Raised to the Third Power

Delighted expressions had never melted off faces so quickly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had seen Sirius looking so furious just once before, and at that time his anger had been directed at Peter Pettigrew. He had then attempted to execute Wormtail, so the three teenagers were justifiably frightened to see Sirius looking murderous once more. Hermione had dropped her wand and was now pale and shaking. Ron, by contrast, was gripping his wand tightly; and Harry's reaction fell somewhere between those of his best friends.

"Sirius?" Harry asked tentatively, deciding that it was his place to bear the brunt of his godfather's anger.

"I thought you had a better measure of the climate of the wizarding world, Harry," said Sirius in a hateful, if fairly quiet, voice.

"What did we do?"

Sirius did not descend to answer his godson. "GET UP! NOW! GRAB YOUR THINGS AND GET OUT OF HERE!" Harry and Ron reacted without comment. Hermione remained temporarily paralyzed, and Sirius turned the whole of his attention to her. "HERMIONE!" he snapped. He lunged for her shoulder as if to force her into action, and, with a strangled cry, she jumped to her feet.

"Sirius, what did we do?" she asked when she had found her voice.

"What did you do?" repeated Sirius as if he were both puzzled and disgusted by the revelation that she did not know. "You did magic, that's what you did! The magic is so thick in here I can feel it." He waved a hand in front of his face as if to brush the magic from his eyes. "Powerful magic, too. You didn't stop with an unlocking spell or a summoning charm or something simple, you did very old, very TRACEABLE magic!"

Harry nearly dropped the bag he was holding.

"You understand yet?" asked Sirius, still sounding half-mad with anger. "Get out! Now!" They had thrown their things together hastily, and they allowed Sirius to herd them from the room and down several flights of stairs. "Of all things!" Sirius exclaimed under his breath as they ran. "You were smuggled out of the castle, allowed to have a holiday when a safe house would have been more appropriate, and you decided to hold out a sign to the Death Eaters telling them where you are? Do you think there's ordinarily a great deal of magic being done in this corner of London?"

Even if Harry had wanted to answer, he would not have been able to draw breath to do so. They returned to the safety of the castle in what Harry assumed must have been record time. He briefly wondered why the Hogwarts Express was in use when there were so many more efficient ways to arrive at the school.

A prefect, a seventh-year Hufflepuff whom Harry vaguely recognized as one of Cedric Diggory's friends, was awaiting their arrival.

"Professor Black, Professor Dumbledore wants to see you in his office as soon as possible," he announced rather formally.

"Thank you. I'll go now." The prefect nodded and strode off, presumably on patrol duty. Sirius began to walk in the opposite direction, but at the last possible moment called for Harry to join him. They stood facing one another in the deserted corridor.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," said Harry as a pre-emptive strike, and because he was indeed very sorry.

"So am I." Harry gave Sirius a questioning look, so Sirius continued. "I'm the adult here. I shouldn't have left you unsupervised when I was the one who pulled strings to get you out of safety in the first place. I nearly got you killed because I forgot how young you all are. You've been shielded from the war even though you're on the front lines."

Harry wanted nothing more than to disagree, but he decided that arguing with Sirius just before doing something sure to upset Sirius further was not the best possible plan. Besides, you might not live through this, and how will Sirius feel if you don't? Especially if you've just been fighting? the obnoxious voice that had lately taken of residence in Harry's head added. For an instant, Harry doubted the intelligence of his decision.

No he reassured himself. You made the decision when you were thinking more clearly than you are now. Look at Ron and Hermione. They aren't having second thoughts, are they?

Several paces down the corridor, Ron and Hermione were in deep conversation. They had their wands out, and they certainly gave no indication that they were reconsidering their situation. When Harry rejoined them after saying goodbye to Sirius (and successfully preventing Sirius from suspecting that anything out of the ordinary was about to occur), they stopped talking quickly. Harry noticed that the air around them seemed thick with magic.

Of course the air around them is full of magic. We're at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is one of the most magically dense places in the world. You're just being paranoid because of what happened earlier. "Ready?" Harry asked aloud.

"We may want to put our things away and get the invisibility cloak," suggested Ron with an innocence that did not fool Harry even in his distracted state.

"Right, then. We'll do that," Harry agreed. The cloak was summarily fetched, and soon the three were hidden within its folds.

"This was easier when we were eleven," Ron grumbled.

"You should have thought of that before you grew," said Harry. Ron simply smiled. "What? No comment?"

Hermione, not Ron, answered. "Harry, do you understand that the purpose of an invisibility cloak is defeated if you keep talking?"

She's right Harry admitted to himself ruefully. I have to start paying attention, now of all times. I'm so focused that I'm entirely UN-focused.

The day had been cloudy, and darkness was already falling by the time Harry, Ron, and Hermione were able to slip past the assorted patrols and wards that were meant to keep them inside the castle. They made a beeline for the Forbidden Forest, opting not to remove the cloak while their chances of being captured by a Hogwarts employee were still better than their chances of being captured by Death Eaters. In addition, they did not want their "capture" to be a surprise to anyone but their would-be captors. Their plan, such as it was, would fail if they lost their wands immediately. Things would work out best if they managed to walk into the Death Eater camp under their own power.

Harry felt at one with his surroundings as the the cloaked trio glided noiselessly across the grounds. They were soon nearer the forest than the castle. The ground became rough with the thick roots of the ominous-looking trees that marked the entrance to their destination.

Harry could not tell which of the three actually tripped over the root. Each of them lost his or her balance, and both Harry and Ron swore aloud.

"Did you hear that?" a thick, burly, and vaguely familiar voice questioned.

"Yeah. Shut up," another voice hissed.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were perfectly still. Harry could almost hear the Death Eaters straining their ears.

After several long moments, the first voice sounded again. "Must've been some animal."

"Animals aren't invisible," the second voice corrected witheringly.

"Some are!" the larger man protested indignantly. "Like demiguises!"

Harry winced at how close the speaker had come to the truth. His precious invisibility cloak had in fact been spun from a demiguise pelt many generations ago. Both Ron and Hermione gripped his arm to keep him from moving any more.

"Are we in the Far East?" asked the snake-like voice, sounding both bored and angry.

"We're far East of somewhere!"

"Come on." The younger, smaller man dragged his companion away, and at last the wearers of the invisibility cloak were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Too close," whispered Hermione so softly that Harry could barely hear her.

"All the same in the end," muttered Ron philosophically from the corner of his mouth. "I think we're close."

Ten more steps.

Harry stared ahead at the trees as if daring them to try to intimidate him. He had been in the Forbidden Forest many times. He intended to live long enough to enter it many more times.

Eight more steps.

Harry was close enough now to scan for movement. He saw none.

Six more steps.

Sirius wouldn't want me to do this Harry thought with a sudden pang of guilt. But if Sirius could, he would do this himself. And which would I rather do-- please Sirius or be like Sirius? The answer was simple.

Four more steps.

Ron and Hermione were walking steadily beside Harry. His courage was reinforced by their presence.

Two more steps.

There was no turning back now, not that Harry had any desire to turn back.

They crossed the threshold of the forest, and Harry's hand flew up to remove the cloak. To his great surprise, though, there was no need. The cloak was hanging from the hand of a towering figure in all-too-recognizable wizarding robes.

"You were right," said a cool voice at the same time as a more youthful voice cried with delight

"I was right!" Harry recognized the voice as belonging to the smaller of the two men whom they had encountered outside the forest.

"This is not the time to gloat!" the man who held the cloak reprimanded. "We'll take them in alive!"

"NOT BLOODY LIKELY!" shouted Ron, voicing Harry's thoughts exactly.

When a class field trip had gone terribly wrong earlier that year, Remus had sworn that he would teach his students to duel properly. The events that had followed, however, had left none of the professors with the time or energy to undertake such a task. An occasional lesson in Charms or Defense Against the Dark Arts had been given over to dueling, but for the most part the Hogwarts administration had decided not to make any curricular changes that could potentially hamper the students' performances in the OWLs or the NEWTs.

Harry had naturally had a few private lessons because of his position as Sirius' godson. He had shared his newfound knowledge with Ron and Hermione. The three had also learned an eclectic collection of hexes when Harry had been preparing for the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. At the time, Harry had been the only one to cast the hexes by practicing on his friends, but Ron and Hermione had learned a great deal as well, and Harry and eventually returned their favors and allowed them to perfect their skills on him. Furthermore, Ron was always looking for new ways to protect himself from the sometimes dangerous practical jokes of his brothers Fred and George and had picked up some useful spells for that reason; and if a textbook mentioned something useful in passing, Hermione almost certainly went out of her way to learn all about it.

Thus, for fifth-year students who had had virtually no formal training in the art of dueling, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were actually rather competent when it came to defending themselves.

Ron had already begun to holler spells in the direction of the wizard who was obviously in charge, and Hermione was closest to the young wizard who had tipped off his superior as to their presence. Harry, then, turned his attention to the third wizard, who had earlier pointed out that Hogwarts was far East of somewhere.

The wizard sent a stunning spell in Harry's direction, and Harry dodged just in time. A second stunning spell followed the first, but this one missed by a wide margin.

Harry raised his wand to cast a similar spell on his opponent, but the Death Eater placed a tree between them as if he was trying to regroup.

I wish I could see his face. Then I'd be able to know if he's having trouble or tried or just trying to trick me. Harry thought as he warily awaited his opponent's next move. That must be one of the reasons Death Eaters wear hoods and masks. It's a better reason than not being brave enough to admit who you are and what you think in public, I suppose.

Presently, the tree split in half with a loud crack, and it came tumbling down toward Harry. He managed to force the halves of the tree to land on either side of him instead of on top of him. The he leapt atop the tree, whose thick branches kept its severed trunk nearly a meter above the ground, so as to get a better view of his opponent.

Harry was fully exposed now, but he was still able to dodge the stunning and disarming spells that the other wizard sent his way.

"Come up here, why don't you?" Harry called to the Death Eater.

"You are not in a position to give orders!" the burly voice reprimanded.

"It was just a suggestion," said Harry innocently, sending several hexes in the direction of the voice. He heard a grunt. He must have connected at least partially. "Of course, if you're too frightened to come up here . . . ." Harry allowed his voice to trail off suggestively.

"Frightened? You're the one who should be afraid of heights. You can't even stay on your stupid broom."

Harry was briefly puzzled. He had not fallen off of his broom for years, not since the dementors had stormed a Quidditch match in the hopes of sucking some of the happiness out of the thoroughly over-excited crowd.

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind, but not before he noted that his Quidditch mobility could definitely be put to work in this situation.

He hopped over and scampered under some branches. A hex was fired at his back, but the thick foliage of the tree took the brunt of its power.

"YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY!" the Death Eater shouted.

"WOULDN'T IT BE EMBARASSING IF I DID?" Harry yelled back.

He turned around, confident that his pursuer could not see him. The Death Eater began his own jump to the top of the battered tree trunk.

Harry sent a leg-locker curse in his opponent's direction just as the man was searching for his balance atop the tree. The man swore and fell back to the ground, and Harry quickly bound him with cords that sprang from the end of his wand. He followed with a stunning spell, just in case, and looked frantically for Ron and Hermione.

He need not have worried. The youngest Death Eater, who had been Hermione's opponent, was lying unconscious on the ground. Hermione must have disposed of him quickly and efficiently. Harry felt a surge of admiration for his friend.

Hermione was now helping Ron with the leader, who was obviously much older and a much more experienced fighter than either of the other Death Eaters.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Hermione finally cried while the man's full attention was on Ron. He fell to the ground as if frozen. Hermione matter of factly began to add a stunning spell to her work when two large shadows appeared behind her.

Harry opened his mouth to cry out a warning, or perhaps a hex, but Ron was a step ahead of him. "'MINEY, DUCK!" Ron shouted tersely and frantically. Hermione obeyed without hesitation or question, and Ron sent an assortment of spells over her head at the bulky, shadowy figures. It seemed to Harry that Ron was no longer fighting formally but was simply casting every spell which happened to occur to him. Both boys were actually somewhat amused when Ron shouted "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" and one of the figures drifted off of its feet for a brief moment.

Harry added his voice to Ron's, and a moment later Hermione joined in as well. The three of them formed a small, protective circle and stood back to back facing they knew not how many Death Eater reinforcements. Harry was certain that there were at least three, and he was equally certain that those three were the seniors Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

Worries whirled through Harry's mind as he fought almost mechanically. Crabbe and Goyle we might be able to get rid of, if they're as dumb as their sons. But Lucius Malfoy? He can do almost anything. He'd be Dark Lord himself if Voldemort didn't have dibs on the job. And how many others are there? We didn't want our wands taken right away, but we didn't intend to duel with every Death Eater there is! How long can we last at this rate? We're already doing much better than we ought to be doing.

Harry fervently hoped that their luck would not run out in the imminent future.

Then he saw the glowing eyes, and all other thoughts left his mind as his scar burned his skin and his head seemed to split in two with pain. His scar had hurt almost constantly throughout the year, and Harry had grown used to the pain. Madam Pomfrey had concocted a potion that lessened the pain's intensity, and Harry had swallowed his dislike of the nurse's view that he was "delicate" and willingly taken the medicine.

No medicine could help him now. He was barely able to hold his head up.

"We meet again," Voldemort said. Harry suppressed a shudder. Beside him, Ron and Hermione seemed not to notice, and Harry decided it was best that they did not. The small chance that they had to escape alive from their current entanglement would be reduced to nil if they shifted their attention to Harry and Voldemort.

Harry edged away from his friends, giving Ron's shoulder a final nudge with his own as he did so. Harry intended to draw Voldemort near the fallen tree where the first Death Eater of the evening had been defeated.

"You expect that I am as easy to confuse as your previous opponent?" asked Voldemort. Still, he moved on a trajectory nearly parallel to Harry's. They walked further and further from Ron, Hermione, and the other Death Eaters.

"You did teach him," Harry answered, and then wondered from where the words he had spoken had come.

"It is very unwise to insult me. It was very unwise of you to come here at all." Voldemort's non-lips curled into a thin smile. "But very convenient for me. To what, pray tell, do I owe the honor of this opportunity to kill you?" By now the pair of old enemies could not have seen the other combatants even if they had removed their eyes from each other for the quickest instant.

Now would be a great time, Harry he thought to himself. Blood rushed in Harry's ears, making his nearly debilitating headache still more excruciating. It'll all be over soon. He raised his wand with a hand he was relieved to note was not shaking.

"Avada Kedavra," he said.

Very little happened. Voldemort certainly did not drop dead before him. He felt a surge of power rush through his wand. He saw a few sparks of green light. He heard a sharp crack.

A second later, Harry felt two strange tugs on his wand. He ignored them, and also the heat that seemed to be creeping into the wand. My hand must be sweating Harry thought randomly.

Then Voldemort began to laugh. He threw back his head, and his laughter chilled Harry to his very core.

"Very ambitious, Harry."

'Very ambitious Harry' that's what Sirius said oh God I'm going to die I'm going to die and I won't take Voldemort with me I'm going to die and I didn't say goodbye to Sirius and no one else ever loved me until Sirius did and I could have gotten myself killed back when no one loved me but I didn't and Sirius is going to think this is his fault and it isn't and--

Voldemort stopped laughing and Harry cleared his mind of all thoughts.

"I can't allow you to do that, Harry. You see, all of the spells in this part of the forest run through me. If I were to die, everyone else here would die as well. And you wouldn't want to orphan some child as you were orphaned, now would you?"

"ORPHANED BY YOU!" Harry cried angrily. His confused thoughts always cleared when someone brought up the subject of his parents. "IF YOU CARE SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR DEATH EATERS, RELEASE THE SPELLS!"

"YOU HAVE MADE ENOUGH DEMANDS. YOU HAVE SAID ENOUGH, PERIOD. IT IS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE, HARRY!"

Harry's first thought was to say "goodbye, Harry," but he decided against this natural response in favor of the one he had come to the forest to make. He tried to build up his anger, which was not a difficult task. Perhaps if he was as furious as he could possibly become, he would be able to cast the curse properly.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort shouted.

"LETUM SIMUL!" shouted two more voices. Although his mind was rapidly shutting down, Harry woozily knew that the voices belonged to Ron and Hermione. He could not translate the Latin of their spell.

He could only whisper two words before he lost consciousness: "Avada Kedavra."

The last thing he saw was a second burst of green light, followed by an earth-shaking burst of orange light.