The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect, by James Bow

Chapter Five: The Last Battle

A crowd gathered around Dumbledore as he stared over the Hogwarts battlements at the reddening sky.

"Hm," said Wesley. "'Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take...'"

"It's begun," said Dumbledore. "Battle stations, everyone."

Trumpets sounded. There was a flurry of activity as the Aurors and the seventh years spread out along the battlements, drawing wand and taking up weapon. Harry, Hermione, Wesley and Draco stayed by Dumbledore.

Then the air twisted at the crest of a hill. A sphere of distorted light descended slowly, crossing the field towards Hogwarts.

When it was in the middle of the field, Dumbledore raised his voice. "Halt! Identify yourself!"

The sphere stopped. A cultured voice echoed back to them. "I am a messenger from the Dark Lord. His army is armed and ready. You are hopelessly outnumbered. You can not withstand our assault."

Hermione frowned. "That voice sounds familiar."

"But the Dark Lord is merciful," the voice continued. "Open your gates, surrender yourselves, and take the oath of the Death Eaters, and you will not be harmed!"

A cry went up along the Hogwarts battlements. "Never!" A small smile touched Dumbledore's lips.

"If you will not take the oath of the Death Eaters," the voice continued. "Then surrender yourselves and bring us the Boy Who Lived, dead or alive. Do this, and you will not be harmed!"

Again, the cry went up along the battlements. "Never!"

Harry shook his head. "I'm sure I've heard that voice before."

Draco put an arrow to his quiver and raised it to his eye.

"Do not defy the will of the Dark Lord!" the voice shouted. "He will crush this castle to dust and leave not one living thing alive. Dumbledore, surely you can see that you're defeated. Spare your men and women the suffering. Surrender yourself and bring the Boy Who Lived to us. Do this, and we'll spare Hogwarts and all who live within it."

Wesley leaned over to Dumbledore. "That's Lucius Malfoy, isn't it? What's he doing here? Didn't we capture him?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "Two days ago, Azkaban was attacked by Voldemort's forces. A number of the inmates were freed."

Wesley stood silent a minute. "You're telling me that not only are we outnumbered sixteen to one, but among those forces are dozens of escaped convicts?"

Dumbledore gave him a sideways glance, but said nothing.

Wesley stared across the field. "Great. Just great."

"Dumbledore!" Lucius shouted. "What is your answer?"

Draco pulled back on his arrow, and let go. The wood sang through the air, followed by a choked off scream as Lucius fell out of the camouflage charm, the arrow stuck through his throat.

Wesley, Harry and Dumbledore stared at Draco.

Draco stared back. "What? That was our answer, wasn't it?"

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Well, maybe not in so many words... but, yes."

The camouflage charm shifted. Someone else was inside. After hovering momentarily over Lucius, it turned and rolled across the field, back the way it came.

"Get ready," said Dumbledore.

"Wesley," said Harry. "Remember the strategy: Slytherin arrows on the left, Ravenclaw arrows on the right. You defend the Slytherins from all charms. Hermione, you have the Ravenclaws. Ron, you help the Hufflepuffs with the boiling oil."

"Got it!" Wesley led Draco along the battlements. Harry stayed with Dumbledore as a group of Gryffindors and Aurors came forward, manning their posts in the center. At the base of the battlements, the gate opened, and dozens of Aurors streamed out.

Lightning ripped across the reddened sky, and a drumbeat began. It started slow, catching at the heart like a Taiko drum as it grew faster. The beats echoed off the rolling hills.

Wesley and Draco took their positions in front of a dozen armed Slytherins. Draco raised his hand, and the others put arrows to their quivers. Wesley's knuckles whitened where he held the staff.

The drumbeats rumbled like thunder itself.

"Steady," said Wesley, keeping an eye on Harry and Dumbledore.

Across the battlement, Hermione raised her hand. A group of Ravenclaws raised their arrows.

Dumbledore stood tall, staring across the field. Wesley frowned. He looked unarmed.

Lightning flashed across the sky again. The clouds turned the colour of blood.

From their hiding places, Voldemort's forces roared. Their yells rolled across the fields. The drumbeat intensified until it was four times as loud as before and had the beat of pounding feet. Or maybe it was pounding feet.

The northern horizon blackened with a line of people. Death Eaters rushed forward, wands ready, a wave washing over the space between the hills and Hogwarts.

"Steady," said Wesley again.

The Slytherins held their arrows like statues.

The Auror flank stood ready.

The gap narrowed.

Dumbledore cast up his arms.

"Now!" Wesley yelled.

Two dozen rowan-wood arrows shot at the rush from the left and the right. Another barrage followed seconds later, followed by another. The first line of Death Eaters crumpled, causing ripples in the tsunami of people as those behind trampled over them, tripped and were trampled in turn.

Dark lights flashed in the back of the rush. Wesley brought up his staff. "Watch it," he muttered. "Watch it."

The spell roared towards them. Wesley broke it with a countercurse. More arrows flew.

Then the front line of Aurors fired, with a sound like a thousand discordant electric guitars. The spell ripped out as a semi-circle of light, cutting a gaping hole into the Death Eater rush.

The Slytherins slackened their attack. Draco stared. "That's does it! After this, I want to be an Auror!"

The Death Eaters continued their advance. The hole closed up.

"Watch out!" Wesley yelled.

Another spell broke over them. Wesley grunted. Those beside him staggered and fell. They picked themselves up quickly, and reloaded their bows.

The Aurors fired another bolt of pure energy. The hole it made in the Death Eater flank was smaller, this time.

McGonagall led a squadron of students to the ramparts. They had slingshots and small bottles filled with red liquid. They loaded up and fired into the sea of Death Eaters. Explosions punctured the ground.

Draco hesitated.

"What is it?" asked Wesley.

"I can't see their front lines anymore. Except for the Auror flank, they're right up against the base of the castle."

The top of a battle-ladder thunked against the battlement.

Pansy Parkinson dropped her quiver and dove forward. The moment her hands touched the wood, however, she screamed, and stared at her smoking palms. Then her gaze hardened and, taking the wood, even as it blackened her skin, she shoved it, hard. The ladder fell back. There was a scream down below.

Another ladder hit the battlement.

Wesley pushed Pansy aside before she went for it. Using his staff, he pitched the ladder back. He shouted back to the castle. "Ron, we need that boiling oil, now!"

Draco ran up to the parapet as another ladder clunked into place. He fired straight down, then kicked the ladder aside.

On the center battlements, the Hufflepuffs ran forward with their first vats of boiling oil. Other deliveries came to the Slytherin and Ravenclaw archers, but still the ladders swung into place.

"They just keep coming!" Pansy yelled.

Draco looked at the sky, and blanched. "Wesley!"

Wesley brought up his staff, barely catching the spell in time. It knocked him flying. He toppled off the rampart and fell a dozen feet, landing heavily on the stone floor below.

He lost time. The next thing he remembered was Draco hauling him to his feet. "Don't pass out on me, Wesley, we need you!"

Though it was hardly possible, the sounds of battle had intensified.

Wesley climbed the ladder back to his position, just in time to see a huge spell fired from the back of the Death Eater rush. It sailed in as a ball of fire, aimed at the center of the Hogwarts barricades. It exploded at the base of the ramparts. Aurors went flying.

The Death Eater rush pressed up against Hogwarts' stone walls. Battle-ladders swung into place across the flank of the school.

"Swords!" Wesley shouted.

The Slytherins cast aside their quivers and drew swords from beneath their robes. On the Ravenclaw tower, they could already hear the clash of metal against metal.

McGonagall's squadron ran out of exploding potions and switched to stones.

The first Death Eaters mounted the Slytherin tower and met a wall of clashing metal. Wesley knocked two over with a swipe of his staff.

Pansy caught a spell full in the chest and crumpled.

Millicent gasped as a Death Eater ran her through. She fell to her knees.

And still the Death Eaters kept coming. Sounds of swordplay carried across the ramparts.

Then Harry gripped his forehead, and collapsed.

Space bent at the back of the line of Death Eaters. Dumbledore stared as the distortion cleared and Voldemort was revealed, laughing in triumph.

"Harry!" Wesley shouted.

A spell caught Dumbledore and knocked him off his feet.

"Keep fighting!" Draco yelled, slashing a Death Eater off of the ladder.

On her tower, Hermione sent two Death Eaters flying, one by her sword, the other by a curse.

Harry was yelling over the melee, blood seeping from his scar.

"We're running out of ammunition!" somebody shouted. Wesley didn't know who.

Then a voice bellowed through the air.

"Wesley!" Dumbledore shouted. His voice, though amplified, barely carried over the roar of the battle. "Wesley!"

Wesley looked up.

Dumbledore stood at the tallest parapet, an island in a sea of battle. He raised his staff and then held it over his head.

Wesley looked to his own staff, borrowed from Dumbledore in an alternate future, and paled. "Oh, no!"

Draco barely gave him a glance. "What?"

"It's over," Wesley gasped. "Dumbledore knows we've lost. It's come to this."

"What?"

Wesley didn't reply. He let out a yell and pulled himself to his feet. Running along the battlement, he dodged arrow, sword and charm, clutching his staff in his hands.

Dumbledore stood waiting.

Wesley clambered up the parapet, not bothering with the steps. He jumped onto a high stone and leaped at Dumbledore, swinging his staff down to meet the one Dumbledore held high.

"Apparate Totalus Hogwarts!" Dumbledore cried.

"No!" Wesley screamed, and disappeared.

The Aurors and the Hogwarts seventh years vanished from the hands of their enemies.

Dumbledore stood.

Wesley's staff clattered down onto his own.

The world flashed white.

***

Hermione woke disoriented. She sat up, clutching her throat. Somebody had been ready to slice it open, hadn't they? The silence was deafening.

Then she became aware of other Hogwarts students sitting up and staring about in confusion. Aurors were on their feet, wondering what had happened. They were surrounded by trees near the top of a hill. Birds fluttered by at top speed.

"What's going on?" said Ron. "Are we dead?"

Harry tried to shake the dizziness out of his head.

Wesley sat bolt upright. He looked around sharply, muttering calculations to himself. Then he said, "Fifty miles. Not far enough." Suddenly he was on his feet and shouting. "We've got to take cover! Now!"

"What?" gasped Hermione.

"Over the ridge!" Wesley pointed. "We have to get over the ridge!"

Then they realized that a second sun was rising in the north.

Hermione squinted, shielding her eyes. She could see a blossom of fire rolling across the fields, uprooting trees before consuming them, outpacing sound.

"The wounded!" she cried. "Get the wounded behind cover! Hurry!"

There was a mad rush to haul those who couldn't rush up the slope. The ground began to shake, and a distant rumble echoed in their chests. They felt the heat of the explosion on their backs. When they reached the top, they heard the distant sound of trees being uprooted.

The ridge dropped sharply after its crest. There were more people here, stumbling about in confusion.

"Down!" Wesley yelled.

Everyone tried to get as small as possible, covering their heads.

Then the roar hit them.

Burning trees soared overhead. Hot dust rained down on them. Even under cover, the wind threatened to sweep them away. Hermione gripped Ron's hand.

Finally, the wind slackened and the roar subsided, replaced by the sound of licking flames, and raining dust.

They waited a few minutes more before they chanced looking around. Finally, they climbed back to the top of the ridge and surveyed the devastation.

"What happened?" gasped Ron.

"Dumbledore blew up Hogwarts," said Wesley. "He sent us away at the last moment, and let the Death Eaters face the brunt of the explosion."

"There is no way Voldemort could have survived that," said Hermione.

Rumours rippled through the crowd.

"Dumbledore did this?"

"Those Death Eaters didn't stand a chance!"

Joy rose like a wave.

"Voldemort is dead! We won!"

Amid the cheering, Wesley stared north. He looked at his empty hands, then back to where Hogwarts used to be. He slumped to the ground and covered his face.

Hermione sat beside him, Ron following more awkwardly. He patted his son's shoulder, while she put her arms around him and held him tight.