Harry Potter and the Power the Dark Lord Knows Not

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

UNEXPECTED GUESTS

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The weather was almost oppressively warm and humid as the remaining students made their way down to the school carriages to be transported to Hogsmeade Station the following morning, and most shed their outer robes quickly once onboard. Hagrid was there at the small station platform when they arrived, peering watchfully over everyone as they began to unload their school things and make their way towards the train. The Hogwarts Express stood a short distance away looking as impressive as it always did as great plumes of white steam wafted about the station, partially obscuring those trudging through it. Hagrid greeted Harry by unobtrusively taking both Hedwig's cage and his heavy school trunk and loading them into a storage compartment near the back of the train, and Harry had smiled up at him gratefully. While he had been careful to hide this from Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, Harry had had some difficulty lugging his school things around earlier and he found Hagrid's assistance to be a great relief. Hagrid had been thoughtful enough to load several of the other student's trunks as well so that it wouldn't be overtly obvious that he was specifically helping Harry, and Harry had deeply appreciated this - he felt his pride had suffered quite enough over the past few weeks without adding insult to injury. After Ron and Hermione had finished helping the other prefects get the younger students settled, the four of them had then hung back to say goodbye to Hagrid.

"It was nice of you to come and see us off, Hagrid," Hermione said.

"Oh, Professor Dumbledore though' it'd be better if someone extra was aroun' ter keep an eye on things, yeh know. Really can' be too careful, now," Hagrid replied, sounding a bit like Mad-Eye Moody. After a moment of standing there in the hot summer sun, Hagrid took out a large and somewhat frilly handkerchief and mopped his massive brow. "Blimey, it's burnin' up out here."

"It is a bit warmer than usual, isn't it," Hermione agreed, keeping the topic light.

"Nice weather for Quidditch, though," Ron put in.

"Are yeh excited abou' yer new livin' arrangemen's, Harry?" Hagrid asked a minute later, and Harry paused as he considered how to answer. For the first time ever, Harry would not be heading back to the Dursleys' for the long summer holiday. Sirius had left him Grimmauld Place, and Harry had decided to stick with his original idea of going to live there rather than returning to Privet Drive. When Harry had discussed the matter with Dumbledore, the headmaster had approved of this plan, though with a degree of reluctance. He had reminded Harry that the protection he'd had by being at the Dursleys' would no longer apply if he refused to go back - at least for a little while, but Harry had remained adamant. Harry would be of age by the end of the coming month anyway, and he felt that it was more than time that he have a say in making his own decisions. Harry had ultimately pointed out the fact that the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix was as heavily protected and even more hidden than Hogwarts was, and in the end, Dumbledore had finally agreed.

The only drawback to this particular plan was that going back to Grimmauld Place meant going back to the ever present memories of Sirius, and Harry remembered all too well how depressing that could be. Even so, Harry felt he would certainly be better off there than at the Dursleys' - especially since the Weasley's would be staying at headquarters with him. Harry then imagined himself sitting at Grimmauld Place with Ginny at his side the whole summer long and suddenly the prospect of facing those memories of Sirius no longer seemed as daunting.

"I'm looking forward to it, Hagrid," Harry replied honestly, as he cast a genuine smile over at Ginny.

"Do you have any plans for the summer yourself, Hagrid?" Ginny then asked as she reached for Harry's hand, and Hagrid's wiry beard began to crinkle upwards slightly.

"Well, I'll be spendin' some more time in the fores' fer sure. I've got a lot goin' on, yeh see. I've bin - " Hagrid began to answer, but something odd had begun to draw Harry's attention away from the conversation, and he found that he was only half-listening to what Hagrid was saying.

Although the sun had been shining with a blazing intensity a second before, the sky started to grow much darker - it was as though a black cloud had just flitted in front of the sun and was throwing them all into shadow. The air that had felt so stifling was now feeling discernibly cooler as well, and Harry's arms erupted in goose bumps as a noticeably chilly wind lifted his hair. Harry began to glance around anxiously, feeling vaguely uneasy. Everyone else seemed totally oblivious to this change in weather conditions, however, as they continued to position themselves and their belongings comfortably onboard the train. The village of Hogsmeade was located just on the other side of the small cement platform, and Harry could spot parts of the shingled and thatched rooftops peeking out through the nearby clouds of billowing steam. Harry had just started to think that he was overreacting to perfectly normal occurrences when everything around him went utterly still and silent; Harry realized that he could no longer hear anything - not the shrill sound of the train whistle, not the many squawks and howls being emitted from the various cages close at hand, not even the echoing voices of his other classmates. Harry's mind had just jumped to a rather startling conclusion as Ron asked, "Is it me or did it just get right nippy all of the sudden?"

Ginny then gave a shuddering gasp as she abruptly grabbed Harry's arm, and he jerked his head around straightaway to follow her gaze. From behind the very end of the train something was slowly emerging from the furthest edge of the forest. Harry looked up to see six tall dark figures come floating eerily towards them, and his body began to shiver uncontrollably as he felt the inevitable wave of bitter cold seep deeply into the neighboring surroundings. Harry could already smell the pungent stench of rot and decay as the hideous creatures continued to drift silently in their direction; the warmth and life of the sultry summer air was soon gone entirely. Harry had just started to reach for his wand when he felt an icy chill behind him as well, and he wheeled around in time to see six or seven more of them zeroing in on their position from the front of the train - their ragged cloaks extending out around them like long stringy bundles of dead spiders.

"Oh no," Hermione then whispered from somewhere close by, but Harry could barely hear her. In fact, he hastily lost sight of Hermione and everyone else around him - everything had rapidly faded from Harry's vision as his head began to swim in a frighteningly recognizable thick white fog, causing his heart to forcibly leap into his throat and leaving him blind to what he knew was getting ready to happen.

"Think of something happy!" Harry then yelled at his friends, as he frantically attempted to do the same. For whatever reason, though, the horrible sapping power of the encroaching creatures seemed far stronger than it ever had before. Harry tried to think of the incantation, but his mind had gone completely blank -- he couldn't remember the words anymore -- he couldn't remember anything at all...

Another sound was beginning to fill his mind, now -- he could hear that terribly familiar voice reverberating around inside of his head again... The voice seemed to be everywhere - it was the only thing that existed...

"It's not all over yet, Harry... You will die, but I shall be sure to tie up all of your loose ends first.... I know that you are quite close to a family by the name of Weasley.... I shall see to them soon, very soon, in fact. Perhaps they shall prove to be more enlightening - what do you think?"

Then, right on the heels of that, Harry heard his own panicked voice. "SIRIUS!"

"There's nothing you can do, Harry --" Lupin said in anguished tones.

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"It's too late, Harry --"

"We can still reach him --"

"There's nothing you can do, Harry... nothing... He's gone."

Harry didn't know it at this point, but he had fallen forward onto his hands and knees - there were just too many bad memories now, and his mind was becoming trapped within them. Suddenly, however, Harry heard through the fog in his brain two distinct and extremely well-known voices.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" they bellowed in unison, and two fuzzy clouds of silver mist issued from their wands as Harry came back to himself enough to realize that Ron and Hermione had just managed to shout the Patronus Charm themselves. Harry was then able to look up and see that the dozen or so shrouded figures that were closing in on them were being held back by the silvery mist his friends had conjured. Unfortunately, though, neither Ron nor Hermione had ever had to use the charm to ward off an actual dementor before and their spells had failed to work properly. Harry could see that it was taking an enormous amount of effort and determination from both of them to keep the mist from dissipating altogether, and he tried to focus as he threw a quick backwards glance over his shoulder.

What Harry then saw made his breath freeze in his chest. One of the dementors was looming directly above Ginny's petite form - she had dropped to her knees as well - it had pushed back its hood and was beginning to lower its scabby and desiccated face to her own. Harry felt an icy pang of terror - he couldn't let this happen - he had to think of something, anything happy....

And finally, as if on call, another memory came bursting into his mind, but this one was the polar opposite of the ones that had just proceeded it....

"You honestly don't know, do you?" Ginny's soft voice.

"Don't know? Don't know what?" Harry remembered asking her.

"You don't know that I've fallen in love with you...."

And immediately, effortlessly, Harry was somehow standing again.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A huge silver stag erupted with great force out of the end of his wand, dazzlingly bright and immensely powerful. It made straight for the gruesome creature that was coming ever closer to Ginny's kneeling form, and it commenced to strike with such intense ferocity that the dementor literally disintegrated into nothing upon impact. The other dementors were continuing to move nearer in a tight circle, when, as if by some unspoken command, the radiant silver stag then mowed them down as well and they disappeared back into the relative darkness of the forest. As the stag that Harry had come to think of as "Prongs," gracefully turned his regal head to gaze over at him one last time, it gradually faded from sight as a more normal reality spun back into place. As the sky lightened and the warm summer air circulated around everyone once more, Harry instantly reached for Ginny who was trembling violently nearby. Harry noticed that a number of students were peering out at them from the inside of the train, expressions of shocked disbelief etched plainly upon their faces.

"Is ever'one all righ'?" Hagrid asked loudly, though there was a definite tremor in his voice as he again lifted his handkerchief to his forehead and nervously glanced up and down the platform. While most of the students onboard the train were continuing to stare agape out the windows, several others - former D.A. members mostly - were struggling to disembark and make their way towards them. Harry could see through the train's closely-set windows that Neville, Dean, and Seamus had almost made it to the steps that led to the nearest exit doors, and that Ernie MacMillan and Hannah Abbott were not far behind them. Harry then turned away from the train to gaze down into Ginny's face - she was obviously shaken but appeared to be regaining her composure fairly swiftly.

"I'm okay, Harry. I - I'm just fine," Ginny insisted staunchly, as she stood and seemed to calm herself through sheer strength of will. After a moment, Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione and noticed that they were looking nearly as disturbed by this as he and Ginny were.

"You two all right?" Harry asked them.

"Yes," Hermione promptly responded, but she seemed rather out of breath. "That was so much harder with a real dementor, Harry. I guess I'd forgotten just how scary those things are."

"Yeah," Ron agreed as he glimpsed around uncertainly. "D'you think they've really gone?"

"I think so," Harry replied, but he couldn't help feeling unsettled, that group of dementors had gotten way too close...

Harry's eyes then swept the encompassing area around him; he was continuing to feel exceedingly edgy. As he studied the trees of the forest rippling slightly in the breeze, the stationary form of the gleaming scarlet steam engine, and the narrow outer platform that was walled in by the back of the shops located only a stone's throw away in the village, Harry remained cautious. He wondered if it was safe enough for the train to go on, or if the students should get off and head back up to the school. Hogsmeade Station felt wide open and exposed. Nothing about this situation felt safe or comfortable to him anymore - everything seemed entirely too suspicious.

Harry was still standing in very close proximity to Ginny when it happened. Without warning and almost in reply to Harry's last thought, numerous cracks as loud as gunshots then shattered the relative calm left in the wake of the dementor's unexpected appearance. As Harry spun around he felt his stomach sink down to his toes - first, dementors and now....

"Come with us quietly, Potter, and no one need get hurt," came a clear and scornful voice that Harry hadn't heard for over a year though he was able to identify it without question - the voice beneath the concealing black hood was undeniably Lucius Malfoy's.

"Oh sure, we all know that dementors and Death Eaters would never hurt anyone!" Harry retorted sarcastically, feeling his temper rise. He suspected that Malfoy had been the one responsible for leading Voldemort straight to Percy's front door.

"You will come with us, Potter," Lucius Malfoy repeated condescendingly, sounding even more arrogant than usual. "What the Dark Lord wants, he shall have."

"We'll just see about that," Harry countered as he gripped his wand fiercely - he felt far from defenseless now. Harry wasn't alone for once, either, but that had it's own negative repercussions. For as soon as Hagrid heard this exchange, he gave a furious roar and physically bounded towards the small band of Death Eaters that had appeared alongside Malfoy.

"No Hagrid, wait..." Harry began to shout, but Hagrid had already flown past him, accidentally knocking him, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione off of their feet and into each other. Bedlam then broke out as the Death Eaters scrambled to get away from Hagrid's remarkably fast-moving frame - his speed and agility was apparently taking them by absolute surprise. Harry and his friends had just begun to untangle themselves from one another when Harry then heard Hagrid's outraged voice.

"How dare you come ter Hogwarts!" Hagrid was thundering, as he raced towards them. "Yeh're nothin' but a bunch o' ruddy cowards, tha's what yeh are! Attackin' children on their way home!"

Unfortunately though, as swift as Hagrid was, the Death Eaters proved to be even faster. A few noisy cracks then signaled the disappearances of those nearest to him, leaving Hagrid both angry and disappointedly empty-handed. At the precise moment that Hagrid had been snatching at the Death Eaters, Harry had caught sight of Lucius Malfoy as he aimed his wand directly at Hagrid's hulking back.

"Incapacita Permanente!"

Malfoy cried, as a large yellow light flew out of his wand and encased Hagrid entirely. Everything seemed to stop as Hagrid began to tumble forward, and Hermione screamed as his massive body then slid to a halt face down on the hard concrete of the station platform - completely motionless. Harry stared at him feeling utterly horrified. Harry had known since last year that certain hexes seemed to simply bounce off of Hagrid, and he had hoped that the same would apply to the more dangerous spells as well. Harry had no idea what that specific incantation was supposed to do, but it had just brought down someone who was a half-giant, and Harry had no way of knowing how permanent its effects might genuinely be.

After Hagrid had fallen things had abruptly gotten a bit quieter, the Death Eaters had formed ranks and were continuing to inch closer and closer as they attempted to cut off their means of escape - it was almost as though they were waiting for something. What they were waiting for became evident seconds later. Once again many sharp cracks could be heard over the droning sound of the train's engines, and Harry saw another dozen or so Death Eater's Apparating in various locations around them. Harry noticed that the faces of his classmates that had been peering out of the train windows only moments ago were gone - he assumed that they had ducked down and hoped they would remain out of sight.

"Enough, Potter. Do not waste our time with more petty heroics," Lucius Malfoy intoned as he alone took a couple of steps forward.

"So your master needs me again, I suppose," Harry said, ignoring Malfoy's words and trying to vie for more time. "What does Voldemort want from me now?" At the mention of Voldemort's name, however, several of the neighboring Death Eaters hissed fearfully beneath their cloaks and Harry heard a wild shriek of fury coming from high overhead. Harry looked up to see a lone hooded figure standing atop one of the tallest buildings that backed up to the train station - as soon as he'd heard that voice, he'd known exactly who it was.

"Bellatrix!" Harry heard Malfoy yell warningly, but it was too late. Harry barely had the chance to register that the green light of a Killing Curse was heading right for him when Malfoy sent off a spell of his own, causing a deafening explosion to then detonate about a foot from the top of Harry's head. The explosion sent a powerful shock wave speeding outwards from its core, and Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were separated by the blast and thrown roughly onto the hard cement platform along with many of the Death Eaters surrounding them.

"NOT POTTER!" Malfoy screamed at the top of his voice, he was one of the few still standing. "Do not defy our Master, Bellatrix! Potter is to be taken alive!"

Bellatrix Lestrange was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment as her emaciated frame seemed to tremble with rage, but when she did open her mouth she let out the same horrible earsplitting cackle that Harry remembered so vividly. The whole scene was totally bizarre. Harry was struggling to get to his feet as Ginny, Ron, and Hermione did the same a short distance away. Hagrid's body continued to lay about twenty yards away from them, perfectly still. The other Death Eaters had quickly regained their footing and had their wands trained on Harry and each of his friends. Lucius Malfoy was continuing to point his wand up at the crazed woman standing above them as Bellatrix went on laughing maniacally, sounding as though she was on the very edge of sanity itself.

After what seemed like ages Bellatrix's derisive laughter finally ceased as the red beam of a Stunning spell whizzed by her, missing her head by mere inches. Ron had evidently decided to take matters into his own hands and had rashly lobbed a spell at her. Hermione had turned to gawp at him looking completely astounded, and Ron appeared to be nearly as surprised by his own actions as Hermione did. Ironically, Ron's impulsive ploy to render Bellatrix silent seemed to have succeeded, but it had also alerted the other Death Eaters to the fact that their prey wasn't about to go down without a fight. As sheer chaos then erupted around them the Death Eater's curses became so thick and fast that they lit up the adjacent puffs of steam like a somewhat disorganized fireworks display, and Harry and his friends began to join the fray in earnest - taking every possible opportunity to lash out against this ever increasing threat. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had eventually managed to get to Harry's side again, and all four of them hastily turned back to back, automatically working together as a team. As Harry hurriedly Stunned the nearest Death Eater, Ginny immobilized one with an Impediment jinx. Ron disarmed another that was running straight for them, while Hermione did an especially complicated wave that seemed to make Ron's Death Eater dissolve into thin air.

"What did you just do?" Ron cried, sounding half-alarmed, half-impressed.

"He's right there," Hermione answered as she pointed to a spot on the platform not far away, and despite what was going on, Harry, Ginny, and Ron stopped for a second and looked down. There on the cement, just a couple of feet from the train lay an extremely bloated and disgusting-looking cockroach. "That form suits him a bit better, I think," Hermione said with a small smirk, as she turned on her heal and fired off another spell. Harry might have been tempted to laugh out loud had the situation not already been so deadly serious.

"Expelliarmus!" Ginny then yelled at another, and as his wand went flying, Harry took rapid aim.

"Reducto!" Harry said forcefully, and the Death Eater's wand then imploded into a thousand tiny splinters.

"YOU!" the man growled, incensed, and Harry was unexpectedly pushed over backwards as the Death Eater aggressively plowed into him. This specific Death Eater was relatively heavyset and Harry groaned slightly as he struggled to push him off - if he remembered his voice correctly, this was the one known as Avery. Try as he might, however, Harry was losing this particular battle since the man pinning him down was about twice his size and Harry wasn't fully recovered yet. Luckily, though, someone else intervened.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Harry glanced up as the Death Eater's crushing weight was promptly lifted away - Ron had his wand leveled on Avery's back and was levitating him higher and higher above them. Ron left the man hovering just long enough for him to peer down from his now rather lofty position - Harry could see that his eyes were as round as saucers beneath his hood - when Ron then released the spell, allowing Avery's body to crash to the station platform in a large crumpled heap. But just as Ron was helping Harry to his feet again, Hermione's urgent shout echoed from directly behind them.

"LOOK OUT!"

Ginny had fleetingly glimpsed away from the battle to see if Harry was okay when another Death Eater caught her unawares and shot a Killing Curse in her direction. Ginny narrowly avoided the spell by swiftly dropping and rolling out of the way, and the green light then soared above her and hit one of the outside walls of a building in the village. The store ignited at once and dark gray smoke then began to mingle with the puffs of white steam that were continuing to drift around them. Harry and Ron were currently standing close to one another but were separated from Ginny and Hermione by a group Death Eaters in a long line. Harry tried not to think about Hagrid's unmoving form lying several yards away or about how much danger he and his friends were in as he attempted to stop the nearest cluster of Death Eaters with a quick succession of every defensive spell he could think of - Harry even began to conjure a number of Bludger-shaped stones that he and Ron then threw as hard as they could at their oncoming attackers. Harry had just watched Ron knock one of the advancing Death Eaters out cold when he suddenly heard a truly gut-wrenching sound.

Harry recognized the words of the Cruciatus Curse as they were uttered by an unmistakably evil and insane voice, and he immediately jerked around to see a horrifying sight. Ginny's small form was lying on the platform a short distance away... She had twisted her body into a tight ball, but her agonized screams could still be clearly heard even over the noise of the battle ensuing around them. Bellatrix Lestrange was standing there on a nearby roof, and though her wand was trained on Ginny, Harry could see that her mad merciless eyes were fixed upon him and him alone.

"NO!" Harry cried, and without thinking he ran forward to fling himself directly between them. Ginny stopped screaming abruptly as Harry took the full brunt of the spell; he was using his own body as a barricade as he huddled protectively over hers. Just a split-second later the pain ceased for Harry as well, and he paused breathlessly to turn and glance behind him. Bellatrix had stopped the curse, but not of her own accord. Someone was now grappling with her on top of the thatched roof - Harry opened his mouth in shock - it was Neville.

In his almost six years of knowing Neville Longbottom, Harry had never seen him look quite the way he did at this moment. His normally kind and slightly plump features were set in a hard fierce line, and he was moving with a quickness and a ferociousness that Harry would've never believed had he not been watching it with his very own eyes. Neville was clutching his wand, but he ignored it entirely as he wrestled with Bellatrix head-on, his usual tentative nature all but forgotten. As Neville and Bellatrix continued their ongoing struggle, the fight below was temporarily suspended as everyone stared up to watch the curiously intense battle taking place high above them.

"You think you can play little boy?" Bellatrix's voice rained down like ice to the platform below as she taunted Neville maliciously. They dodged and circled one another repeatedly, each eying the other calculatingly. Eventually, though, Neville slipped on the slanted and rather uneven surface and fell to one knee, nearly losing his footing in the process. Bellatrix cackled infuriatingly once more.

"You're not even as strong as your parents, are you? What makes you think you can possibly succeed when they both failed so miserably?"

"SHUT UP!" Neville roared, his face fairly blazing with hatred. Bellatrix was continuing to screech senselessly as Neville furiously lurched forward again, attempting to seize her around her thin shoulders. Instead of avoiding him, however, Bellatrix misjudged how fast he was moving and strayed too close to the edge. Their combined momentum then caused them each to topple dangerously off the end, both of them plummeting headfirst toward the train tracks far below.

"Locomotor-Corpus!" yelled a voice, and Harry watched as Neville's face came to a sharp halt only an inch from the cold steel of the parallel railway. Neville let out a surprised gasp as he was hastily caught extremely firmly, and Harry turned to see Hermione holding her wand on him, her hand quite steady though her eyes were wide with fright. Harry then looked down again. The smoke from the neighboring shop fire was growing thicker - it was getting more and more difficult to see through it. After a moment, though, a breeze began to clear the smoke away, and he was able to see the faint outline of Bellatrix's limp form laying at an odd angle on one edge of the tracks. Ron coughed quietly as he slowly stepped over to check for a pulse, but Harry could already tell that she'd broken her neck in the fall - Bellatrix Lestrange was now dead.

Ron briskly backed away from her body as he came to the same conclusion and stumbled over to Hermione once more. Hermione had just set Neville on his feet again, and the three of them then crossed to where Harry and Ginny were - apparently staggered by what they'd just seen. Ginny was drying the remnants of her tears on the back of her sleeve, and Harry began to hold her even more tightly as he felt the level of his anxiety grow to frenzied heights once again. How were they going to get out of this? How could they let someone know that they were trapped here? Just as these thoughts raced through Harry's head, however, he saw a couple of Death Eaters fall to the platform as two beams of light struck each of them in the center of the chest. Harry whipped around to see a tremendously welcome sight, Remus Lupin and Mad-Eye Moody were picking their way towards him.

"We just saw the fire in the village - is everybody all right?" Lupin asked hurriedly, as he reached Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Neville.

"Bellatrix Lestrange is dead," Harry answered at once.

"No real loss there," Moody grumbled under his breath as he warily hobbled up behind Lupin.

"What about the rest of you?" Lupin continued.

"I think we're all okay, but I don't know about everyone on the train and..." Harry paused as he looked over at Hagrid's body. "And Hagrid's lying over there... Lucius Malfoy hit him with some sort of spell I've never heard before - I'm not even sure what it was."

"Don't worry about the kids on the train, they're safe. And we'll see to Hagrid just as soon as we can. The important thing now is to get you out of here," Lupin said as he sent a line of red sparks over his shoulder. "The fact that the Death Eaters are willing to wage an open attack this close to Hogwarts means that they're absolutely desperate for something, and I'm willing to bet that you're the one they're desperate for, Harry."

"But they Apparated right onto the platform," Hermione put in, sounding worried. "I thought no one could Apparate or Disapparate within the Hogwarts grounds."

"That's correct," Moody spoke up again. "But that protection only extends to the gate. Hogsmeade has never been included in that, though it will be from now on if I have anything to say about it." Moody then pointed his wand high up into the air and shot a beam of something silvery towards the castle - it flew instantly outwards and disappeared from sight.

While everybody had grouped together to try to figure out how to get back to safety, the Death Eaters had used the concealing smoke and steam to reform their dwindling ranks once more. Harry heard a shout that sounded like it was coming from Lucius Malfoy, and as Harry glanced up he saw about ten different beams of light streaming towards them. As everyone ducked for cover, they all got separated again, and Harry found himself off to one side with Neville. Neville was looking stubbornly resolute as he shot off his own Impediment jinx, but his face was also glazed with a thin sheen of sweat and appeared a few shades paler than it usually did.

"Neville, are you doing okay?" Harry asked him.

"Yeah," Neville answered in an odd voice. "You know, Harry, I really am glad that Bellatrix Lestrange is dead, but I never expected it to be me - I never thought I'd know what it felt like to have killed someone." Harry peered at Neville blankly. He didn't know what to say to that - it sounded much too similar to his own possible fate. Any response Harry might have made was cut short a few seconds later, however, as Lucius Malfoy raised his voice yet again.

"Crabbe, Goyle... Get Potter!" he ordered, and both Death Eaters then came rocketing towards them, each hurling a curse in their direction.

"Protego!" Harry and Neville bellowed at the same time, causing the two red Stunning beams to rebound upon their senders. Just as their bulky forms fell to the floor of the platform, though, everything around them grew much quieter - Harry could even hear some small pops and sizzling noises coming from the fire in the village over the hiss of steam that continued to flow out of the Hogwarts Express. Harry had felt a little more confident once Lupin and Moody had appeared, but just as things seemed to be getting better, they immediately got a whole lot worse.

Without warning, Harry almost collapsed as his forehead seemed to split wide open along his scar, and Neville became stock-still next to him as he realized what Harry's reaction must mean. At the same moment Harry blurrily caught sight of Ginny, Ron, and Hermione gaping at him in abject terror a short distance away - they, like Neville, knew from watching Harry that the worst kind of danger must be very close by. The fighting then stopped momentarily as the tall thin form of Lord Voldemort silently emerged from behind his followers - his red glowing eyes and snakelike visage could be clearly seen as he walked slowly into their midst. Once the Death Eaters had realized that their master was present each of them bowed and fell obediently to their knees, but Voldemort seemed to almost ignore them as he paced in a straight line towards Harry. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione looked on in fearful dismay - they had never actually laid eyes upon the Dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort before. Everyone was continuing to watch the evil figure skulk unhurriedly across the platform when both Lupin and Moody decided to take advantage of the Death Eater's apparent lapse in attention.

"STUPIFY!" they each thundered in unison. Moody then swore under his breath as Voldemort easily Disapparated from his previous location, causing their spells to collide with nothing but empty space.

"Fools!" Voldemort hissed as he reappeared a few feet away. "Do you honestly think that you can defy me?" Voldemort was smiling his cold malicious smile as he responded by sending a bright orange light careening violently in Lupin and Moody's direction.

Both Mad-Eye and Lupin then attempted to take cover beneath the train as Voldemort's curse impacted the station platform exactly where they'd been standing, causing chunks of mortar and cement to fly all around them as a huge crater was left in its wake. The pain in Harry's scar spiked blindingly while Voldemort cast his malevolent curse, and when he was able to look up again, Harry saw that Lupin and Moody were both lying unconscious next to the train - their bodies were covered in ashy debris, rendering them gray and unnervingly ghostlike in appearance. The Death Eaters were staying in their kneeling poses for the time being, presumably awaiting additional orders from their master. Everything seemed to slow down as Harry squinted at his nemesis through streaming eyes - it was taking every bit of his strength just to remain standing. Although the air around them was full of smoke and steam, it also felt charged with an unseen but expectant energy - fear seemed to emanate and surround everyone, but something else was there, too - and whatever it was, it was extremely powerful.

Voldemort was stalking over to Harry once more. Harry stood his ground as best he could while the pain in his scar began to build afresh - he knew that this confrontation could take an even nastier turn at any given moment. Unexpectedly, however, Voldemort Disapparated again and reappeared right next to Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. The hooded heads of the Death Eaters then lifted facing Voldemort, and with a minute gesture of his hand, his followers promptly sprang into action. Harry watched as red, orange, and yellow beams of light flew out of the tips of their wands towards himself and Neville, and they both had to dive out of the way as the spells then slammed into the side of the train breaking out the windows in a massive explosion of flying glass and twisted metal.

As Harry landed hard on the floor of the station platform and the pain in his scar reached its shrillest pitch yet, he heard Voldemort's awful high-pitched voice shriek a curse that echoed disconcertingly along the length of the narrow station corridor. Harry looked up just in time to see an opaque and abnormally dense purple light envelope Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, and the three of them then dropped instantly to the hard station platform... each one seemingly lifeless. Ron and Hermione were laying next to one another - their faces drained of all color, their bodies limp and unmoving. Ginny's small form was off to one side, her vivid red hair over her pale and still features, her eyes closed and her body disturbingly motionless - Harry couldn't tell from this distance if any of them were breathing or not.

"No," Harry whispered shakily a second later, as a startlingly painful panic began to fill his entire body. It felt as though his mouth and throat had been turned into sand - he couldn't seem to push the air in and out of his lungs properly. One thought was resonating throughout his mind soundlessly, although part of him wanted to scream it as loudly and as defiantly as he could; this isn't possible, they can't be dead -- they just can't be...

Voldemort had already turned his evil red eyes in Harry's direction. As he then leered over at Harry Voldemort began to laugh exultantly, triumphantly - evidently reveling in what he'd just done.

At this, Harry began to feel something rise up from deep within himself, and though he had felt something like it very fleetingly once before, at this particular moment he neither knew nor cared what it was. A molten wave of heat had begun to rush from the tips of his toes to the ends of his fingers to every last strand of hair on his head. Harry Potter had never been this angry before - not when he'd blown up his Aunt Marge, not when he'd punched Malfoy during his fifth year, not even when he'd gone after Bellatrix and then demolished Dumbledore's office last June. Harry was literally seeing red before his eyes, and as he glared piercingly at Voldemort, he knew nothing, felt nothing but a raw and frightening fury. Abruptly, Harry then felt his arms being pulled backwards as the Death Eaters attempted to seize him from behind, and his wand was viciously torn from his grasp as if it was nothing more than a mere toy. As Harry furiously twisted around to face them, however, they each then relinquished their hold on him quite quickly, flinching away as if they had just received a severe electrical shock. Harry turned and set his eyes upon Lucius Malfoy as he stood above a totally unconscious Neville, his Death Eater's hood lowered and his face exposed. As Harry glowered at him fiercely, Harry's hair and clothes began to blow around him like he was in a high wind - his body feeling as if every nerve was crackling with unimagined currents of pure energy. While he had no way of knowing this - Harry's lightning-shaped scar had begun to glow with a mysteriously visible radiance - as though made of a strange liquid fire. Malfoy stared at him, transfixed, and without a word or his typical sneer, he swiftly stepped back and away. Harry's body was shaking now, not from physical weakness or fatigue, but from rage and some other unnamed source of power that he couldn't identify.

At this point Harry had no conscious or premeditated plan - he had no idea what he was going to do, but as he heard Voldemort's evil high-pitched cackle and then focused back upon the bodies of the three most important people in his life lying alarmingly immobile on the station platform before him, something within Harry suddenly snapped. One moment Harry had been standing several feet away beside Neville and a close-set group of Death Eaters, and the next his face was barely an inch away from Voldemort's, his hands wrapped savagely around his throat. Voldemort's laugh turned into a raspy cough as Harry appeared without warning nearly on top of him, and his red eyes began to fill with something Harry would've never expected to see there - fear. Voldemort then began to gasp for breath as Harry continued his stranglehold, and though Harry's scar was searing his skin like an open flame, he felt nothing but a vengeful and hate-filled wrath - a need to rid the world of the monster standing in front of him. All at once, Voldemort struggled in Harry's grasp and screeched in enraged agony. Harry refused to let go - he wanted so desperately for this to come to an end, but it wasn't meant to be. Voldemort had somehow managed to lift his wand enough to point it at Harry's chest, and Harry then found himself sprawled upon his back with the wind knocked completely from his body as he struggled to draw his next jagged breath. Harry felt the slight lessening of pain in his scar and knew even before looking up that Voldemort had vanished again - he was gone.

Harry was still lying on the station platform when a large fireball erupted in the sky directly overhead - Professor Dumbledore had just appeared with Fawkes as they came to land right next to him. The Death Eaters on the platform seemed to finally realize that their master had deserted them, and with the new threat of Albus Dumbledore to contend with, numerous sharp cracks then heralded their departure. Harry began to push himself into a standing position as he turned away from his headmaster and stared desolately at Ginny, Ron, and Hermione; the peculiar and overwhelming fury had left him now and an inescapable sadness had begun to take its place. Dumbledore took a moment to gaze at the scene of damage and destruction in front of him before glancing at Harry, his deeply-lined face drawn and hollow. Harry, however, was focused exclusively upon the lifeless faces of his friends. The bottom of Harry's whole world then seemed to crumble away into nothing... He couldn't think - he couldn't handle this - Harry simply couldn't imagine going on with his life if those three people weren't going to be a part of it....

And distantly, as if from another world, Harry then heard Dumbledore's voice as he bent to collect Harry's discarded wand nearby.

"Harry," Dumbledore was saying gently, as he reached out to put a steadying hand on his shoulder. Harry hadn't realized it but he was shaking from head to foot again, and though he couldn't see or noticeably feel it - the glowing fire behind his scar was just beginning to dim to its normal appearance once more. Without a word, Harry walked away from Dumbledore and stumbled immediately over to his friends. He stopped and kneeled above Ginny's petite form, touching her fair face with a bleeding hand - he had cuts and abrasions all over him but wasn't aware of them - they didn't matter. "You mustn't lose hope yet, Harry," Dumbledore spoke again, and Harry unseeingly turned to look up at him. Dumbledore then handed Harry his wand before stepping away to hover over Ron. "Ennervate!"

Harry stared at Ron for a long moment, but Ron's body remained utterly devoid of life and movement. Any flicker of hope Harry had felt was ruthlessly extinguished. He knew then that the spell had failed - that he had failed, and he felt like he was suffocating beneath the colossal weight of that terrible knowledge.... But Dumbledore had begun to stand taller and with a frown of intense concentration, he then wielded his wand over Ron once again.

"Envigoratia!"

Harry didn't dare believe that this had the remotest chance of working anymore - it seemed to be too much to ask for at this point, it seemed outside even the smallest realm of possibility. But then Harry heard the warbling sound of phoenix song as it reverberated from somewhere high overhead - and miraculously, unbelievably, Ron actually opened his eyes and blinkingly gazed over at him.

"What the devil is going on, Harry -" Ron asked, but trailed off as he registered the terrifyingly distraught expression still visible upon Harry's face. Ron glimpsed around at Dumbledore before he noticed that both Hermione and Ginny were lying unconscious nearby - Harry was continuing to linger above his sister's unnaturally quiet form. Harry himself, however, was just now beginning to take in the fact that Ron was alive - truly, honestly alive, and within seconds he was cautiously waving his own wand over Ginny.

"Envigoratia," Harry whispered softly, and then held his breath. A couple of heartbeats later, Ginny too opened her warm brown eyes and dazedly glanced up at him.

"Harry?" Ginny spoke quizzically, but Harry couldn't make a sound - relief was rushing through him like an enormous flood and all he could seem to do at that moment was peer endlessly into her face. Dumbledore was able to bring Hermione around as well, and before Ron could even reach out to her Harry surprised everybody by pulling the three of them into a firm embrace.

"I-I was sure that I'd lost you - all of you," Harry stammered haltingly a short while later, after he had released them and regained partial control of his voice again. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione stared back at Harry wordlessly, none of them really knowing what to say. Eventually, however, they appeared to come to the realization that the battle had ended and that everyone seemed that much worse for the wear. The four of them were thoroughly coated in thick gray dust and debris, and Harry was continuing to bleed openly since sharp bits of pulverized glass and metal had bombarded him earlier when the Death Eaters' curses had blown a gigantic gash into the side of the train.

"You look even worse than we do, mate," Ron said lightly, a smile on his grimy face. "Besides, you should know by now you can't get rid of us that easily." Harry tried to respond and smile back, but the shock of it all was genuinely setting in, and he found that he was almost dizzy from it.

"I believe I had best go check on the others," Dumbledore said, and as Harry rather woozily slid down onto the platform next to Ginny, Dumbledore performed the spell on Neville, Lupin, and Moody in turn. Each of them were quick to reawaken, and the headmaster then walked over to Hagrid. Hagrid had been out the longest, and Harry watched nervously as Dumbledore repeated the spell to revive him. Hagrid had continued to lie there facedown for a few minutes, and Harry had just started to feel the stirrings of panic once again when Hagrid rolled over at last and hastily sat up.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir..." Hagrid began, as he remembered what had been going on just before the curse had hit him. "Professor Dumbledore, sir, it was dementors an' then Death Eaters - they were tryin' ter attack the train!"

"Please calm yourself, Hagrid. Everything is all right - they have fled," Dumbledore explained evenly, as Hagrid pushed himself up to his usual extraordinary height.

Hagrid then looked over at everybody else and seemed to gather that more had happened than he was privy to. "Professor -- is ever'one okay?"

"They will be, Hagrid," Dumbledore answered quietly as his eyes focused specifically upon Harry. The headmaster paused momentarily, then turned back towards Hagrid. "I think it is time to reassemble and reassure our students. Would you be so kind as to retrieve them from the village?"

"'Course, Professor," Hagrid responded, as he began to lumber his way towards the entrance to Hogsmeade.

Ginny was currently helping Harry to his feet again - he was still reeling, literally, from that morning's events. Only thirty minutes had elapsed since the time they'd first set foot on the platform, but to Harry it had felt more like days or even weeks. As Harry stood there taking in everything and everyone around him, though, he felt an odd sense of peace begin to settle over him. They had just faced Voldemort and his closest followers, but they had all managed to come away from it alive, and Harry was feeling lucky beyond measure.

Harry wasn't quite ready to start thinking about this yet, but something revolutionary had taken place that day - something that was both easy and difficult to understand. All of the things that had happened had been wholly unanticipated and though Harry didn't comprehend any of it fully, part of him was starting to realize that this would change everything. Harry was beginning to recognize that the path he would ultimately follow was inextricably linked to this strange new power he'd managed to touch - managed to use today against his enemy. Some part of Harry knew that this was the true key to fulfilling the prophecy, that somehow this was the power that would enable him to "vanquish the Dark Lord..." As Harry Potter sat there on the dusty station platform, he began to understand the one thing that he had never properly grasped before - he was beginning to realize for the first time that he now knew exactly what he must do to defeat Lord Voldemort.