The Book of Morgan Le Fey

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Chaos

'Students get inside the castle NOW!' came a loud, amplified voice. It was McGonagall.

The students needed little prompting. In the next instant there was chaos as students poured out of the stands and onto the pitch, screaming, running, tripping.

'Ginny, Hermione!' Ron yelled, even now feeling the horrible weight of cold descend over him. 'Stay with me!' Ron blinked, struggling to fight off the dread chill that was filling his very bones. Hermione and Ginny had pulled out their wands.

'Move this way!' Ron said loudly, pulling both girls out of the way of a stream of panicked students; they were in danger of all being trampled.

But before they could move again and join the thinning crowd, the Dementors began to move in earnest, and the icy cold despair came with them.

'Think of something happy!' Hermione screamed. Two Dementors floated with amazing speed toward them and she cried 'Expecto Patronum!' A silver otter burst from her wand and hurtled toward the Dementors, going right through them and causing them to turn.

But they didn't flee, because behind them were ten more of their fellows.

Happy thoughts, Ron thought desperately. Winning the Quidditch Cup...NO! Stupid prat, that's no good! Hermione. Think of Hermione...

'Expecto Patronum!' Ron and Ginny both yelled. Thin silver wisps burst from their wands.

Happy thoughts. Percy's okay. He's back with the family. Hermione. She loves you. Ginny. Best little sister in the world...

On impulse Ron grabbed Ginny's hand; her eyes met his and something passed between them. It was as if her strength flowed into him, and his into her. He'd never felt more like her brother than in that moment.

'EXPECTO PATRONUM!'

They both screamed the incantation at the top of their lungs, and a bear and a lion appeared. Both opened their mouths to emit silent roars and charged the approaching Dementors. Hermione shouted the spell again, sending out another otter, and the combined spells caused the Dementors to back off.

'Run!' Ron yelled, his vision a bit clearer, the cold feeling in his blood receding. Ginny and Hermione took off toward the castle, Ron at their heels. He couldn't believe they'd pulled that one off; he'd practiced Patronuses but Harry had been right--it was entirely harder to

Already, the dozens of Aurors who'd been on guard were racing onto the grounds, wands in hand; they raced past Ron and the others without a second glance, their minds and eyes focused on battling the onslaught of Dementors and Dark powers.

'Where's Harry!' Hermione cried as they rushed toward the retreating, screaming crowd.

'Look out!' Ginny screamed. Two Death Eaters had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and aimed their wands at the group of them.

'Expelliarmus!' Ron and Hermione both shouted, disarming the Death Eaters and sending them tumbling backwards.

'What the bloody hell is going on?' Ron yelled, as they ran on, searching desperately for a sign of Harry. 'HARRY!'

Merlin, let Harry be okay. If the Death Eaters took him...

'His scar was hurting,' Hermione panted. 'I saw him when he was flying, holding his scar!'

'HARRY!' Ron bellowed.

'There!' Ginny shrieked, pointing toward the castle. Three Death Eaters were advancing on him; Harry was clutching his scar with one hand and aiming his wand with his other. One of the Death Eaters fired a spell from his wand; Harry managed to block it with a Protection Spell, but it was weak, and Harry's knees buckled as he tumbled to the ground.

'HARRY!' the three of them yelled, hurtling toward him. Harry threw a Stunning Spell at the second Death Eater and knocked him down, but the other two both took aim with their wands.

Ron's heart clenched when he heard them both scream 'Crucio!'

There was nothing Ron, Hermione or Ginny could do to stop the curses from hitting Harry; he gave an unearthly scream of pain and began to writhe on the ground. Fury rose in Ron like an explosion, and suddenly he was running faster than he'd ever run in his life.

'You BASTARDS!' he roared. 'Impedimenta!'

Somewhere behind him he heard Hermione and Ginny both scream, but he didn't turn; his eyes took in the nearest Death Eater, who flew backward twenty feet with the force of Ron's Impediment Jinx; the Death Eater's compatriot jerked up and released Harry from the Cruciatus Curse in time to see a very tall, very strong red haired young man barrel into him.

A sharp pain shot through Ron's shoulder as he slammed his whole body into the Death Eater and took him down. They landed hard and rolled, and Ron felt his wand fly out of his hand.

Ron's attack gave him an initial advantage, but the Death Eater was stronger than Ron expected, and suddenly he found himself on his back, with the Death Eater over him. They wrestled and the Death Eater managed to get one huge hand around Ron's throat, while the other raised his wand and pointed it in his face.

'Ron!' He heard Hermione scream his name as the Death Eater on top of him squeezed his throat. Then he heard more screams and knew that Ginny and Hermione were battling Death Eaters of their own.

Ron gasped and grabbed the Death Eater's wand hand and held it away from him as his other hand pulled desperately at the hand at his throat. Ron's vision began to swim.

'STUPEFY!' The Death Eater jerked back as the spell hit him, then collapsed heavily on top of Ron in a limp heap.

Ron blinked and gasped and took a gulp of air. Someone had Stunned the Death Eater. He blinked again and shoved the limp form of the Death Eater off him and slowly stood up, trying to get his bearings. His eyes widened when he saw Harry.

'You okay?' he said, and he handed Ron his wand.

'Yeah,' said Ron, amazed. Harry'd been hit with two Cruciatus Curses, and but for his sweating and panting, he was okay.

'Thanks,' Ron said.

'You, too,' said Harry. 'Remind me never to piss you off; that was a nasty tackle. You should play rugby.'

'What's rugby--' Ron began, but then he heard another scream.

Ginny.

'The girls!' Ron cried, and he and Harry whirled round to see Ginny struggling in the grasp of a Death Eater.

Harry and Ron raced toward her. Ginny was putting up a fierce struggle and Ron saw that the Death Eater had taken her wand. She flailed and kicked and then twisted round and bit her captor on the wrist; his response was to growl and backhand her in the face, sending her tumbling. The Death Eater raised his wand and pointed it at her.

Ron's fury returned, only this time he kept the presence of mind to use his wand.

'Accido!' he bellowed, hitting the Death Eater with a Falling Jinx so powerful that the Death Eater's legs flew out from beneath him. He landed hard, in a heap, and Ron heard the sickening crunch of bone as the Death Eater shrieked in pain. But Ron barely noticed; he was focused on his sister even as his brain panicked. Where was Hermione?

'Incarcerous!' Harry yelled, and in the next instant the moaning, whimpering Death Eater was tied with invisible ropes, unable to hold onto the ankle he'd broken in his fall. Harry found Ginny's wand and picked it up.

'Ginny!' Ron yelled, and he hurried to her side and helped her up. A nasty bruise was forming on her cheek. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' she said impatiently, even as she winced and rubbed at her jaw. She took her wand from Harry.

'Where's Hermione?' Ron asked, whirling round in every direction.

'She and Susan and I got separated,' said Ginny. 'Death Eaters chased us...they sent Hermione and Susan toward the Forest--'

'Shit!' said Harry and Ron together, and the three of them took off in the direction of the Forest at a sprint.

They were nearly there when half a dozen Dementors zoomed in their path, the breaths rattling with anticipation and hunger. At once, cold despair seized Ron, and he saw Harry begin to sweat.

Good thoughts, good thoughts. Finding Hermione. Living happily ever after with Hermione and playing Quidditch with Harry and eating all the sweets he could...

'EXPECTO PATRONUM!'

Three silver Patronuses--a stag, a bear and a lion--burst from the ends of three wands, and charged the Dementors. Almost at once the heavy coldness lifted, and Ron, Ginny and Harry started off toward the Forest once more.

At that very moment, Susan and Hermione came bursting from the trees; they were both bleeding and looked terrified.

Seconds later Hermione barreled into Ron's waiting arms. Susan nearly knocked Harry over with the force of her embrace.

'Ron!' Hermione cried, and her voice was shrill with fear.

'I'm here,' he said. 'Are you okay?'

'Fine,' said Hermione. 'We're both fine.'

'Your forehead's bleeding,' said Ron anxiously.

'It's nothing--'

And at that moment, new sounds filled the air. Whooshing sounds, and trampling sounds, and a great, unearthly roar as massive footsteps shook the earth.

'Bloody hell,' said Harry.

'The Death Eaters...' Susan panted. 'In the Forest...centaurs...and...and a giant...'

'A WHAT?' said Ginny.

Another roar came from the Forest and then there were several loud cracks in the distance, along with more whooshing noises. Then more stomping, and Ron's eyes went wide. In the distance, he saw it. A massive figure, so stocky and huge it looked like an enormous, twenty foot tall, moss-covered boulder.

The giant's arms flailed and he stomped and roared and though Ron couldn't make out the creature's face from such a distance, through the thick cover of the trees, he knew at once that the giant was furious about something. Was he being attacked by Death Eaters? Or had he run afoul of the centaurs again?

'So that's...Grawp,' Ron heard himself say, amazed.

'RON!'

Ron and the others turned to see Bill sprinting toward them. He, too, was bleeding, from a cut on his cheek. His hair was loose and tangled; his robes were muddied. Behind him were five Aurors.

'Bill, what--'

'Are you lot out of your minds?' Bill roared. 'Get inside NOW! Go!'

Nobody was inclined to argue with Bill at this point; Ron couldn't remember seeing his oldest brother look so furious. At once, he, Harry, Susan, Hermione and Ginny raced away from the forest, in the direction of the castle.

They were halfway there when Harry gave a yelp and stumbled.

'Harry!' Hermione and Susan both yelled.

Harry rolled over on the ground, clutching his scar.

'Harry, come on, mate!' Ron said desperately, and he leaned down and lifted Harry off the ground.

'Ron...' Harry gasped, panting, as he collapsed against the taller boy, '...Luna...find her...'

For a moment nobody said a word; it was as if the realization had to penetrate the recesses of fear-fogged brains. But then a collective gasp went up from the group. It was Ginny who reacted.

'BILL!' she screamed. 'Bill!'

Bill, who'd been about to head into the forest to, Ron surmised, stop Grawp from trampling everything in sight, whirled around.

'Get inside!' he snapped.

'Luna!' Ginny and Hermione yelled.

'You have to find her!' Harry cried.

Bill's eyes widened for a split second, and he nodded. Ron saw his oldest brother pull one of the Aurors aside and issue some sort of instructions; in the next instant Bill was racing back in the direction of the castle, toward them.

'GO INSIDE!' Bill stormed, and then his eyes moved elsewhere. 'Professor McGonagall!'

Ron turned and saw Professor McGonagall rush over, her tartan hat flying off her head.

'Get these students inside, Weasley!' she bellowed.

'We have to find Luna Lovegood,' Bill said quickly, giving her a significant look.

McGonagall gasped and went white.

'Dear god,' she breathed. Then she composed herself, her eyes steely and determined. 'Follow me, William. Ronald, Miss Granger, get these students inside NOW. Leave this to us!'

'Professor, wait--' Harry begged, making a motion to follow her. He stumbled and clutched at his scar again, then sank to his knees.

'No arguments, Potter!' shouted McGonagall, not even turning to look back at him.

'Come on!' Ron shouted, feeling the cold come over him again. Dementors were approaching. He grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him toward the castle. Ginny, Susan and Hermione followed, wands out and alert.

In the next instant four Death Eaters burst onto them, wands raised.

'Impedimenta!' 'Stupefy!' Petrificus Totalus!' The shouts of the girls were indistinguishable but stopped three of the Death Eaters in their tracks. A fourth dodged a wand blast from Ron and aimed for Harry.

'Stupefy!' came a shout from behind them. Neville Longbottom was running toward them. 'What's going on?' he squeaked fearfully.

'We're under attack!' Ron bellowed. 'Or can't you tell?'

'How did they get onto the grounds?' Neville cried, dodging another Death Eater that was sent flying by the spell of a nearby Hufflepuff.

'Don't know,' Ron panted, half-carrying a limp Harry up the front steps. Harry seemed to have gone into a kind of half-faint. His face was pale and sweaty and he was moaning out loud in pain.

Hagrid was standing at the front doors, bellowing at the students to get inside.

'Oi, Ron, Hermione, wha's happened?' he boomed as they started through the threshold.

'Harry's scar hurts,' Ron gasped. 'He...he must have had a vision during the game. We couldn't get to him before...'

'That'll do,' Hagrid said, understanding at once. 'Get inside.'

'Hagrid...Grawp's...out there!' Ron panted. 'In the...Forest...'

'Shite,' Hagrid groaned. 'I'd better see to him...'

'Hagrid, what are you doing with a wand?' Hermione asked. Ron stared at her--they were under attack by Death Eaters and Dementors and she wanted to know why Hagrid had a wand?

'Special circumstances, obviously!' Hagrid yelled. 'Get inside, all o' ye!' Hagrid lumbered down the front stairs onto the grounds.

Professors Vector and Sinistra, wands out and raised high, raced past Ron and the others. Then came several Aurors. Ron nodded to Hermione and the others to start inside when there was an explosion so loud and violent that the ground shook. Ron stumbled and Harry slipped out of his grip, only to be caught clumsily by Neville.

In the next instant a massive tree sagged and began to topple. More screams came from students as they fled to get out of the way.

'Wingardium Leviosa!' came a voice. It was Bill--the spell hit the trunk of the tree and stopped its fall. Bill, sweating and his arm shaking, his hair out of its neat ponytail, managed to lower the tree slowly to the ground.

Another explosion, and a huge chunk of the front wall crumbled, sending a few students tumbling ten feet below. They landed and Ron heard a sickening crunch of bone breaking, followed by shouts of pain.

'GET INSIDE!' Professor Sinistra yelled, aiming her wand at three Dementors who were speeding toward the castle doors. 'Expecto Patronum!' she bellowed, and a massive falcon burst from her wand and smacked at the Dementors with its wings.

'Ron!' Bill raced up the stairs. 'What are you doing? Get inside!'

'Where's Luna?' Hermione cried. 'Did you find her?'

'Enough!' Bill snapped. 'Inside, all of you!'

'What's happened to Luna?' Neville asked, hoisting a still-limp Harry up.

'NOW!' Bill shouted, shoving Hermione, Ron and Ginny through the door. He scooped up Harry in his arms and strode inside.

'Stay here,' he ordered. 'Go to the common room. Let us sort this out, okay? We've got Aurors here, and the trolls are going to help out, too. You're safe inside the castle. Now get moving!'

He didn't wait for them to obey, but ran back outside, trailing red hair and black robes.

They watched him go, scared and breathless, then rushed off in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

'He needs to get away from all the Dementors,' Hermione said briskly, her wand still out and her eyes glancing behind them. 'We can lie him down on the sofa.'

Harry suddenly moaned and his eyes fluttered. They all stopped, and Neville and Ron held him up.

'Harry!' Susan shouted, slapping very gently at his face as it lolled against Neville's shoulder. 'Wake up, Harry. Please!'

'Luna,' Harry moaned. 'They've got Luna. They've got her.'

'No,' Hermione and Ginny gasped together.

'Carmichael,' Harry mumbled.

'What about Carmichael?' Ron asked, feeling a rush of dread.

'They took him, too.'

'Carmichael?' said Ron. 'Why the bloody hell did they take him?'

'Dunno,' said Harry, rubbing his scar; then he winced and clutched his scar again, doubled over in pain.

'Harry!' Susan cried, and she clung to him and tried to hold him up; Ron came to her side and lifted Harry up to a standing position.

'What is it?' said Hermione, gripping Harry's hand. 'Did they...oh, no...they got the book, too, didn't they?'

Harry said nothing; he looked as though he was incapable of speaking, so stretched in pain was his face. He simply nodded. Ron felt his stomach plummet.