The Return of the Prodigal

2 The Attack

Ron leaned back and watched Hermione talking to a group of first years about the lake and the squid. "I love it when term starts so close to a weekend."

Harry smiled at his friend and didn't budge from where he was sprawled on the grass. They hadn't been talking much, just laying about and enjoying the sun. Down by the lake was safely within the Hogwarts wards, but outside enough to lend a feeling of freedom.

Ron looked past his girlfriend and the first years to the sky beyond the lake. "Hey, Harry? What's that?"

Harry's gaze followed his friend's pointing finger to a dark blur in the sky. "Maybe a cloud?" His guess was quick, but he sat up and looked closer after a moment. "It's moving fast, Ron, I don't think it's a cloud."

Ron looked to Harry and then they both jumped to their feet. Ron raced for Hermione, yelling at her to get the first years inside. Harry stayed in his spot, watching the dark blur move up on the castle far too quick to be natural. A moving shape at the edge of the forest caused him to turn, spotting a Dementor moving out from the woods.

"Ron!" The yell got his friend's attention. "We're under attack!"

Ron looked to the woods, what were now clearly figures on brooms in the sky, and then helped Hermione chase the younger years into the castle. They were yelling for the Professors, and a few responded, moving to positions on the castle steps.

Harry pulled his wand, ready for this. He'd known it had been too quiet. "Accio Firebolt!" His spell would take awhile to become totally effective, and he began to move closer to the castle, trying to keep an eye on all possible enemies.

The attack moved onto them far faster than anyone had expected. Dementors, a group that appeared to contain fifteen to twenty, were moving from the forest. The figures on brooms had solidified to clearly be Death Eaters. It could be a scouting attack, a revenge attack, maybe that alone. It wasn't a full assault with only ten Death Eaters. But it was enough.

Harry joined the teachers in casting Expecto Patronum towards the Dementors, watching with satisfaction as his Prongs Patronus ran down and tormented the creatures. Spotting his broom racing towards him, over the heads of the others, he caught it from the air and flung himself on.

It wasn't a brave act, simply a tactical one. Harry knew he was a talented flier and likely better able to avoid mounted Death Eaters in the air, rather than on the ground. He raced through the air, dodging curses. On the ground, the teachers, with those seventh years who had come out of the castle, managed to knock at least one Death Eater from their broom to land on the ground with a sharp crunch.

As he raced over the water, he watched the squid beneath reach up and pull the Death Eater who'd been following him from the air. Two down, eight to go.

He made a sharp turn and started back towards the castle. What he hadn't expected was the sharp gust of wind, likely spell caused, which pushed him just into the reach of the Whomping Willow. The flailing limb struck the tail end of his broom, flinging him to the ground in a bruising dismount.

Harry rolled, moving himself out of reach of further limbs and leapt to his feet to run. The Death Eaters had managed to get him insolated from the others. As vines leapt from the earth to impede his progress, Harry cursed. At least they didn't know about his portkey.

He heard the faint exclamation of 'Avada Kedavra' from behind him and turned to see a Death Eater unleashing that deadly green light. As it rushed towards him, silent death, he concentrated on the ring on his hand; "Love shall save me." That familiar jerking sensation from behind his navel took hold and the grounds of Hogwarts disappeared in a cocoon of green light and nausea.

***

From closer to the castle, the teachers and students watched in horror as The Boy Who Lived was engulfed in green light. Rather than crushing their spirit, the sight angered them beyond imagining. Resistance built and continued until the last of the Dementors was destroyed and the Death Eaters either killed, captured, or retreated.

Several of the teachers restrained the students and coordinated cleanup efforts. They watched, trying to hide their concern, as the Headmaster moved towards the Whomping Willow and the last known location of Harry Potter.

The Headmaster reached the spot and surveyed the ground. The Killing Curse destroyed the soul, shattered it into bits, but did not affect the body. However, there was no body.

He sighed and looked around himself before turning back to the castle. That he approached alone concerned many. That he did not seem sorrowful gave faint hope. His path was unimpeded as he proceeded to his office, needing to know if the portkey had worked properly.

Dumbledore's assumptions were solidified when no waiting student was in his office, and nothing had been disturbed. The full circle had finally been completed.

He looked up just as the door slammed open and a wrathful figure in black entered. "Well?" The question seemed both demanding and concerned from his potions master.

"Harry Potter is not dead," Albus answered with a small smile. "Lemon Drop?"

The offered tin was ignored as Snape stalked over to the desk. "I think I've been played for a fool for long enough, Albus. Tell me what is going on."

"Do you know what happens when you combine the magical energy of an Unforgivable Curse with the vortex of a portkey?"

Snape hadn't been expecting the question, and pulled back slightly confused. "No one would be insane enough to test such a thing."

Dumbledore smiled. "I didn't know either until a boy appeared in my office almost twenty years ago."

His suspicions confirmed, Snape blanched and seated himself before he fell over. "Harold James was Harry Potter."

A small nod from his mentor. "Yes, and if you'll excuse me, I must owl him... He can return now with no threat of paradox."

Snape looked confused. "What do you mean, return? Surely, if they were the same person you found some way to return him back then to now?"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Alas, there was no way. But he could not remain in the wizarding world due to the paradox caused by his presence. He has been traveling, training these long years, waiting for his time to return. It wouldn't surprise me if he were already on the way. He did, after all, know the circumstances of his original departure."

The potions master looked like he might just have a heart attack, right there across from the Headmaster's desk. "He's been available all this time and you did not tell me?" There was a contained fury in the question, and prior to an answer being given, the youngest of the Professors flung himself from the chair and stalked from the office.

Dumbledore answered the quiet room. "I could not tell you, Severus. As much as that choice pained both him and me."