized her up for a long moment. "You are not properly outfitted to assist in the castle's defense. Kilik can take you tos the ramparts to help those in the bombing locations."
"No," Gabrielle said vehemently shaking her head. "My entire family is running outside zis moment. I will not let zem fight alone. I am powerful and I am quick and I am Veela. I am better use outside zen in 'ere!" She paused long enough to reach into her little bag and whipped out one of Harry's cloaks and belts brandishing them to the elf triumphantly before hurriedly clipping both on. "And I come prepared."
Kilik chuckled quietly and nodded. "That you do Miss Fire. Allow Kilik to finish with sending off the others and I will take you to the French Aurors."
"Zank you," Gabrielle said bowing slightly and moving back to let the old elf work. She took the time to slip into the basilisk armor that Harry had gotten made for her a few weeks back. Once the suit was in place, she shifted forms just enough for her wings to poke out of the back of. With a slight frown, Gabrielle pulled at the edges of the armor in a slight realignment letting her wings slip out without any rubbing or chaffing. It was perfect. She sighed and allowed herself a brief moment of fantasy about what could have been had Fleur not been interested in Harry. Gabrielle would've had him all to herself and – shaking her head, Gabrielle scowled. Harry was not hers and she would let that distract her. Not when it could mean the difference between life and death.
"Is Miss Fire ready?" Kilik asked hobbling up to her.
"I am. Will you be safe popping into battle?" Gabrielle asked.
The elf smiled at her and nodded. "Kilik is old, but Kilik is not weak. I will be fine Mistress." He took her hand and with a brief apparition, both appeared on the edge of the group of Frenchmen and goblins. Gabrielle took a moment to orient herself and narrowed her eyes as she saw one of the nearby Auror's robes disintegrate as a Cruciatus Curse flashed through it and sent the woman sprawling to the ground. Gabrielle scowled and let go of Kilik's hand leaping forward. Her wand slashed down and a flame whip sprung to life cutting down several of the camouflaged men as well as one of the black cloaks.
Two severing curses sprang towards her and Gabrielle twisted avoiding both though she couldn't quite pull out of the way of a third. That one splashed across her armor leaving a small scorch mark but not even tickling her skin. Sneering at the man, Gabrielle sent a blasting curse towards him the spell punching through the weak shield and throwing the man back into the crowd of people behind him.
"Vampires! Zere are vampires!" a panicked shout rang out from her right. Gabrielle turned in time to see twenty of the demi-humans swarming her compatriots. Shrieking the young Veela Changed and as soon as her wings sprouted, she took to the air. She angled up enough to avoid an errant spell from a Death Eater and flicked her wand into its holster using both hands to form balls of passionfyre and lob them at the vampires. The fire incinerated three of them before the group scattered enough that she'd have to aim individually.
Peering down with narrowed, telescopic vision Gabrielle quickly picked out the two leaders of the vampire's charge. A dark skinned woman with shoulder length hair and a male a few paces away from her. The man had a huge, toothy grin on his face as he twisted from one target to another sometimes using his claws and sometimes swinging a large broadsword. Goblins and Aurors fell back from his berserker fighting yet a few still fell before him, their cloaks blunting, but not preventing, injuries. The woman was more clinical, she took the time to pick her targets – always young women – and ensured that each fell in a spray of blood.
"Papa!" Gabrielle yelled wheeling around in fear as she caught sight of her father in the path of the male vampire's blade. She hurried to form a fireball, but knew she'd be too late to save him.
"Not my 'usband you bastard!" a shout rang out carrying over the field. A ball of liquid fire smashing into the large vampire an instant before the sword hit her father bringing a brief dying scream from the unfortunate creature of the night. Gabrielle cheered for her mother as Apolline moved forward from the ranks raining deadly fireballs at all nearby vampires with each step.
Seeing the dark skinned vampire female turn to her mother with a predatory grin, Gabrielle's eyes narrowed again. "You will not 'ave zem," she muttered with a scowl. Forming two fireballs, she launched one into the path of the vampire expecting the woman to dodge backwards as she had done a few moments before with one of Apolline's.
The vampire noticed the passionfyre at the last moment and dodged. She laughed and yelled, "You'll have to do better than that to hit Gyokuro Shuzen!" Gabrielle merely smiled and raised her eyebrows as the vampire queen finally looked up only to see the second ball of fire a bare inch away from her face. She shrieked in disbelief and terror as Gabrielle's passionfyre coated her face quickly burning the woman to a crisp.
It was short work from there to finish off the remaining vampires and the defenders' forward momentum quickly resumed. As spells started to streak towards her again, Gabrielle dropped to the ground and curled her wings back in leaving her claws extended and her face partially morphed. The red-head she landed next to glanced towards her for a moment and started to laugh before turning back to the Death Eaters. "Welcome to the fight, Gabrielle. We never met, I'm Harry's mother. If you're parents haven't seen you by the end of this I'm totally going to hold this over you as leverage one day."
"Zat is fair," Gabrielle said grinning. "Shall we push forward?"
Su was at the forefront of the second wave of reinforcements streaming from the castle. These ones mostly included werewolves and Hogwarts students along with some British Aurors. As soon as the younger years had been evacuated and the Death Eaters had been halted far enough back, the professors threw open the doors to the Entrance Hall and Su ran out the door, leading the others. Her blood was raging and her vision was red. She should've gone with the first group of defenders, but she'd let Lupin and Katie convince her to stay behind. They'd said she stood a high chance of losing her wits once the fighting started and that the wolf would come to the fore leading her into situations she wouldn't be able to get out of. They'd said that she would be better off waiting with the second set of people as she'd have more allies around to back her up.
They didn't understand.
Even Katie, despite embracing the wolf unlike Lupin, didn't quite get it. Su loved the anger and rage that came from her partial curse. It fed into her natural inclination towards violence and the increased stamina let her both cast more spells faster and get up close and personal with her daggers. Su didn't need to fear the anger…she needed to feed it.
And feed it she had. She'd taken the time to stoke the fire inside and bring up as much of the werewolf as she had within her. Pepper-Ups were for pansies. This was where it was at.
As she charged outside, she noted with mild surprise that Lavender, Parvati and Colin were keeping pace with her. Nodding towards them, she sighted onto a primary target and yelled out pointing towards her chosen victim. The foursome subtly changed direction heading towards the hulking giant of a man in a pristine military uniform. With all the death and destruction he was doling out, the man had to be using a spell to keep his clothes clean. A spell that wouldn't play nicely with her blades. Cleaning spells never did like her daggers.
The man grabbed two of the people near him and smashed them together, both falling limp at his feet before he turned to the charging students. Chuckling he raised his eyebrows and readied his wand. "Come to play at war children? You have chosen poorly. I am General Schulz, last of Grindelwald's devouts and captain of the WSS. You have one chance to turn away before I destroy you."
Su sneered, but it was Lavender who shouted back first. "I am not just a pretty face you git! You attacked the wrong school! Parv!" She slashed her wand low and a bone-shattering spell flew out towards the Schulz while Parvati sent a bludgeoning spell high. Parvati's impacted on his shield while he batted aside Lavender's spell with his wand.
"Not bad little one! Shame you're on the wrong side!" Schulz retaliated with a volley of spells and the students scattered. Su continued on the straight path dodging everything sent her way as she closed the distance. Lavender and Parvati jumped to either side and continued running forward. Colin stuck just to Su's right, he jumped over a bright purple flame and lunged left sending a quick blasting spell towards the General followed by three piercing spells and a thrown Freezer. Su used the distraction to activate a Ninja rune and increase her speed even further.
Schulz managed to deflect and block all three of Colin's spells though his left foot was caught in the ice released by the rune stone. With a scowl of outrage, the WSS man slashed down to free his foot. His first spell didn't cut deep enough and he was forced to shift his attention back to the fight as the two Gryffindors sent another series of spells at him.
Su grinned with triumph as she finally closed the distance enough to make her move. She leapt, pulling her daggers and slammed both into Schulz's chest. The Ninja flickered and dispelled leaving the last remnant of Grindelwald's forces to stare in shocked amazement at the lithe teenager who had finally managed to best him. "The inferior subhumans send their regards. Burn in hell, arse!" Su growled and twisted her blades.
A gurgle was his only reply as his body crumpled beneath her. Su leaped off and turned to the others. "Next victim?" she asked. Colin just raised his hand to the left and pointed. She grinned and took off running falling in behind Lavender and Parvati.
Harry hovered over the battlefield on his Firebolt with Tonks on her own broom next to him to the right and Fleur beating her wings on the left. All three were using linked Ninjas in order to maintain sight of each other while remaining invisible to the main combatants below. He had his father's cloak wrapped around his waist just in case he needed to drop the runic invisibility in order to cast spells. He'd also grabbed the wand he'd taken from Dumbledore in the hospital wing just to be safe. While Harry may prefer runes, one could never be too careful and two wands was better than one.
"My insane aunt is going straight for Neville…dammit I need to get down there to help," Tonks murmured beside him.
Harry shook his head and reached over to lay a hand on her arm. "Nym, we need you up here. Neville can take care of himself and he has backup already en route. He'll be fine and Bellatrix won't make it through. You can't take this from him. It's as personally to Nev as Riddle is to me."
Tonks frowned and hovered in place for a long moment before nodded slowly. "Okay. Okay, I'll stay. Someone has to watch your arses."
"I can't believe he hasn't shown himself yet," Fleur said. Her eyes constantly roved over the Death Eater forces searching in vain for their target. "I zought he would be at ze front…"
"Too dangerous up there," Harry sighed. "He knows I know he's coming and that we probably got something set up in advance." He watched as a large swathe of Death Eaters were mown down by more fire from the Mortar Circles around the castle embankments. "Thank Merlin he severely underestimated us."
The trio fell in silence as the battle continued below them. All their hands flexed towards their wands while Harry had to constantly fight the itch of his tattoos as his magic surged with each scream of pain from their side. The minutes ticked by and he started to sweat beneath his armor.
"What if he didn't come? What if this was all for nothing? What is if this was just a feint?"
Tonks snorted and shook her head. "No way. You don't commit this size of a force to a feint. He's here. He's just letting them soften us up for him. He still thinks he's invincible remember."
"Ze acromantulas have arrived," Fleur murmured gesturing to the forest as a horde of spiders as large as cars came skittering out of the woods. Harry couldn't help the shudder that ran down his spine at seeing those creatures. He silently thanked whatever god was watching for not having personally run into any of those outside of the Triwizard Tournament. He'd almost rather face Voldemort than be surrounding by the chattering horde of nightmares.
Suddenly a sheet of black and brown launched at high speed from the tree line two hundred yards down. The rain of arrows could very well have blacked out the sky below them, there were so many. "And there go the centaurs," Tonks said with a smirk. "Remind me never to piss those guys off."
The majority of the acromantulas died screeching under the first volley. The second killed off the slower spiders while the fireballs launched from the Auror contingent hiding in the woods nearby finished off the rest. A few lucky survivors turned spinneret and skittered back into the forest. "That was almost anticlimactic," Tonks murmured.
Harry shrugged and turned his eyes back to the Death Eaters. "That was preparation. They may have numbers, but so do we. Know where they're coming from and with a bit of warning, a trap can be just as easily turned into an ambush."
Tonks turned to Fleur and raised her eyebrows. "Look at our little general. He does know we've been watching this whole thing right next to him yeah?"
"He is busy. It may have slipped his notice," Fleur said. She sighed and shook her head. "All joking aside, I am beginning to question the wisdom of zis. Perhaps ze little man truly did turn tail…"
"Giants, on the right," Harry said glaring off to the side of the lake. "Damn…Shiva's wards aren't going to hold against those…we need to – what the bloody freaking hell!"
A loud roar echoed across the battlefield and nearly everything stopped moving. Harry's trio was rocked with the slipstream of a massive form streaking past them at high speed forcing Fleur to briefly grab onto his broom before she got the wind under her wings again. Harry caught a brief glimpse of short-cropped, flaming red hair and a cackle of glee as the shape flew by. "Go get them, Norberta! Dinner is served! Roasted giants coming right up!"
Harry could only stare slack-jawed at the gigantic form of Norberta the Norwegian Ridgeback, formerly known as Norbert Hagrid's Pet Dragon. The black scaled monster was being ridden by an ecstatic man waving one arm in the air like he was on some American western riding his horse into a gunfight. "I don't believe it…Mum actually got a bloody dragon…"
"Looks like Charlie is having a grand time," Tonks said tracking the dragon's path and shaking her head with wide eyes. "Aligning with your family has been the smartest thing I have ever done bar nothing…Wonder Boy even has bloody dragons following in his wake…"
Norberta roared again and let loose with a large ribbon of flame that streaked out engulfing the lumbering giants whole. Harry could smell the burnt flesh from his perch and he had to blink his eyes in astonishment as Norberta cut off her attack and swooped around to pick off the two remaining giants she'd missed on the first pass.
As her flame issued forth a cry of utter rage and hatred cut through the silent battlefield. Immediately, a large, green spell lanced out streaking up towards the dragon. The Killing Curse abruptly cut off the gout of flame though Norberta seemed otherwise unaffected despite shaking her head swiftly from side to side. A red beam lanced towards the dragon next and while this one still didn't kill the beast she was obviously affected as a roar of pain was unleashed. Charlie shouted something and Norberta swung wide arcing back out over Hogsmeade.
Harry scowled and turned his gaze to where the spells had come from. His eyes finally locked on his prey as Voldemort lowered his wand and shouted something to the men around him. "He's here!"
"So is Nagini!" Fleur shouted, her talons extending and her voice growing garbled. "I 'ave ze snake!"
"Barty's riding Number Two in place of Aunt Bella. I got him," Tonks yelled. "Harry, don't be a hero or you will have at least six very angry witches attempting to resurrect you before the night is over!"
Harry nodded and set his mouth into a thin line. He turned his Firebolt towards the ground and streaked towards Voldemort while Fleur screeched and wrapped her wings in, diving to the rainbow aura surrounding the airborne serpent next to the murderer. To his other side Tonks was arcing down as well, matching the other two in speed and intent. All three picked their targets and launched a volley of spells, fire and explosions immediately prior to hitting the ground.
In the haze of the debris, Harry leapt off his broom, hurriedly tucking it into his robe pocket and sending a full power knockback blast from his tattoo towards Voldemort's position followed immediately by a large spike and a Feedback Stone. An angry scream sounded from the cloud of dust and dirt and a shockwave swept all of the airborne particles shooting outwards. Harry ducked and raised a shield feeling the impact of several larger pieces of stone. As the field cleared, he saw Voldemort standing tall in the center of the carnage with a trickle of blood dripping from the side of his head. Harry had just enough time to see Fleur raining fireball after fireball on the rapidly flashing flying prison ball that Voldemort's familiar was ensconced in to the left and Tonks sending a hail of multicolored spells towards Barty Crouch Jr. to his right.
In front of him Voldemort's eyes narrowed and he raised his wand bowing his head ever so slightly to Harry. "Congratulations, boy. You have accomplished what no one else has in decades. You have wounded me."
"Yeah, well, I think I've done that more times than I can count now. Or have you forgotten recent history, Tom?" Harry quipped rising back to his feet and fingering his wand.
"You should have killed me while you had the chance, Harry Potter. You won't get a second opportunity now…" Voldemort hissed.
Harry smirked forcing down the shiver of fear and refusing to let it show to his nemesis. "And make you a wraith again? Not going to happen, Tom. In case you missed it, my friends and I have been busy. And our work is almost done."
Voldemort's eyes widened as he glanced to Nagini in time to see the cage flare again. Fleur was stripping away his protections at a ridiculous pace. Harry had to remember to recommend she join Bill as a curse-breaker full time if they all survived this. Voldemort's finger briefly flew to his left hand and caressed a large ring centered on it. Harry grinned and drew the monster's attention back to him. "Nice ring you have there, Tom. Care to let me take a look or do I have to cut it off of you?"
The move succeeded and Voldemort's lips curled in rage baring his teeth at Harry. He raised his wand and let loose a volley of spells that Harry had never even heard of let alone seen before.
Thankfully one does not intentionally goad a villain without having a valid plan. Harry jumped backward twisting into Midnight midair and leaping into a shadow of a particularly large chunk of rock. The ice pressed in on him for only a brief moment before he was through and clawing up Voldemort's back. He jumped again as the man turned with a whip of flame streaming from the tip of his wand. Another short hop through the shadows had him emerging from another boulder next on Voldemort's flank. This time, Harry changed back as soon as he was clear and summoned the Sword of Gryffindor.
As his momentum swept him towards Voldemort, the man's eyes widened and he tried to dodge back throwing a hand up in front of his face. Harry's mouth set in a thin line and he swung the sword hoping his play would work. In a rare turn of fortunes, a plan made by Harry Potter did not fall apart upon execution for once – the Sword swept an arc through the arc and managed to nick half the ring as well as Voldemort's finger.
Twin screams of pain immediately issued forth dampening sound in the immediate area. One lingered and a black wisp dissipated in the air above the ring with the remaining pieces falling into Harry's hand as his jump completed and landed him on the other side of Voldemort. The second scream however almost immediately cut off and Voldemort turned to Harry with eyes blazing red.
"Shite. I was really hoping the sword did eat souls…" Harry muttered as he changed his stance and slipped the remainder of the ring into his pocket.
Voldemort uttered a short laugh and shook his head. "Harry, Harry, Harry…it does." He roughly pulled back his sleeve and exposed a copy of the Dementor Anchor tattooed onto his flesh right beneath the Dark Mark. "I did not come unprepared for you. I chose you as a baby for a reason, Harry Potter. You have proven yourself formidable. You may have destroyed my anchors, but I will be the one standing when this day is through. And with this lovely little mark coupled with intricate study of your doppelganger's antics I have no doubt I will achieve an even stronger, more complete version of immortality. This setback is nothing to the magical god I will become!"
"You're insane!" Harry whispered, his jaw falling open slightly at Voldemort's rant.
Voldemort merely laughed and lifted his wand issuing forth a bright light that split into several glowing balls and hung over head blanked out the surrounding shadows enough to ensure Harry's options as Midnight had effectively been neutered. "Let us see you leap around now, Potter. Shall we duel again?"
Harry spared a brief glance to each side. Fleur had removed all but one of the shimmering protections around Nagini. Tonks had backed Barty into a corner next to a ditch, the actor having managed to hold his own so far, but Harry watched as her severing spell left him far more easily able to complete his Mad-Eye Moody impersonation. The surrounding Death Eaters on all sides had been forced to turn and confront the lines of Hogwarts defenders that closed ranks and pressed in on the center.
Unfortunately, none of his allies were close enough to assist Harry in this fight. He swept his eyes back to Voldemort who had raised his wand again with a sadistic smile plastered on his face. Harry's gaze widened in horror as he realized that the murderer wasn't pointing at him but at Fleur.
"NO!" Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Harry's hand slammed into his utility belt and wrenched off a rune stone flooding it with magic as Voldemort uttered the words he feared most.
"Avada…" The magic in the stone snapped into the proper channels and flowed out. Harry tossed the carved piece into the space between him and Voldemort as it lit a pure white. "Kedavra!" The tip of Voldemort's wand glowed green and the beam speared out. The white light from the rune stone burst into a cage of energy spreading out wide enough to encompass an area approximately ten yards under its bubble. The Killing Curse slammed into the dome of white a split second after it stabilized and an unholy screech of power burst forth. The curse arced up and as it collided with the top of the dome another screech of roiling magic sounded. The curse deviated down this time and crashed into the ground a few feet from a staring Voldemort. Both times the curse had touched the dome of light it had visibly faded and the wall flashed bright, growing more solid.
An instant later, Harry heard the protections around Nagini shattering and the dying scream of the snake as it went up in a pillar of fire. A muffled curse sounded from Barty as Tonks finished off her work and twin shouts of denial echoed from his partners as they turned to see him encased within a Fortress of Solitude.
Voldemort cast a critical gaze between the wall of semi-solid light and the smaller dome of light encasing the rune stone before turning back to Harry. "The source is similarly protected."
"It is."
"Password locked I assume."
Harry nodded. "Of course. Even if I die in here, Tom, you will too. It may take you days – or weeks depending on what modifications you made to your body – to succumb, but even you need to drink. One way or another, you end here."
Voldemort's eyes narrowed to slits and his lips curled. "I can simply pry the key from your mind before I slaughter you, Potter."
"The last time you tried to mind rape me you were sent pinwheeling out of my head. And that was when I was handicapped by a backdoor. This time I don't have that problem," Harry said standing tall. "I've already won, Tom. Your army is destroyed, your allies dead, your followers decimated, your Horcruxes gone and you are trapped. Accept the loss with dignity, Lord Voldemort. It's over."
"It will NEVER BE OVER! I AM IMMORTAL!" Voldemort shouted. His wand flashed out and Harry had to leap to the side to avoid the purple flame sent his way. It splashed against the shield wall and strengthened the magical protections feeding the vampire circuit built into the stone. Harry mused briefly on how something he'd idly discussed with Shiva during their very first meeting was now something that factored into his final battle with murderer obsessed with destroying everything he'd ever cared about.
Voldemort sent another flurry of spells flying towards Harry and he flung out a hand directing a knockback blast towards him from his tattoo as he dodged again raising a wall of stone behind him to shield against some of the spells. Voldemort barely even reacted to Harry's attack and simply launched more curses at him.
Harry raised another wall and jumped to the side again this time raising a Chain Reactor Beam from his belt and channeling the blast of devastation towards his enemy. Voldemort's oncoming spells were engulfed by the beam, but the man himself sneered and twisted out of the path of magic letting it splash into the dome and intensify the magic holding them captive. Harry felt a slight twitch of his lips before he clamped down on that and jumped again raising more blocking walls as he ran. He skidded to a halt, blocking several of Voldemort's oncoming spells and dodging backwards, raising more of the ground in front of him.
"McGonagall better give me an O for all this Transfiguration if I live to see tomorrow," Harry panted as he ran to the side and slammed his arms together. A burst of lava seared his arms as the Lava Bomb forced Voldemort to dodge to the side. Harry tracked his foe for a moment before the pain grew too intense and he had to wrench his arms back apart. Quickly running again he raised more walls as he twisted into a new location and activated his Silver Spirit sending the spectral entity streaking towards Voldemort. The man let loose a controlled blast of Fiendfyre as he dodged to the side and Harry immediately cut the Spirit before it could be engulfed. He didn't need a repeat of the last time it had died.
Voldemort wasn't quite as fast with ceasing his spell and as the hellfire made contact with the white dome the entirety of it began to be sucked in. Voldemort fell to his knees before managing to cut off the spell. Scowling, the Dark Lord issued forth a Cruciatus at Harry. He tried to dodge backwards but tripped and fell on a loose stone. Knowing if he was hit with the curse there was a chance it would punch through his armor and leave him vulnerable, Harry brought his hand up and caught it spell on his War Gauntlet.
Pain more intense than anything previous arced through him as the power of the spell was channeled along his arm, around his back and out through his other palm. The torture curse lanced out from his right hand and back towards Voldemort who was forced to dive out of the way. Harry raised more walls around him and took a brief moment to force down the pain that threatened to send him into unconsciousness. He wouldn't be able to use those gauntlets again. They'd likely have disintegrated anyway judging from the way the magical radiation backlash had seared into his skin under the armor.
Stumbling to his feet Harry tried to run out and sight on Voldemort. Unfortunately the damage from his use of the incomplete Gauntlets proved to be more than he had anticipated. Stumbling, Harry fell to the ground in the open as Voldemort stood smiling down at him. Harry activated the Boomstone and felt the vibrations of the amplified sound rattling his teeth and bones. Voldemort flinched back and raised his wand to his ears as Harry hurriedly raised his final set of walls behind him and finished off his transfiguration below on the ground below him etching a small circular divot into the ground.
Harry released the Boomstone and crawled back slightly while Voldemort walked over to stand above him. "Would you like to 'accept your loss with dignity', Harry Potter? You have fought well. Far better than I would have ever expected from one so young. But you could never have surpassed me. I have decades of experience on you, hundreds more spells in my repertoire, a complete lack of conscious to hold me back…what do you have?"
Harry let out a weak laugh his injuries and fatigue showing. "I know I could never beat you one on one Voldemort. Not with spells. You're right. How is a teenager who hasn't even finished school supposed to win that fight?" Harry grinned as his hand slipped into the hole he'd transfigured next to the Fortress stone. "The answer, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is with misdirection. Family first!" he shouted slamming his hand into the point at the center of the hole hard enough to draw blood.
Several things happened simultaneously at that point. The first was that the dome of light contracted back into the rune stone as the password was given. The second was that Voldemort's eyes widened in sudden fear that he had missed some critical element. The third was that all of the surrounding transfigured walls that Harry had constructed lit up with a golden glow circling inwards from the edges. The light immediately spilled into the central hole Harry's hand was wedged in, a hole exactly in the center of his newly formed transfigured runic pattern etched from the very ground around him.
The buildup took less than a second. The magical energy from the ley line underneath Hogwarts channeling through the Livewire runic circle and arcing through Harry. His right hand came up and the roiling power spewed forth. Voldemort had just enough time to raise his wand and cast the most powerful set of shields he knew as Harry glowed from within and the line of raw magic blazed towards the Dark Lord. The energy beam quickly sheared through all of the protection that Voldemort had managed to erect and hit him full on. The power sent him soaring backwards and smashing to the ground before continuing on scorching the side of the mountain in several dozen miles in the distance.
With a primal roar, Harry pulled his hand free of the channeling segment and the Livewire fell silent. Panting Harry flopped back to the ground amazed that the energy inherent in the system had actually managed to channel correctly and not burn him to crisp from the inside out. With a groan he rolled over and lifted his head enough to see Voldemort meekly clawing for his charred wand three feet from his hands. It was pointless since the man's lower body had been twisted beyond recognition and only his right hand and eyes seemed to be working at all.
"How…are you…still…alive?" Harry panted.
"Because cockroaches always manage to survive until you have them directly under your heel," a cold voice came from the surrounding crowd of onlookers followed immediately by a second voice saying, "And yet when it comes down to a cockroach versus a man…the man wins every time." Harry blinked up and let his head fall back to the ground tracking the two voices with his eyes alone. Those icy tones probably sent shivers of fear through many in the crowd, but to him it resulted in a far different type of shiver. Daphne Greengrass stepped forward from the crowd with Hermione in lock-step with her.
Both girls looked disheveled, Daphne's normally bound hair was loose and plastered to her face and back by an assortment blood and dirt. Her armor was scorched in multiple places and one of her ears was bleeding. Hermione had a large amount of her hair singed off all-together along with a missing pinky on her left hand and she had managed to lose a boot somewhere. Together they strode forward to stand beside the prone Harry, Daphne on his right and Hermione on his left.
"My Right and Left Hands," Harry murmured trying and failing to stifle the urge to laugh at the absurdity of his joking titles for the two girls playing into the conclusion of this drama and the final note of the prophecy.
"Mione?" Daphne asked never removing her gaze from Voldemort's increasingly frantic scrabbling.
"Ready when you are, Daph," Hermione responded leveling her wand at the creature that had haunted their nightmares for so long.
"Goodbye, Tom Marvolo Riddle, do try not to come back this time," Daphne said. "REDUCTO!" she and Hermione both shouted. The twin spells lashed forth and Voldemort's body was reduced to nothing more than ashes.
Death Eaters And Their Allies Death Tally:
-Acromantulas: Centaurs and Aurors
-Alecto and Amycus Carrow: Fred and George
-Avery: Marian Davis
-Barty Crouch Jr.: Tonks
-Bella: Neville, Kreacher and Susan
-Crabbe: Previously killed in Azkaban Breakout
-DE's Rank and File: House Elves, Goblins and Aurors
-Dolohov: Andromeda
-Elmont: Sébastien and Apolline
-Flint: Luna
-General Schulz: Su, Lavender, Parvati and Colin
-Giants: Norberta ridden by Charlie
-Goyle: Previously killed by Fleur at the World Cup
-Gyokuro Shuzen: Gabrielle
-Lestrange Brothers: Previously killed by Inferi in The Cave
-Macnair: Previously killed by Remus in the Avery Manor Infiltration
-Malfoy: Tracey and Dobby
-Mercenaries: Australians and Bulgarians
-Mulciber: Coco
-Nagini: Fleur
-Nott: Previously killed by Harry in the Graveyard
-Peter Pettigrew: Sirius and Remus
-Rookwood: Previously killed by Shacklebolt in his Final Stand
-Rowle: McGonagall
-Scabior: Krum and Millicent
-Selwyn: Filius
-Travers: Lily
-Umbridge: Previously killed by Shiva during the Final Task
-Yaxley: Previously killed by Remus in the Avery Manor Infiltration
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