Forsaken
folder
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
50
Views:
2,164
Reviews:
4
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
50
Views:
2,164
Reviews:
4
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
The Battle of Hogsmeade
Chapter 30 - The Battle of Hogsmeade
Ever so slowly, the sun rose over the edge of the mountains. The sky was absolutely clear, not a cloud in sight. The sunlight drifted in through the window, illuminating Harry’s pale face above his black robes. He glanced down at the badge in his hand, rubbing his thumb over the gold ‘C’ set against the red background. His thoughts drifted back to a Christmas six years ago -- thoughts of family, of longing, and a mirror. He stepped over to his bedside table and put the badge inside an envelope. He tucked the flap inside and set the letter beside Ron’s alarm clock on his way out of the room.
~+~
Neville held his wand above his head, watching Pansy carefully as she walked a little ways down the secret passageway leading to the basement of the Hog’s Head. He stuck his hand in his pocket, pulling out a small slip of paper. He smiled a little to himself as he flipped the paper in his fingers.
“What’s that?” asked Pansy. Neville started violently, hiding the gum wrapper in his hand.
“Nothing,” he said unconvincingly. He glanced at her fallen face as she walked past him. He bit the inside of his cheek. He had never told anyone about the gum wrappers or why they were so important to him. Maybe he could tell her, though. Maybe she would understand.
“You promise not to laugh?” he asked, spinning around to look at her turned back. Pansy stopped and turned towards him.
“Of course,” she said. He walked up to her and hesitantly held out the wrapper, shining his wand over his hand so she could see it. She gently took it from him, looking back up at his face.
“My mum and dad don’t really recognize me when I go to see them,” said Neville quietly. “Sometimes I think they do, but the Healers think I’m mental. Every time I go, my mum hands me a gum wrapper. I don’t know if they mean anything, or if they’re just something odd that she does now, but I thought maybe today they’d be a bit of good luck for me. Like they were right there beside me and that they were proud of me.” Pansy took his hand and gently pressed the wrapper into it.
“I think they would be very proud of you,” said Pansy. “These wrappers are very lucky.”
“They are?” asked Neville skeptically. She stood on her tip toes and kissed his cheek.
“Yes,” she said simply. He smiled and offered her his arm.
~+~
Ginny frowned at her hair in the mirror. She huffed and picked up her brush again, pulling her thick red locks back into a ponytail like she had it twenty minutes before. She put her brush back into her make-up bag and walked out of the bathroom into the dorm room. She stuck the small bag into her satchel and looked around one last time for anything she might have missed the night before. The brown paper that had housed her robes lay scattered over her bed. She wadded up the paper and shot it at the wastebasket in the corner of the room. She grinned as it hit the bottom of the basket. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she made her way down to the commons room.
She stepped off the staircase just as Ron came down the boys’ staircase. They both stopped, staring at one another in awkward silence.
“Hey sis,” said Ron shyly. He glanced down at the note in his hand. “Harry says I’ll need a new Chaser and a new Seeker.” He looked back up at her. “How in the hell am I supposed to find two good players in the middle of the season?” Ginny smiled a little, bending her head to look down at her robes.
“I’m sure you won’t have any problems finding a replacement for me,” she said sadly, realizing once again what she was leaving behind. Ron snorted softly.
“No one could replace you, Gin,” he said, his voice barely audible. She looked up and saw him bite his lip, knowing he only did that to keep himself from crying.
“Ron,” whispered Ginny as she ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck. He hugged her back fiercely.
They stood like that for a long time, tears streaming down both their faces. Ginny hesitantly let Ron go, pulling back to see his blue eyes shining at her. She smiled at him and walked towards the portrait hole.
~+~
Harry picked a blade of the dead grass and twirled it between his fingers as he leaned back against the cold stone of the white marble tomb. The slight numbing of his skin was enough to calm his racing mind, giving him focus and clarity.
His head shot up at the sound of noise coming from the castle. He looked around the edge of the tomb and saw the first trickling of students come out the front doors of the castle. He pushed himself up and took a deep breath, resting his hand on top of Albus’s tomb.
“Be with us today, sir,” whispered Harry.
~~+~~+~~+~~
A grey cloud drifted slowly over Hogsmeade. Another joined it. Soon, a whole army of clouds had covered the entire village in shadow. A sharp, cold breeze whipped over the nearby mountains into the valley, stirring the dust of the road up into the air and onto the black winter cloaks of the young people walking and running and shouting at their friends across the way.
The whispers followed him down the street, hissing accusations and hearsay, each word beating against his ears for entrance. He ignored them, hearing nothing but the scuffing of his boots on gravel as the rumormongers fled from him. His sharp eyes darted back and forth as he crouched low beside the wall of the post office, counting the members of a large group outside Honeydukes.
Twenty -- thirty-five. All of them third years or below. Ravenclaws. Hufflepuffs. A lone Slytherin - Oriah Baxter. A half-blood in a sea of pureblooded prejudice. She was absolutely horrible at Potions - almost as bad as Longbottom. But not quite, he thought, smiling to himself.
A breeze blew across his face, bringing with it the putrid smell of rotting flesh. His eyes widened as he looked up. His hands shook slightly as black-cloaked figures swooped down on the town amid ear-shrieking screams.
“EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
An angry white lioness bounded down the street, with Ginny following after it, shouting directions. He met a pair of eyes behind a white mask across the road and nodded quickly. He ran around the backside of the building and touched his wand to the ground.
“God have mercy on my soul,” murmured Severus. He lifted his left hand above his head. “Reducto maxima!” He immediately brought his wand up to meet his raised hand, casting a shield over himself as the post office exploded in a shower of brick, glass, and feathers.
~+~
Caitlyn ran as fast as she could down the main street, pulling on the arms of several first years.
“Come on girls!” she cried. “Just a little further, I promise!” Terrified pants and whimpers answered her. She slid to a stop as two Death Eaters jumped out into her path.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Caity Moon,” said a deep, male voice from behind one of the masks. Caitlyn sneered at him, pushing the first years behind her. She could feel them clutch at her robes, essentially immobilizing her legs. She fired several stunners at the masked men, knocking one of them unconscious. The other seemed to lose the courage without his comrade and ran down a side street. She frowned, feeling a sharp tugging on her robes. She turned around and felt an ice cold grip tighten around her heart as she stared into the darkened face beneath a black hood.
~+~
“CRUCIO!”
Harry dove onto the ground, rolling out of the way of the red beam of light. He shot into a crouching position, his vivid green eyes boring into the furious face of Bellatrix Lestrange.
“God, Bella,” said Harry loudly, ducking another spell. “Your reaction time is horrible.” He commenced firing every spell and hex that came to mind, ducking, dodging and diving out of the way of her spells. They were both rocked by the explosion to Harry’s left. Bellatrix was lifted and thrown through the boarded-up window of Zonko’s. Harry flew into a side alley, landing hard on his back. He gasped for breath, coughing a little as dust and debris fell from above him. A soft whimper echoed up from farther down the alley. He pushed himself to his hands and knees and scrambled towards the sound. His stomach dropped at the sight of a woman slumped against the wall, her eyes blank, her face frozen in a look of horror. He reached out his hand.
“Mummy won’t wake up,” said a tiny voice, causing Harry to pull his hand back sharply. “That big black thing made her sleepy.” A dirt-streaked face peered out behind a large rubbish can overflowing with candy wrappers. Harry glanced down the alleyway and gently pulled the little girl out from behind the can.
“Are you okay?” asked Harry soothingly. “Are you hurting anywhere?”
“My arm hurts,” said the girl, holding out her scraped arm. “And I’m cold.” Harry smiled despite himself, unclasping his cloak from around his shoulders.
“My name is Harry,” he said. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Anna,” she said shyly, her big, blue eyes staring fearfully out of her face.
“And how old are you, Anna?” asked Harry, lighting his wand and looking her over for any other injuries.
“Three and a half,” she answered. Harry wrapped her in his cloak and cast a weak Warming spell on it.
“Well, Anna,” he said lightly, “how would you like to come with me to Hogwarts for a little while?”
“Really?” asked Anna. “Mummy said I couldn’t go until I was older!” He swallowed thickly, forcing the smile to stay on his face.
“Today must be your lucky day then,” he said. He raised the hood over her head and picked her up in his arms. “But you have to be very quiet on the way there, okay?”
“Okay,” said Anna softly, brushing a lock of her curly brown hair out of her face. Harry cradled her against his chest and edged slowly towards the opening of the alleyway, watching the fighting escalate as the squadron of Aurors joined the fray. The Death Eaters who were still conscious quickly fled, leaving their fallen colleagues lying in the street. Harry caught Kingsley’s gaze and jerked his chin at him.
“Secure the main drag!” shouted Kingsley. “Check those buildings for survivors.” He walked over and leaned heavily against the brick wall.
“How bad is it?” asked Harry softly. Kingsley glanced down at the tiny, shivering bundle in his arms. Harry motioned over his shoulder, wordlessly showing him the girl’s Kissed mother.
“I don’t know,” said Kingsley. “We haven’t started rounds for survivors yet.” Harry sighed sadly, rubbing Anna’s back.
“I’ve got to get her back to the castle,” he said. “She needs some chocolate and a bit of bruise paste.”
“I’ll come find you as soon as I can,” said Kingsley. He ran off down a side street. Harry glanced down and pulled Anna tighter against him as he stepped out into the street. He carefully picked his way through the rubble, making his way towards the Hog’s Head off the high road.
He ducked into the dark pub, his boots crunching over the broken glass from the shattered front window. A tall, elderly wizard ran out from a back room, his wand drawn.
“Oh, it’s you,” he said. He aimed his wand towards the wall and fired off a patronus. “Two of your friends came through here a few minutes ago with a bunch of other students - the Longbottom boy and a Korean girl.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Harry quietly. Aberforth gave him a warm smile, making him look more like his older brother.
“My pleasure, Potter,” he said. “Go on now.” Harry nodded and walked towards him. As he slipped past the older man, Aberforth grabbed his arm.
“Tell Severus thank you for me,” he said. He gave Harry a quick wink and strode swiftly towards the door. Harry scoffed to himself and climbed down the staircase to the basement. Mental, the whole lot of them, he thought to himself.
“You still okay, Anna?” asked Harry as he stepped off the staircase and walked towards the far wall.
“Yeah,” she said tremulously. His heart broke at hearing her sniffle. He quickened his steps, the edge of his cloak flapping gently against his leg from where it hung below Anna’s small feet.
He came to a stop facing a brick wall. He pressed his hand against a brick at chest level and pushed, peeking out through the gap that appeared in the wall. He sighed angrily and shook his head, eyeing the chaos of Aurors, students, and parents running around chaotically in the corridor. He flicked his wand into his hand.
“Do you know what a Disillusionment charm is, Anna?” he asked softly, lifting the child up to look at her face. She shook her head.
“It makes you invisible,” whispered Harry, giving her a mischievous grin. “I’m going to cast it on you, okay? You have to be extra quiet so that no one will find us.”
“Okay,” she whispered, her voice tinged with a hint of wariness. Harry gently tapped her head, feeling her shiver as the spell trickled down her neck. He rapped the wand over his head and waited until he felt his toes tingle.
“Alright, here we go,” he whispered. He pushed open the wall just enough for him to slip through and closed it behind him. He hurried away from the crowd down the fifth floor corridor, looking for a staircase down to the hospital wing. He nearly bumped into a harassed Flitwick trying to calm a set of hysterical parents as he slid down a set of crowded steps.
He stopped a ways down the second floor corridor and cancelled the charms on himself and Anna before striding confidently towards the small crowd outside the infirmary doors.
“No one is allowed in here unless you are an immediate family member!” shouted Tonks, who was standing guard, her dark green Auror robes ripped along her right arm. She pointed her wand at a slimy-looking man trying to sneak around behind her.
“OI! YOU WITH THE CAMERA! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! No ma’am, I’m sorry, no one but immediate family.” The chatter and shouting died down a little as they spotted Harry.
“Harry Potter.”
“It’s him.”
“He’s on the Minister’s list -“
Harry politely made his way through the crowd towards Tonks.
“Hey,” he said as he stepped up next to her. “You alright out here?”
“I will be eventually,” she muttered. “Have you seen Kingsley around?”
“He’s in town cleaning up,” said Harry. He pulled back the hood of his cloak slightly, revealing Anna’s frightened face. “You think you can let me in?” She smiled kindly at the little girl.
“Of course,” she said. She pulled the door open a little and held the swarming crowd back. “HEY! Not you, just him. He’s got a patient! Let him through, you lot!”
Harry squeezed in through the door and pulled it shut behind him. The hospital ward was very quiet, the result of layers of Silencing charms over the door. His stomach plummeted at the sight of the many beds that had been conjured and squeezed into every possible space. He readjusted Anna on his hip, his arms tired of holding her despite her lightness as he looked around for a familiar face.
“Potter,” said a soft, weary voice to his right. He walked towards Minerva, vaguely recognizing the pale boy beside her.
“Euan Abercrombie,” she said. “Third year. We can’t figure out what curse he was hit with. We’ll have to send him to St. Mungo’s as soon as his parents get here.” She bent her head to see under Harry’s cloak.
“Her mother was Kissed,” said Harry. “I found her in an alley. She needs some bruise paste and a chocolate bar, if you have any.”
“I don’t know if I have any of either left,” said Minerva. “Ambrosius Flume sent over all the chocolate he had at Honeydukes, but as you can imagine, we’ve been giving it out left and right. The house elves are making as much fudge as they can down in the kitchens as well. As for bruise paste, I gave most of it to Ron and Hermione to distribute to the prefects.” She walked over to the far wall and dug around inside a box on the floor.
“No, I’m afraid I’m out right now,” said Minerva, shaking her head. She stood straight and conjured a small, flat table, motioning for Harry to sit Anna on it. “Let me take a look at her just to make sure she’s alright.”
Harry gently set Anna down, shaking his arms out and pulling his dirty cloak away from her. She immediately began shivering, her eyes widening at the sight of Minerva’s wand aimed at her face. She whimpered as Minerva began her Diagnostic spells, poking and prodding the child’s stomach, arms and legs. Minerva glanced at Harry’s slightly worried face.
“You can leave her here,” said Minerva gently. “I’ll make sure the Aurors find her family.” Harry nodded reluctantly as he stepped towards the table again. He draped his cloak back over Anna’s shoulders.
“I have to go now,” said Harry. “You’ll be safe here. It was very nice to meet you.” He gave her a little wave. “Bye, Anna.”
“Bye, Harry,” said Anna shyly, snuggling under his cloak.
“Thank you, Harry,” said Minerva, looking at him intensely. “We can never thank you enough.”
“I’m not the one you should be thanking, Professor,” said Harry firmly. He gave her a curt nod and made his way out of the wing, stoically ignoring the many questions and praises from the crowd still waiting outside the doors.