The Final Battle

A short note on the previous chapter: I forgot my annotation. The text reads like this:

...he was hit by sixty pounds of angry dog (*), but I didn't give you an annotation for the (*). I just wanted to say that I'm not very familiar with pounds as a measure unit, I guess it's somewhat around 30 kilos. I really don't know how big and heavy dogs can be in general, and I don't know how big and heavy Sirius is in his dog form. But I guessed he's not as heavy as he is in man-form, therefore this.

Too Much to Fight Against

Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ron and Hermione finally reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest and thankfully hid under the cover of the outer tree line. Once more Harry was proven right in his suggestion that Remus and his godfather knew each other far too well to need words to communicate all the time. With a court nod towards Sirius, Remus vanished into the trees and soon was out of sight. Harry frowned in confusion.

"Where did he go?"

"Looking if there's somebody or something close to us. He should be back soon."

Harry nodded and drew his attention back towards his two friends.

"Are you alright?"

Both Ron and Hermione nodded. Ron sighed deeply.

"Yeah, if we were only back in the castle already."

Before Harry could reply to that, Sirius made a grunting sound, almost like Padfoot when he was growling.

"None of you should have left the castle in the first place, then all this would not be necessary. And as soon as Remus comes back, we'll decide what to do next."

Hermione blushed at Sirius' accusation while Ron found a sudden interest in his shoes. The immediate reply that they had only gone out to help Harry lay on the tips of their tongues, but both decided that this was surely not the right moment to start an argument about their reasons with Sirius.

Suddenly footsteps were approaching them, but while the three teens spun around immediately and drew their wands, Sirius didn't even turn his head.

"It's only Remus."

That was all he said. And, true to his words, only a moment later Remus emerged from the trees and stepped towards them. Sirius looked up expectantly, but Remus only shrugged.

"I couldn't find a trace of anybody being close to us, but I wouldn't rely that it remains that way. We should head back towards the castle as soon as possible."

Sirius nodded while he continued to let his eyes wander across the grounds in front of them. So far, there was nobody in sight. He looked at Remus.

"We could get back behind the greenhouses easily, but that wouldn't be of much use. We can't get back in the way we came out."

Remus sighed.

"That much was clear. So it's either the longer way around towards the lake and from there to the front doors, or we head towards Hagrid's hut and try to get back in from there."

"Which could be more dangerous", Sirius added, "because that way we'll have to cross much more of the fighting area."

Sirius sighed and stared ahead, all the while scratching the back of his head absent-mindly. Harry opened his mouth to add his opinion to the discussion, he was growing more and more impatient with every minute they stayed in one place. But one glance and a gesture of Remus' hand made him close his mouth again immediately. Remus knew that Sirius was waging their options right now and it had never been a good idea to disturb Sirius Black while he was planning something. Eventually, Sirius turned towards Remus and the teens.

"We'll go towards Hagrid's hut. We'll get far closer to the battle than I'd like to, but that way is much faster and we'll be in sight of the front doors much sooner. Someone's bound to be there and keep things organized, they'll see us sooner and be able to help us in case things go wrong."

Remus nodded.

"Alright, then let's go."

Sirius turned towards Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Okay, I want you to listen carefully now because I won't repeat it. While we're still out here, you'll do what Remus and I say, without asking questions. If we tell you to duck down, you'll duck down immediately, and if we tell you to run, you'll run as fast as you can. This is no field trip out here, and Remus and I know how to handle such a situation better than you do. Remus will walk ahead and I'll cover our backs. Nobody leaves the others, no running off whatever the reason. Did I make myself clear?"

The three teens nodded, far too intimidated by the sudden harsh and authoritative tone in Sirius' voice to contradict. Not that they had intended to, anyway.

Sirius nodded.

"Okay then, let's go."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"For Merlin's sake Severus, it can't be that difficult now, can it?"

Though McGonagall tried to be as quiet as possible, she sounded as if she was greatly annoyed with her partner and that annoyance showed in her voice.

"Shhh Minerva! Why don't you light your wand and get up, I think that would make it a lot easier for those two Death Eaters to find us!"

"Spare me with your sarcasm, I don't think I can take that right now! So, will you finally start moving?"

Snape sighed.

"I won't move as long as you don't come up with a plan that doesn't sound as suicidal as this!"

Both Snape and McGonagall seemed to forget their situation for a moment as they raised their voices, not really minding that this could attract the Death Eaters.

And truly, the two remaining opponents had approached the hiding place of the two professors during the last couple of minutes. First they had been searching where they could have gone off to, but then the whispering and the raised voices had been a dead giveaway. One of the Death Eaters stopped in his tracks when he discovered the bush behind which the two must be hiding. He gestured towards his partner to approach it from the right side while he took over the left. That way, there should be no possibility for the two teachers to escape them. And they still didn't seem to have realized that they were being ambushed, because the bickering continued.

"Well, at least I did come up with a plan at all while our dear Potions master just idly sat around and gazed at the stars!"

"You didn't even give me the chance to do so, you never stopped talking!"

"As if that would have ever stopped you Severus! And by the way, you should know the Death Eaters better than I ever will, so it should be a piece of cake for you to come up with a rescue plan!"

"Oh Minerva, stop that will you? I've had enough of this to last for a lifetime!"

The Death Eater grinned. This was easier than he had imagined it would be. Those two really weren't very clever, he had already neared the bush they were hiding behind and still they had not realized the danger they were in. Just a few more steps...

With a last quick glance towards his partner who was standing some feet away, he gripped his wand tighter and jumped behind the bush, the killing curse on his lips.

His eyes widened and his mouth closed as he stared at absolutely nothing behind the bush. Confusedly, he looked up and searched for his partner, but before he even had a chance to grasp what was going on, he heard a muttered 'Stupefy' and then everything went black.

Minerva McGonagall got up from her crouch and quickly moved over towards the fallen Death Eater to bind him up. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw that Snape was doing precisely the same with the one he had stunned. McGonagall used all the binding charms she could think of, just to make sure that this Death Eater would not likely be freed and pose a further threat to them. A few moments later, Snape joined her.

"Congratulations Minerva. That plan was fabulous."

Quite surprised to hear such a praise from her colleague, Minerva managed a shy smile before she returned to the bush and retrieved two small metal objects. Returning one to Snape, she waved her wand across the other and removed the charm she had put on it. McGonagall would never openly admit it, but she considered transfiguring the clasps of their cloaks into little speakers one of her better ideas herself. That way they had been able to hide a couple of metres away while the attention of the Death Eaters had been focussed on the bush alone.

"I have to admit that I didn't like it to rely so completely on the stupidity of those two."

Snape gave a short laugh.

"My dear Minerva, stupidity is something you can nearly always rely on when facing low ranking Death Eaters. Believe me, I know what I speak of."

"I would have guessed as much. But now let's move back into the castle, I don't want to risk another encounter like that one."

Snape nodded and both continued making their way towards the main entrance, this time even more careful than the last.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was confused. At the moment, he was staring at a rapidly increasing pile of silver items which the house elves had brought into the Entrance Hall during the last couple of minutes.

Of course Dumbledore was perfectly aware of the fact that silver could kill werewolves, but by the life of him he could not imagine that Moody wanted to have the Aurors throwing around with dessert forks and goblets.

When he saw Alastor Moody approaching, he gave his old friend a very puzzled look.

"Alastor, I still don't understand what you want to do with all that silver."

"I want to protect the Aurors out there."

"I guessed as much Alastor, what I cant figure out right now is how you want to do that."

Alastor smiled while he gestured the house elves to stop bringing in more and more silver items.

"Well, I'm no expert in werewolves, but now that Remus is not here I guess we'll have to do it on our own. Fillius and I have been asking ourselves, if werewolves can be killed by silver and therefore stay away from it, why don't we equip the Aurors with it? That way, no werewolf will attack them unless he's suicidal."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, but how? I mean, you don't want them to walk around with silver goblets hanging around their necks, do you?"

Moody laughed.

"As interesting as this might sound, no I didn't plan that. I was more thinking about a full body protection. But let's begin, then I think it should become clear to you."

Moody pointed his wand onto the huge stack of silver items.

"Dissolvere pulvis!"
The various items seemed to melt in front of their eyes, until only a pile of silver dust remained. Dumbledore's eyes grew a little wider. Slowly, he began to understand what Moody was about to do.

"Dispertio globi!"

Again, the pile of silver started to move and one after another, silver spheres which had roughly the size of a human body formed and Moody waved them through the front door with his wand. He turned towards Dumbledore.

"We'll equip the Aurors with those, they should keep the werewolves off. As soon as they come into contact with a human body, they should settle around it like a second skin without really being visible. But the werewolves will be able to scent the silver. The silver dust should be fixed within the globes, so they should do no harm to any werewolf if they don't come too close. After all, I still have the feeling that they didn't exactly volunteer to come here, considering that it's not even full moon."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, and Remus will also be able to realize what is going on without being harmed. Alastor, it's a fantastic idea, I really think this could work."

Moody smiled.
"Thank you Albus. And it might even help us with the Death Eaters, because if the werewolves realize that they can't attack the Aurors, they will surely search for unprotected prey. We'll give them some of their own medicine.

Let's just hope that the joint Patroni will work the way Fillius thinks they will, then we might have enough time to equip all our Aurors before our attackers have recovered."

Again, Dumbledore nodded and the two men left the castle.

Outside, Fillius Flitwick was already talking heatedly to two Aurors, but at the moment Dumbledore didn't care. His eyes wandered across the grounds, trying to estimate their situation.

Moody was right, if their plans didn't work then they would not be able to hold the castle much longer. A part of the Auror forces had already been driven back close towards the castle where they formed a double line and tried to fend off the approaching groups of Death Eaters and Dementors.

The plan of their attackers was obvious. They tried to separate the Aurors into smaller groups and get in between them and the castle, that way forcing them closer towards the Forest where the majority of the werewolves were attacking. Already a line of Aurors had formed at the edge of the forest who were completely occupied with fighting the werewolves off while their colleagues in their backs were fighting against the Death Eaters.

Dumbledore sighed. This would not become easy.

"Alastor, we will have to levitate the silver spheres towards the Aurors at the forest. I doubt that they will be able to come here and get them themselves."

Moody nodded, his face frowning concernedly.

"I know. But what worries me more is that we won't be able to warn them about the joint Patroni. If it really works, it's going to be a powerful magical blast and it will not only affect the Dementors. It could be useful if it surprises and confuses the Death Eaters, but I don't like the idea a part of our men won't be prepared as well."

"But there's no way to warn them now, let's just hope they realize that it's not an attack against them. Are we ready to start?"

Moody looked over to Flitwick who by now had stopped his discussion with the Aurors. He nodded at Moody.

"Flitwick says we're ready. All the Aurors close by should be informed, that should be enough."

Professor Flitwick climbed the stairs and stepped next to Moody and Dumbledore.

"The Aurors are ready. There will be a count to three, and then they all will cast the Patronus charm while I say the incarnation to join them together."

Both Dumbledore and Moody got their wands out and waited for the countdown. They didn't have to wait for very long. One of the Aurors who organized the forces magically magnified his voice and gave the signal.

"One - Two - Tree - NOW!"

At least two hundred voices shouted the incarnation "Expecto Patronum" in unison and so loud that Professor Flitwick's squeaky voice with his own incarnation could hardly be heard. But though he had hardly been heard, his incarnation seemed to have worked. Instead of single Patroni shooting out of each wizards wand, a silvery cloud began to form around their heads and slowly took the shape of a huge silvery wave that rolled across the battlefield and towards the Forbidden Forest.

Though no single Patronus form was recognizable in the wave, it seemed to have the same effect on the Dementors than a mere Patronus by a single wizard. As soon as the wave approached the first Dementors, they started moving back as fast as they could manage. Not really caring where they went to or if they were on their own or in groups, the Dementors tried to get as far away as possible from this cloud of clenched protective positive emotion. And to say that the Death Eaters were surprised would be a real understatement. Though the Patronus wave did not harm them, it confused them nevertheless. And while the Death Eaters were still trying to find out where that sliver cloud had come from and why the Dementors had started running away, the Aurors did their best to stun and bind as many of them as the moment allowed.

Dumbledore looked at Flitwick, who positively beamed with delight, and then at Moody.

"Time for those silver spheres of yours now, Alastor. If they only work half as good as this just did, we'll really be able to stand a chance. I'll go inside now, I need to find out where Harry is now more than ever."
Moody nodded at the old headmaster while he set off to levitating the silver spheres towards the Aurors on the battlefield.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Remus and the others reached Hagrid's hut without further incident. One look inside showed that Hagrid was not here right now, possibly he was off helping to fight the werewolves. Keeping in the shadow of the hut, they could clearly see the battlefield now which was illuminated by the still nearly full moon and the lights of flying curses.

One quick glance at it showed Sirius and Remus all they needed to know about their current situation. If somebody didn't come up with a good plan soon, they would stand no chance against the attackers. Though he had only been an Auror for a couple of years before he got arrested, Sirius realized that none of the standard fighting practices the Aurors were trained in would be of use here. Not with a mixture of humans, Dementors and werewolves to fight against.

Constantly, injured, stunned or dead Aurors were being levitated towards the castle by their colleagues and the medi-wizards in front of the entrance, and with diminished numbers their chances didn't really increase.

When Sirius looked around and looked at Remus, he found that his friend had closed his eyes, his jaw tightly clenched and his hands balled to fists. His head was slightly bent and his hair fell into his eyes.

"Remus?"

Though he spoke softly, it was loud enough to draw Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's attention towards Remus as well. Only Remus didn't react, he kept on in- and exhaling deeply as if he was desperately trying to remain calm.

"Remus?"

A little louder this time, but it was enough to finally gain Remus' attention. He raised his head and gave Sirius a weak smile.

"Moony is running amok right now, and that's put quite mildly. He feels them and he wants to get out."

While he said 'them', he nodded towards the ongoing fight, but he needn't have specified what he was talking about. Sirius knew that he could not really imagine what kind of inner battle Remus was fighting right now. Even after so many years of friendship with him, even after getting to know the wolf that surfaced once a month, Remus' somewhat split mind would forever remain a mystery to him.

"How bad is it? Can you go on?"

Remus smirked.

"Do I have any other choice? Just give me a moment."

Sirius nodded and focussed his attention to the question of how to continue from here on. The main entrance of the castle was in sight, but so was the battlefield. Just running straight towards it would not be the wisest choice, the chance that they could be seen by the Death Eaters were far too big. He turned around.

"We won't be able to walk towards the castle in a straight line, that would be far too dangerous. We'll walk a curve to the right, towards that group of trees and from there to the castle. Then along the castle wall towards the entrance. That seems the most secure option right now. Ready?"

The three teens nodded and when Sirius looked at Remus, his friend also gave him an affirmative movement of the head.

"Let's go!"

Remus again ran in front, Harry, Ron and Hermione behind him while Sirius covered their backs. The small group of trees Sirius had chosen as their first stop was maybe four hundred metres away and while they ran, Sirius kept a close eye on the castle entrance whenever possible. Already during their stop at Hagrid's hut he had seen Dumbledore standing on the front steps. His long beard and the white hair had made it easy to identify him even though he was still quite far away. Next to him stood Moody, a man Sirius would recognize anywhere. After all, he had been his teacher at the Auror training. For a short moment, Sirius had considered to attract their attention so that they could send help, but he had quickly pushed that thought aside. That would only attract unwanted attention towards them as well.

But just as they had started running towards the group of trees, something was happening in front of the castle. Sirius heard someone counting down, then an incarnation shouted by many voices and then something happened which Sirius had never seen before. A huge wave of some silvery fog built up and raced across the grounds. Sirius stopped dead in his tracks, and so did Remus and the children. All five of them stared at what was happening with wide eyes.

"Remus, do you know what that is?"

Remus shook his head.

"I've never seen something like that before. But it came from the direction of the castle, so I don't think it's the work of the Death Eaters. Rather something Dumbledore and Moody have come up with."

They were interrupted in their rambling about what this wave precisely was when Harry suddenly started speaking.

"I think I know what this is."

The two adults spun around. Sirius looked at his godson with a very puzzled expression.

"What?"

"I don't know exactly, but it seems to drive away the Dementors. Just look!"

When they did just that, they saw what Harry meant. From everywhere on the battlefield, Dementors came running in front of the wave, desperately trying to get away from it. Most of them ran into the Forbidden Forest, some took the way around the lake and a small group of them...

"They're coming towards us! Ron, Hermione, Harry, run towards the trees now!"

They started running again, trying to reach the cover of the trees so that at least their backs were covered when they had to confront the Dementors. The Patronus wave had scared the Dementors back, surely, but the wave had vanished by now and though the Dementors had no intention of going back to where they came from, they would never let the opportunity to suck the emotions out of such an easy prey let pass unused. And truly, the group of maybe nine or ten Dementors slightly changed their course and ran towards them as soon as they sensed their presence.

"Ron, Hermione, keep running towards the trees and wait for us there. Don't leave without us, understood?"

The two nodded and continued to run while Remus, Harry and Sirius slowed down and turned around. The Dementors were already close to them, they didn't have much more time before they would be too close for comfort. Remus shot his friend a concerned glance.

"Ready Sirius?"

Sirius kept a straight face, but Remus realized that his jaw was clenched together very tight and the hand that held his wand outstretched was shaking slightly.

"I won't have more time to get ready, will I?"

"No. But if that was really some kind of Patronus force just some minutes ago, then it might not need very much to give those Dementors here the rest. Let's just do it."

Sirius nodded and after they all had taken a final deep breath, they shouted the incarnation in unison.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Harry's silver stag immediately started racing towards the Dementors, followed by a comet out of Sirius' wand and...Padfoot? He couldn't clearly tell, but the large, bear-like silver dog that came out of Remus' wand looked suspiciously like the animagus form of his godfather. He would have to ask Remus about that later. (**)

For the moment it was only important that their Patroni started chasing the already weakened Dementors away. The stag and the dog were attacking them viciously while the comet zoomed around their heads and prevented the Dementors from attacking again. It didn't take much until the creatures decided that this prey wasn't worth its price and started running off.

The Patroni vanished and Sirius let out a deep sigh of relief. It pained him to admit such a weakness, but the presence of Dementors still made him shaky and sick. Not that he though this would ever improve again, twelve years in their close proximity was more than enough for a human lifetime, animagus or not.

Just as he was about to look up and suggest to join Ron and Hermione in the cover of the trees, he heard Remus shout.

"Harry, get down!"

Then an arm grabbed him across the chest and dragged him unceremoniously to the ground. Sirius felt rather than saw the curse shooting over him, but he realized that it would have hit him had Remus not reacted in time. So the Death Eaters had found them.

"Fuck! Harry, are you alright?"

"Yes."

Sirius nodded. That at least was something. As quickly as he could, he got back to his feet and immediately moved into a defence position. Old reflexes don't die just because you didn't use them for quite some time. Next to him, Remus did the same and together they stood protectively in front of Harry. Even though the moon illuminated the scene, he could not make out where that curse had come from. His wand raised, ready to react anytime, Sirius looked around trying to find their attackers.

"Remus, do you see something?"

"No."

"Let's try to get to Hermione and Ron, I don't like the idea that they're out here alone."

"Right. Harry, stay as close to us as possible. If you see something, stun it immediately."

"Okay."

Harry was surprised how firm his voice sounded, because at that moment he didn't really feel courageous. He slowly began to realize that no matter how often he had been confronted with Death Eaters and even Voldemort himself before, this situation was completely different. They were alone out here, clearly outnumbered and didn't even know where their attackers were hiding. Willing his hands to stop shaking, Harry gave Sirius an affirmative nod and they set off.

They started making their way towards the group of trees, each of them looking out into a different direction for any sign of movement.

But then everything happened nearly too fast for them to react.

Another curse was shot at them and a group of hooded men came out from under the group of trees where Ron and Hermione were supposed to hide behind.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Valeria Salenin had been watching the progress of their forces from a spot near the lake, her body hidden in the shadows of the trees. Inwardly, she had congratulated herself already. The werewolves had proven to be the force which the Ministry had neither expected tonight nor had they any useful means against them. Surely, single werewolves had been stunned and killed by now, but not before they had done more than equal harm to the Ministry Aurors.

Some minutes ago however, Valeria's mood had changed significantly. Whatever that old fool up there in the school had come up with, it had been a very successful plan to get rid of the Dementors. They didn't really need the Dementors to succeed against Dumbledore and the Ministry, but they had been a very useful mean to confuse the Ministry wizards.

This had been a setback, no doubt about that, but what worried Valeria even more was the movement that had taken place ever since the Dementors had been scared off. From the entrance of the castle, the Ministry wizards levitated some kind of spheres around the battlefield towards their Aurors. Valeria didn't really know what kind of spheres that were, but she didn't have a very good feeling about this.

As if to prove her suspicions right, hurried steps towards her turned her attention away from the battle for a moment. Soon she recognized the approaching man as Walden McNair, and his expression was one of pure horror and fear. He didn't even bow or acknowledge her superior role like he had always done before.

"McNair?"

The man came to a halt next to her, resting his hands on his knees in an attempt to regain his breath. When he finally managed to speak, his words drew all the blood out of Valeria's face.

"Salenin, you have to call back those werewolves!"

"McNair, how do imagine that? I can't call them back, I have no control over them anymore."

McNair's eyes widened in horror as he looked straight into the Potions mistresses eyes.

"Would you care to tell me why you come running up to me with such a ridiculous idea?"

McNair sighed.

"We don't know exactly, but it seems as if Dumbledore and his men are equipping their Aurors with protection globes made of silver dust. And if the werewolves realize that they can't attack them anymore, they'll attack our own men. You have to do something!"

Valeria shrugged her shoulders, not betraying the inner turmoil that was raging in her. Within a few moments, all her hopes and plans had been shattered. She knew exactly that if things went wrong tonight, the Dark Lord would definitely not reward her in any way.

"I already told you McNair, there is nothing I can do about them. While we were guarding the werewolves, they had been chained and manacled magically. But right now there's no control over them until the potion wears off."

"How long?"

"Not before dawn."

McNair buried his face in his hands. This was not what he had expected when he had come here that night. They had been so sure that Dumbledore and the Ministry would never come up with a real plan against werewolves and Dementors, and now this.

Valeria was thinking along the same lines. Now that the Aurors were probably protected against the werewolf attacks, with the Dementors gone, their success would rely completely on the competence and fighting abilities of the Death Eaters. Something Valeria Salenin didn't really want to rely on. She knew that she had two options right now.

One would be to stay and endure whatever was to come, possibly even facing the wrath of the Dark Lords when his plans would fail because of the failure of the werewolves and the Death Eaters.

The second would be to get away from Hogwarts grounds and return only when Voldemort's plans didn't fail. This option seemed to be by far the better one, there was only one problem about it. She could not need a witness for the fact that she had left the battlefield. But that wasn't really much of a problem.

Drawing out her wand, Valeria pointed it somewhere at the still ongoing battle.

"Well, I think there is something I can do."

McNair raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

Valeria allowed herself to smile.

"Getting away until it is clear which ending this night will take."

Before McNair was even able to process that little piece of information, Valeria turned her wand at McNair.

"Avada Kedavra!"

With an astonished look on his face, McNair fell to the ground and didn't move anymore. Valeria drew a little box from out the pocket of her robes, opened it and touched the portkey inside. In the blink of an eye, Valeria Salenin had vanished from Hogwarts grounds.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Ron and Hermione ran as fast as they could towards the group of trees Sirius had indicated. They knew that they were not much of a help when facing the Dementors, because even though they had tried really hard, both had not been able to produce a steady Patronus. Panting, they finally reached the shelter of the trees and hid under them. It was only a small group of trees, maybe four or five of them with some undergrowth of bushes, but for the moment it provided enough shelter. They could not be spotted as easily as if they would be running openly across the plains.

They turned back towards their friends just in time to witness the final moments in which the Patroni drew the remaining Death Eaters away. Hermione let out a sigh of relief.

"The Dementors are gone. Let's wait for the others and then hurry back into the castle, I don't intend to stay here for very much longer."

When she heard no reply from Ron, Hermione turned towards her friend.

"Ron?"

"Hermione, follow me. Quickly!"

Not waiting for her reply, Ron grabbed her hand and started pulling her away. Hermione was about to protest, about to tell Ron that Sirius had explicitly told them to stay put and not move on without the adults when she saw the group of Death Eaters that were approaching their hiding place.

They had not spotted the two teens yet, they seemed to be focussed on hiding their presence from Harry, Sirius and Remus, but if they didn't get away fast, their discovery would only be a matter of moments.

Ron and Hermione ducked down as far as possible and quickly tried to bring some distance between themselves and the Death Eaters. They reached a small grass hill, not really big enough to hide behind but enough for the moment to duck down for a moment and look back. Turning around both Ron and Hermione continued walking steadily backwards, not taking their eyes off the group of Death Eaters.

That is, until Hermione ran into something solid. Not solid enough to be a tree or a wall, but more solid in the meaning of 'another human body'.

"My, my. Now look what we got here."

Hearing the stranger's voice, Ron spun around and drew his wand, only to find Hermione in the firm grip of a single Death Eater who had pointed his wand at her throat. Ron could not see the Death Eater's face, but he was fairly sure that the man was grinning behind his mask.

"I wouldn't do as much as flinch if I were you, or your little girlfriend here will be dead before she hits the ground. Thought I didn't see you sneaking off, didn't you? You still have very much to learn about battles, but I'm afraid there won't be any opportunity for you. Now put your wand down!"

Not wanting to endanger Hermione, Ron obediently did as he was told and put his wand onto the grass in front of him. But if he was right in his suspicion, then the Death Eater was alone and maybe they could stand a chance against him.

The Death Eater nodded.

"Good. And now I'll take you back to the others. Couldn't let you wander around here alone now, could I? It's far too dangerous."

Ron didn't really listen to what the man was saying, his eyes were locked with Hermione's. If only she could get out of the man's reach, then he could take back his wand and stun that bastard.

"Move!"

The Death Eater nodded at Ron to start walking back into the direction of the trees and just as he was about to turn around, Hermione seized her chance.

The Death Eater had slightly loosened the grip he had on her while his attention had been focussed on Ron, and praying that Ron would react quickly she spun around and smashed her knee full force into the man's groin. The Death Eater stiffened, stunned at what had happened, and then with a last summoning of his physical strength pushed Hermione forcefully to the ground before he sank to his knees and whimpered.

It nearly happened to fast for Ron to react. He saw Hermione kicking the man where it really hurt, but before he could sympathize with the pain the Death Eater had to be feeling, he made a dive for his wand, pointed it at the Death Eater and stunned him.

"Stupefy!"

The Death Eater sank to the ground and Ron quickly put every binding charm he could think of on him.

Then he quickly ran to Hermione's side who by now had moved into a sitting position and held her hand against her forehead. Blood was oozing out from between her fingers.

"Hermione!"

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Wormtail and his partner slowly emerged the forest behind Hagrid's hut. He knew that it was planned to lure James' son out of the castle, and it was his job to check whether he was alone or not. Sooner or later Harry would head into the direction of the forest, that much he had been told, and he was not allowed to enter if he was not alone.

Wormtail only hoped that neither Sirius nor Remus was accompanying him, not those two. That would be the worst scenario he could imagine.

The guard next to him had been silent for most of the evening, not reacting to anything Wormtail said. Of course he knew that the guards had been put under the Imperious Curse some time ago now, but he had never imagined that the Curse would prevent them from talking like that.

Not that he really cared for what the guard would have to tell, but Wormtail was nervous and some distraction would do him good.

But as he scanned the grounds in front of him now, he realized that the time for distraction was over now anyway.

There he was.

James' son. Harry.

And Sirius and Remus were with him. Blasted luck, it was never on his side. Well, that could not be helped right now. First they had to deal with the Death Eaters, and then he would take care of Sirius and Remus if still necessary.

He turned towards his partner.

"Remain hidden behind the hut, there's no need for them to see that I'm not alone. Remember, we just have to get Sirius and Remus away from the Potter boy. You won't interfere unless I get captured and it's absolutely necessary."

The man nodded and silently moved into the shadows behind the hut.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Hermione, are you alright?"

Ron quickly crossed the distance between himself and his girlfriend, who sat on the ground and held a hand to her face, hiding a rather nasty bleeding cut behind her hands. When she saw Ron running towards her, she tried to rise to her feet, noticing rather startled that they didn't seem to support her weight anymore.

"Whoa, Hermione! Take it slow!"

Within an instant, Ron was by her side and supported her with an arm around her waist. Under this joint effort, Hermione managed to rise to her feet.

"That looks rather nasty."

Hermione removed her hand from her forehead and frowned at the amount of blood that covered her digits.

"I hit my head on a stone when that Death Eater threw me to the ground. But head wounds always bleed rather nastily, it's not serious. I only need some moments to get my balance back, the impact was quite hard."

Ron quickly muttered a healing charm to stop the bleeding and then checked Hermione for further injuries. Luckily they were not in the middle of the battle field and could afford a short moment to regain their strength. Hermione didn't seem to be injured, and Ron just was about to ask her whether she knew where the others were, when he realized the shocked look on her face, followed quickly by a shout.

"Ron, watch out!"

Ron spun around as fast as he could, raised his wand and screamed 'Stupefy!' without thinking twice. A bolt of red light shot from his wand and the werewolf that had just made an attempt to leap at the two youths fell out of the air in mid-jump. He hit the frosty ground with a 'thump' and lay there, unmoving. Ron exhaled deeply and he felt Hermione grasping his arm tightly.

"I just want to know how they managed to get those werewolves attacking in a non-full-moon night, I really do."

He shook his head, then quickly scanned the area around them for further attackers before he turned back to Hermione.

"Do you know where the others are? Harry, Sirius and Remus? We have to get back to them."

Hermione shook her head.

"I don't know. I don't want to imagine what happened when the Death Eaters found them. Do you think we should get back to the group of trees and look for them there?"

Ron shook his head.

"I don't think we should. Somehow, I don't have a very good feeling about this, we'd walk directly into their arms in case they have overwhelmed the others."

Hermione nodded thoughtful.

"Maybe we should walk a larger curve and get back to Hagrid's hut. If the others are still where we left them, we can easily see if they're alright and help them if necessary without being seen ourselves."

Ron nodded.

"Sounds like a good idea. Let's go."

Quickly they made their way back to Hagrid's hut, which they had left only half an hour ago. They took a slightly longer way, but one that guaranteed at least more protection from unwanted eyes. Both moved as fast as they could, but keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings all the time.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Sirius had inwardly cursed himself when he had realized that he they had lost sight of Ron and Hermione again. They had been supposed to stay together, and the thought that the two of them were somewhere in the middle of this, alone, didn't please him at all. They weren't fully qualified yet, no matter how clever and courageous they might be, Remus and he had been supposed to keep an eye on them.

Now he was even more determined not to lose Harry as well. He, his godson and Remus currently stood back to back, each of them shooting curses at the approaching groups of Death Eaters. Sirius didn't even want to imagine what the situation was like right in the middle of this, if it was already so straining on the edge of the battlefield. Somewhere in there his colleagues, Arabella, Moody, and all the others had to be struggling even harder with the Death Eaters and the werewolves than they did here.

Sirius had been quite surprised to see that Remus didn't seem to think twice how he should react towards the attacking werewolves, though Moony must be giving him a tough inner struggle still. After all, this was his first encounter with werewolves while actually being human, ever since he was five and had become one of them himself. Sirius knew very well that Remus more than anybody else thought about their human sides that were hidden somewhere within those beasts. Nevertheless, Remus had not hesitated to Avada Kedavra a werewolf that had tried to launch himself on Sirius while he was busy fighting off a Death Eater. Well, Sirius was a part of Moony's pack, and Moony would never allow anybody to hurt his pack mate, but still Sirius knew that this would be occupying his friend for quite a long time. Right now, Remus wasn't thinking, he was merely reacting, and Sirius was even a little scared when he tried to imagine what kind of nightmares would be plaguing his friend when he finally had the time to think about what he had done.

He was pulled out of his chain of thought when he realized that one of the few remaining attackers had just thrown a Full Body Bind towards him.

With the quick reflexes of a past time Quidditch player, he dodged it and also managed to pull Harry aside in the process, so that the curse would not hit him instead.

'Constant Vigilance, Black! Keep your thoughts in the here and now for fuck's sake!'

Sirius smiled briefly when he realized that he had scolded himself with the exact words that his former teacher Mad Eye Moody had used, so many years ago, during his Auror training.

Quickly, he threw a series of hexes and curses towards that Death Eater and then stunned and bound him, before he turned around towards his godson and Remus.

Both appeared to be unharmed and apparently, there were no more Death Eaters attacking them at the moment. Harry was about to bind one he had just stunned, but with a quick glance over his shoulder to check that Harry and Sirius weren't in danger anymore, Remus suddenly started running off towards the figure of a lone Death Eater who stood maybe fifty feet away from them and watched the battle from under a tree behind Hagrid's hut. Sirius recognized him immediately and started sprinting behind his friend, forgetting everything else around him.

"Wormtail!"

Their former fellow Marauder saw them approaching and tried to run away, but Remus quickly reacted and threw the jelly legs curse at him. Wormtail fell to the ground, looked frantically around as if in search for help and then desperately tried to crawl away into safety. He was stopped by a boot that was pressed into his back.

"Now, where do you want to go Peter? Don't want to greet two old friends?"

A sharp kick into his ribs turned him around and he found himself face to face with his former best friends, both looking furiously down at him, their wands pointing at his heart.

"Sirius...Remus...I...I didn't do anything...I just wanted to..."

"DIDN'T DO ANYTHING???"

Even Remus flinched a little at Sirius' outburst.

"What do you mean you didn't do anything? You still don't understand what you have caused with your cowardice, do you? And now you want to run away again, desperately trying to get away from facing the consequences."

"No...listen Sirius, I...I just wanted to..."

Another kick in his ribcage shut Peter up rather effectively.

"What did you just want to? Run to your master to lead him to Harry another time? Help him kill the boy? That's what you wanted?"

Peter said nothing but lay panting on the floor, while Sirius suddenly started looking around searchingly. Upon seeing Wormtail, he had completely forgotten about Harry!

"Remus, can you deal with Peter alone? I'll look for Harry, he shouldn't be on his own out here, I need to get him to Dumbledore. Just stun that rat and then bring him inside."

"Sure Padfoot, just go. I think I won't have too many problems with Pete here. Just be careful."

Sirius nodded and ran off towards the place where he had last seen his godson. Truly, Harry still refused to talk to him and hadn't seemed too pleased at all when Dumbledore had told him to stay close to his godfather, but whatever reason Harry had for his sudden aversion against his godfather, Sirius didn't intend to leave him alone in the middle of battle.

He sighed in relief when he saw Harry still standing where he had last seen him but then drew a sharp breath when he realized who was standing next to him. It could not be, could it? Why? How?

But if he hadn't gone completely mad, then James was really standing there, talking to Harry as if it was the most normal thing in the world for somebody who was now fifteen years dead.

Sirius was even more surprised when James started running into the Forbidden Forest and Harry without hesitation ran behind him, but without a second thought Sirius followed them.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Harry! Harry, you've got to listen to me, son."

Harry looked up from the body of the Death Eater he had just recently stunned and inwardly made a step backwards when he saw the figure of his father standing in front of him. Quickly, he glanced all around, checking if somebody else had noticed James standing there or if he was merely imagining things again. After all, the last time that he had seen his father so clearly, he had been fast asleep in the hospital wing.

But all around him, though some distance away, everybody was far too engaged in the heated battle to pay the two lone figures any attention at all.

Finally, Harry's eyes settled back on the figure of his father, a questioning look evidently shown in them.

"Dad? Why are you here?"

His father smiled and, as if already guessing his son's next question, answered it.

"No Harry, this is not your imagination playing tricks on you. This is real. I'm here to bring you away from the battle."

Harry frowned his forehead.

"But...why? I mean, I have to get back into the castle to Dumbledore."

James just shook his head.

"No Harry, you don't understand. You have to leave now. This is not your battle, it's theirs to fight. You are needed somewhere else, don't you understand? Harry, you're the only person who can defeat Voldemort, you need to get to him before it's too late."

Now it was Harry's turn to shake his head.

"No Dad, you don't understand. I can't go alone, I have to wait for Dumbledore. Without him, I won't be able to fight Voldemort, I don't know the right spell. I have to wait for him."

But James practically ignored his son and pulled him away from the battlefield in front of the castle.

"You can't wait for Dumbledore, it'll be far too late before he arrives. And you don't need him Harry, not with me there to help you. Lily and I will be there to help you, that will be enough."

Whatever reluctance had been left in Harry melted away at those words and quickly he fell into a running pace, trying to keep up with the vanishing figure of his father who ran towards the Forbidden Forest.

Neither of the two realized that another figure was following them, not very far behind.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

When Ron and Hermione arrived at Hagrid's hut, they realized that they were not alone. Instead, they were faced with the sight of Remus, who lay on the ground and struggled hard against the hold of the man above him. Both stopped dead in their tracks. After he had overcome his initial shock, Ron couldn't but wonder about this strange situation. Remus was far stronger than he looked, and the Death Eater merely pinned him down with one arm across his throat, so why didn't he try to defend himself? Next to him, Hermione stared at the pair of wizards as well, obviously going through the same line of thought than Ron.

Ron took a closer look at the Death Eater, and suddenly he understood.

"Holy shit!"

With that exclamation, Ron once again broke into a dead run and crossed the remaining distance between himself and the two fighting men, not even realizing that Hermione followed closely behind.

Using the advantage of their unnoticed arrival, Ron managed to push the Death Eater away from his fallen teacher. The man fell back and landed rather heavily on the ground, his hood falling back in the process.

One look into the face of the man confirmed Ron's former suggestion. It was indeed Peter Pettigrew, and he had pinned Remus down with his silver arm across his throat, which explained why the werewolf had not been able to free himself from that assault.

Ron pointed his wand straight at Pettigrew's heart.

"I wouldn't do as much as flinch if I were you. Otherwise your poor existence will be over in an instant."

Ron's voice held all the hatred one could have for the man who had killed his best friend's parents, framed his friend's godfather and then had happily lived on for the next twelve years as his own pet, and obviously Pettigrew understood that he could not expect any mercy, especially not from Ron.

Without moving his eyes from Wormtail, Ron called over his shoulder for Hermione.

"Mione, is Remus okay?"

Hermione, who had just managed to move Remus up into a sitting position so that he could breathe more easily, looked up.

"I think it's gonna take some time. He can't breathe properly yet, he definitely needs to see a doctor. His throat's all red and swollen."

Ron nodded solemnly.

"Bring him into the castle, will you? I will deal with 'Scabbers' here."

He spit the nickname for his former pet out in disgust and Hermione was about to help the still panting Remus to his feet, when a voice from the side of Hagrid's hut interrupted them.

"I don't think that you will deal with anybody, Ron."

Both Ron and Hermione spun around towards the source of the voice and sighed in relief when the familiar figure of another red head came around the corner of the hut. At the moment when he realized which family member it actually was, Ron totally forgot about Pettigrew and ran towards his brother.

"You're alive!"

But he stopped once more dead in his track when he saw the look in his brother's eyes. Brown eyes meeting equally brown ones, but one pair was empty, cold and dull while the other was wide with disbelief.

"Charlie?" Ron asked quietly. "Charlie, what's wrong?"

Charlie Weasley stepped out of the shadow of the hut and, much to Hermione's and Remus' shock, raised his wand straight towards his brother's heart.