Blood (thicker than) Water (but what about) Lemonade?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Audacious Fight

Sirius stepped out of the fireplace and into a room of exceptional taste.

Seven or eight men in green robes were standing around a large and important looking desk, and it was with a slightly sickening thought that Sirius realized he was most likely in the Minister's office.

The men all turned to look at Sirius, dressed in his tattered and stained black robes. His hair was disheveled and hung limply down around his shoulders (Lupin had insisted on getting it cut).

Sirius could see his impression on the wealthy and judgmental men was not a good one, and he knew that if he stood staring for much longer they would think he was just a drunk and have him carted away.

With that in mind, Sirius decided to try for the 'help me' approach- that way they'd at least listen.

He drew in a breath and stumbled toward them. The men in fine robes backed away slightly, looking at him with mixed concern and confusion.

"Help me!" Sirius gasped, looking directly at the one behind the desk. "Voldemort is back!"

"What?" the Minister stood, his eyes wide. "Impossible!"

"It's not!" Sirius gasped, stopping to lean on the desk. "I saw him! In the-"

Sirius tried to remember Avril's last name- "old Auror house! Ardree! The Ardree house!"

"Ray and Sydney Ardree? But they've been dead for months. No one lives in that house anymore," a man with a particularly pointy beard sniffed.

"But there was," Sirius gasped for breath again, seeing he was losing his audience and had to gain them back with more pathetic actions, "a little girl- Avril!"

The Minister frowned, then explained patiently, "their daughter. She moved to England in August. She lives with her uncle now. I'm telling you, there is no one in that house."

"But-" Sirius was fast losing his patience. Unfortunately, so was the Minister.

"That's enough. We here at the Ministry do not take kindly to drunken ignoramuses staggering in and out of our fireplaces with wild stories of Dark Lords. What is your name?"

Without thinking, knowing only that there was little time, Sirius blurted, "Sirius Black- and you need to listen-"

"Sirius Black!" the man with the pointy beard cried. "Why, he's a murderer! Escaped from Azkaban!"

The other men all gasped too and whipped out their wands.

The doors to the office opened and men in plum colored robes came rushing in. Two pointed their wands at Sirius while the other two grabbed his arms.

"No!" Sirius protested, "Minister! Listen to me! Harry Potter! Harry Potter and Avril Ardree are in that house with Voldemort! They need help-"

"That is enough." The Minster nodded at the wizards and they began to drag Sirius away.

Suddenly, Sirius broke free and whipped out his wand- only to remember he had returned it to Harry.

One of the wizards tried to grab him but Sirius, in desperation, threw a punch as hard as he could.

As the wizard fell, another shot something out of his wand at Sirius. The ropes wrapped themselves around Sirius, causing him to lose his balance and fall. Sirius strained at the ropes but one of the wizards in plum colored robes kicked him.

"Take him to holding- I'll call up Minister Fudge. He should be pleased when he finds out who walked right into my office," the Minister mused, staring directly at Sirius.

"No! Fudge is on their side! Goddammit, why won't you listen?" Sirius yelled, despite the ropes wound tightly around his mouth. All the ministry members heard was muffled profanity.

"Go," the Minister said in disgust.

Then, with Sirius struggling all the way, the guards dragged Sirius from the office and shut the doors behind them.

******

Harry held Avril back at arm's length. "Are you OK?"

Avril nodded. "Physically, not mentally. Not anymore at least. What about you?"

Harry shrugged. "The worst thing that happened was me getting bit by a log. What're those?"

he glanced at the books laying off to the side.

Avril suddenly smiled, though it wasn't so much a happy smile, more of a nervous and an ' I wish I wasn't here more than anything in the world' smile. "The Thaumaturgism spell books. Here, look."

She picked up the black one while Harry muttered "Lumos."

"Salazar Slytherin must have written this one." Avril flipped it open. "I can't read the writing- it must be Parselmouth or something- I can't read it."

Harry shook his head. "There's no writing for Parselmouth. It's used for talking with snakes, remember? Snakes can't write. Maybe it's a secret language or something."

"Anyway, the pictures are really gruesome. Take a look-" she flipped to a page with a large and detailed picture.

"Ugh, what's going on?" Harry asked, frowning.

"Apparently, that wizard plans on making a new set of robes with that Muggle's skin. Notice how the wizard has a black sort of wreath around his head? The Muggle doesn't. I think it symbolizes his hate for Muggles."

Harry made another face. "Whatever it is, it's really twisted."

Suddenly there was a noise from downstairs and Harry and Avril looked up.

"We'd better go find Snape," Harry said, getting up.

"Snape's here?" Avril asked, gathering the books into her arms.

"Yeah. Why d'you think it took me so long to get here? Sirius and I had to rescue that git first."

Avril grinned. "Thanks Harry."

Harry shrugged. "Don't mention it- please. Let's get downstairs."

Avril grabbed Harry's arm. "Careful- I sort of left Voldemort in a really bad mood."

"Right."

Together they crept downstairs, Avril clutching the books and Harry his wand.

As they neared the bottom of the staircase, Harry felt a sharp pain in his scar.

A voice was heard from the living room.

"Don't toy with me Snape, you have no idea what I've been through to get those books."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," Avril's heart leapt when she heard Snape's voice, then sank low when she peeked through the keyhole of the door.

Snape was sitting stiffly in a chair, guarded by Lucius Malfoy and Lastrange.

Wormtail was nowhere to be seen.

Voldemort stood over Snape, his wand held out.

"I don't wish to ask you again, traitor. What happened to Potter and the girl?"

When Snape didn't answer, Voldemort smiled. "Very well."

He raised his wand.

"No," Avril gasped, reaching for the handle.

Harry grabbed her and held her back., but his scar began to burn. Still, he held fast to her robe sleeve.

"Don't Avril-"

"I have to help him-"

"Crucio!"

Harry gritted his teeth against the pain in his head as Snape's screams of agony echoed off the walls of Harry's brain.

Avril let the books slip from her grasp and dropped to her knees on the floor.

Harry clutched his scar and concentrated every fiber of his being into not screaming in pain, lest they be noticed.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the screaming stopped and Harry heard a thud as Snape slid from his chair and onto the floor.

"Hey," Harry whispered, his head still pounding, kneeling down to look Avril in the eye, "he's all right. We'll find a way to help him OK? Everything's going to be fine. We'll be fine."

"Oh no you're not," said a high, strained voice Harry immediately recognized, "you're not fine at all."

Wormtail had managed to creep up behind them and, poking Harry in the back with a wand, demanded he drop his.

Harry let his wand fall from his hands.

"Let her go," Harry muttered to Wormtail before Voldemort heard them in the hall. "You've got me now, that should be enough."

He locked his eyes on with Wormtail's. "You owe me."

Wormtail stared hard at Harry with his watery eyes. Harry could swear that for a moment there was a sort of- I don't want to say bond, that is way to strong- understanding between the two. Wormtail glanced at Avril, on all fours on the floor with tears of affliction welling up in her now gray/blue eyes.

Wormtail glanced fearfully at the swinging door, where Voldemort was spitting words at Snape.

He looked back at Harry and whispered "You don't understand my Master, Harry- he would kill me."

Then, with a strength that Harry would not have expected from someone that was as tall as he, Wormtail shoved Harry though the door and followed, his hand clamped hard on the back of Avril's neck.

"Coward!" Harry yelled angrily, stumbling and falling to the floor as Avril was released and pushed down beside him.

Wormtail then turned and picked up the three Thaumaturgism spell books.

"I-I found the b-books, my Lord," he whimpered, kneeling low.

Voldemort lifted the three books from his trembling hands and smiled.

"Very good Wormtail. I also see you have caught Potter and his little friend. For this, I believe you deserve a just reward."

Wormtail, still trembling, glanced at Harry, who was red in the face with anger and smiled smugly.

Voldemort placed the books on the mantelpiece and turned back to them.

"Now then, what to do with our little troublemakers- especially this one," he said, gazing sourly at Avril, who had rushed to Snape's side and was leaning protectively over him.

"Ah yes... You've presented a number of complications to me," he said to her, smiling as if it were a joke. Harry noticed he had a purple bruise on the side of his pale, bald head.

"Sorry for the inconvenience," Avril muttered with a hint of sarcasm.

"You will be," Voldemort returned, lifting his wand.

Avril narrowed her eyes. If she could just distract him for enough time for her to destroy the books-

The next second, even before the dire words escaped Voldemort's mouth, his wand flew out of his hands and into Avril's. Then, almost before her fingers had even enclosed around it, Avril snapped it in half.

The pheonix feather inside kept it intact, though the wood was broken apart. A sort of light escaped from it and filled the room with white for a split second before disappearing into nothing.

Surprisingly, Voldemort didn't move. He half closed his eyes in a tolerant sort of way and then, with a roar of hatred and anger, hurled himself at Avril.

Avril had crossed a line. A line that she had been threatening to cross ever since she had tumbled fromt he portkey with her imposter parents.

Suddenly, curses were no longer enough. Voldemort wanted to draw blood. He wanted to feel himself hurting the little bitch.

Avril dropped the wand pieces onto the floor and scrambled under a table, as if she'd expected this to happen and had planned it out.

"Get the bo-" she yelled to Harry, but was forced to keep moving as Voldemort leapt at her.

Harry and Snape, who was by now sitting up, watched as this happened quickly before their eyes.

Voldemort's dignity was forgotten. He had been shoved roughly over the edge and was now officially insane with rage. He tackled the table Avril was under.

Avril screamed and kicked his face while backing away.

The Death Eaters didn't know what to do. They glanced nervously at their master for instructions.

But Voldemort was beyond the use of proper sentences at the moment and was thinking only of killing the Ardree girl with his bear hands.

Avril glanced at a shelf of knickknacks and began hurling them at Voldemort.

Dodging the assorted globes, vases, and glass balls, Voldemort managed to wrap his long white fingers around Avril's ankle.

She kicked out again from the floor but Voldemort dodged it. He pulled her back and began hitting her as much as he could, his red eyes blazing wildly.

Avril cried out and tried to fight back but Voldemort was too strong now that he had her.

She twisted and turned underneath Voldemort and finally managed to scramble up, but didn't realize they'd been halfway under the coffee table. She hit her forehead off the corner of the table and felt her vision cloud with black. Her strength gone for the moment, Avril collapsed.

Harry, his scar surely splitting open with the pain, blindly threw himself at the two and tried to come between them before Voldemort could take full advantage of Avril's temporary condition.

This brought on the Death Eaters, eager to defend their master.

But before they could get involved, Snape jumped up, no longer wishing to stand idly by, and shouted curses at the Death Eaters, sending sparks from a wand at them every which way.

With a shriek, Wormtail was knocked over as a stunning spell grazed him and lay, twitching on the floor.

Lucius and Lastrange flew at Snape, who was knocked down.

He fell close to the fireplace, his hair becoming dangerously close to singeing in the fire lit by Sirius earlier, but he continued to brawl.

Basically, magic had been forgotten. Harry, firmly shoving himself between Avril and Voldemort, threw punches as hard and fast as he could but the Dark Lord was much stronger than the fifteen year old.

With an angry yell, he struck Harry so hard his teeth chattered.

With a grunt of pain Harry rolled off Avril and tried to regain his wits while Voldemort laughed at him- a maniac, frightening laugh that made Harry shudder.

Avril, having come to only seconds ago, took this opportunity to sink her teeth into Voldemort's arm.

That was enough of a distraction.

At their Master's cry ,the two Death Eaters looked up in alarm.

Snape managed to stick his arm, clutching a wand (he wasn't sure who's- he'd found it on the floor) out from under Lastrange and Lucius and cast a spell towards them.

"Stupify!" Snape bellowed, hitting Voldemort full on.

But something had happened to the Dark Lord after his very first attempt to kill Harry. His resistance of the killing curse gave him a sort of resilience toward other spells as well.

The spell hit him, but failed to obtain the desired effect. Instead of knocking him out, the stunning spell only knocked him off of Avril and headlong into the wall.

That was good enough for her.

Avril leapt up and ran toward the mantelpiece, knowing exactly what she was going to do.

Leaping over Harry and dodging a frantic, now conscious Wormtail, Avril reached the fireplace and grabbed all three books.

"Harry, help me!" she screamed, trying to fight off Wormtail, who looked as if he was attempting a game of tug o war over the books.

There was a nasty cut just above her left eyebrow, blood trickling down the side of her face, and concentration was difficult on her part.

Snape managed to keep the two Death Eaters occupied and away from the two while Harry ran to help Avril. Extremely high on adrenaline, he punched Wormtail in his pointed nose, and the bald, thin little man fell backwards.

Avril threw the red book in first, dancing nervously as the pages curled and the cloth burned black.

As the pit wasn't large enough to effectively burn all three books at once, Avril tried lighting the other two with her powers. But something had happened to her when she had cracked her head open and now any sort of mind manipulation seemed impossible.

Harry grabbed Wormtail's wand and tried to help Snape, who until now had been putting up a heroic fight with Lucius and Lastrange.

Avril dropped in the green book. It immediately ignited, crumbling to ash and dust in the fire.

"Stupify, stupify!" Harry shouted, sending the hexes at the Death Eaters.

Unfortunatly, while knocking out Lastrange, the other spell hit Snape.

"Oops," Harry muttered, raising the wand to try again. In that moment, Voldemort screamed at the sight of his books burning and threw himself at Avril.

"No!" Voldemort screamed, knocking her down in an attempt to pry the third and most important book from her grasp.

Avril began crying in fright and struggled.

She managed to roll over onto her stomach, holding the book underneath her.

Harry turned and kicked Voldemort in the side.

Voldemort, apparently getting very used to being kicked, grabbed his foot and yanked him down. Harry landed on his back and the wand fell from his grasp.

Avril got up and ran to the fireplace.

Voldemort, holding Harry down with one hand, grabbed the wand from the floor and shoved its point at his neck.

"Stop!" Avril screamed, holding the book threateningly over the flames in the fire. "Let him go!"

Snape was unconscious, slumped against one side of the fireplace. Lastrange, Wormtail and Lucius were gone, nowhere to be seen.

Harry supposed they'd either gone to get reinforcements or had decided they had had enough and apparated.

"I want that book, girl," Voldemort hissed, holding Harry down by leaning his right knee on his stomach. "Give it to me now!"

Avril swallowed. "Will you let him go?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Promise not to hurt him."

A terrible, wretched smile crept cross Voldemort's face.

"Give me the book Avril," he whispered.

"Don't!" Harry gasped, finding it difficult to breathe with Voldemort on top of him.

Voldemort shoved the wand harder into Harry's neck. Harry chokced on the pressure and sputtered.

Avril hesitated.

"What's the matter?" Voldemort whispered dangerously, "don't you care for him Avril? Isn't he worth everything to you? ISN'T HE?"

At that he cast his wand at the fireplace. The brickwork shattered and the flames died.

Avril screamed and covered her head from the flying bricks, then glanced from Harry, disoriented on the floor, pinned underneath his enemy, to the book in her hands- the very book that could destroy the wizarding world.

Tears of panic escaped from the corner of her vividly blue eyes, mingling with the blood streaming down the side of her face. Her breathing became short and shallow.

Suddenly her eyes met Harry's and he held them there.

Don't you dare, he seemed to be saying.

It's not worth it. Destroy the book! he thought wildly.

But by the look on Avril's face he knew with a sinking heart that she wouldn't.

She would rather save him than humanity.

"Come, Avril," Voldemort said gently, "come and hand it here. Then you can have your precious Potter. I need that book, Avril. We all need a little power."

His voice had gone so soft, his face looked so desperate and his proposition seemed so reasonable to someone finding it more and more difficult to think straight that for a moment, Avril looked like she might listen to him. She took a small step towards them, trembling from head to toe.

She extended her arm holding the black book towards them, her eyes on Harry the entire time.

Then, she remembered the dream she'd had her first night in Hogwarts. How her parents had screamed- how they'd stared blankly up at her. Her family- ripped apart.

Voldemort had done that.

Tearfully, Avril brought the book to be clutched in both hands against her chest.

"You killed my parents," she whispered hoarsely, "You've torn people- families apart. You've done enough damage, Voldemort. Don't you think you've had enough power?"

With a sudden surge of anger Avril narrowed her eyes and the book burst into flames.

It was an anger so passionate, so intense that no injury to her head could prevent the outburst from occurring.

Nevertheless, it still hurt like hell.

Avril dropped the book and screamed with pain as her eyes exploded with vibrant color. She stumbled forward and fell beside Harry and Voldemort as the book writhed in fire.

"NO!" Voldemort shrieked, his red eyes nearly popping out of his head as he watched the black book burn. It sizzled and bubbled as if made of chemicals and finally, with a brilliant explosion

and a mighty BANG inside the fire, blew into a billion pieces.

This knocked everyone in the room into the wall opposite. The windows shattered and tiny pebbles of glass rained upon them.

Harry had the extraordinary luck of having his glasses knocked off his face before they shattered in his eyes. He scooped them up and was relieved to find nothing more than a crack down the center of the left lens.

Voldemort lay among a pile of rubble. He was face down, not moving.

Harry had hit the wall hard, but didn't feel it. Instead he leapt to his feet and ran to Avril, who was bent over Snape.

"Uncle Severus?" she was asking.

Snape had been knocked out cold by the blast; he had obviously hit something.

Harry checked his pulse.

"It's still beating. He'll be all right."

They glanced at Voldemort, who was still lying motionless.

"I think he's dead," Harry said without emotion, as if he were merely referring to the weather.

Avril looked badly shaken and looked at Harry with tired, sad eyes.

"Harry-" before she could say anything more, Harry wrapped his arms around her and held her for a moment.

"It's alright," he muttered, gazing around what was left of the Ardree house, "it's over."

The fireplace was gone. Almost the entire wall had been blown to bits by the force of the explosion.

Avril allowed herself to succumb to the pleasure of relaxation for a moment, before looking over Harry's shoulder and seeing Voldemort stand and begin limping towards them.

Voldemort's voice, shaking with rage suddenly spoke.

"You-burned-my-spellbooks!" he hissed, bearing down on them.

Avril sat back, meeting his eyes. Harry turned in surprise.

"You-ruined-the-only-chance-I-had," Voldemort's eyes were wide and bloodshot. He spaced each word out with gasping breaths, "for power!"

Avril noticed he seemed to have gotten cut with a piece of glass across one cheek.

Harry put an arm in front of Avril as if to block her from Voldemort.

He readied himself, lest he need to start fighting again.

"I-will-KILL YOU!" the Dark Lord shrieked, leaping over Snape at the two.

But he didn't tackle them. No, he didn't even touch them, because at that very moment, a wonderfully familiar voice bellowed,

"STUPIFY!"

Voldemort was knocked backwards, though for reasons mentioned before, wasn't knocked out.

He sat up and looked into the furious face of Albus Dumbledore.

Avril and Harry both whirled around to look up at Dumbledore, flanked by Sirius Black and a man Avril recognised as the Canadian Minister of Magic. Behind them stood Remus Lupin, Hagrid, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill and Charlie as well as a few other people Avril knew from the Ministry and a few men and women they didn't take time to recognize. They were all pointing wands at Voldemort.

"You Know Who!" the Minister said faintly, still pointing his wand at the wizard.

"Me," snarled Voldemort, getting to his feet, another anonymous wand held tightly in his hand.

"Drop your wand, Voldemort," Dumbledore ordered, his voice strong and demanding.

"It's over."

Voldemort laughed softly, backing slowly away toward the opposite wall. The broken glass crunched under his feet.

"On the contrary, dear Dumbledore," he sneered. "It has only begun."

"Voldemort!" Dumbledore sent fiery red sparks at him, but the next morning Voldemort was gone.

He had apparated.

The sparks hit the wall, blowing what was left of it off the house.

There was a small silence, then-

"Harry dear! Oh, Harry, are you all right?" Mrs Weasley tucked her wand away and hurried to Harry's side.

"Yeah- I'm fine-" Harry said distractedly, glancing around.

"How'd you know where to find us?" he asked Sirius, who had knelt down in front of him, his face contort with concern.

"That, is a story which can wait until you've been revived," Dumbledore said, offering Avril a hand up. He turned to the Minister. "Is there a nearby apparating pad, Bartholomew? I would prefer to settle somewhere in your building, if you don't mind."

Bill and Charlie, their faces both very solemn, hoisted Snape off the ground and slung his arms around their shoulders. His head hung limp, and Avril glanced at him worriedly, wondering if he had a concussion from hitting the wall.

"Apparating pad, yes- of course," muttered the Minister, sounding as if he were having difficulty believeing all that was happening.

He led the group round back, into a simple woodshed that housed an apparating pad large enough for two groups.

"Right," Dumbledore said, "Avril, Harry, if you please."

He gestured to the pad, where Avril and Harry stepped onto it.

"Hold on," Dumbledore said as Sirius and Lupin stepped on with the Minister in tow.

Harry cast a sideways glance at Avril, whose shoulders were sagging. The cut above her eyebrow had bled quite a lot and the side of her face seemed stained. It had been adrenaline alone that had kept her from passing out from blood loss.

She felt his gaze and met it, smiling weakly.

Harry smiled back, aware of what they had accomplished- of what they'd nearly died for.

Then, as Harry and Avril were musing, only half of it making sense due to exhaustion, the objects around them began to swirl and Avril left her home one last time.