The Knights Of Walpurgis

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Swordplay

Hermione screamed.

Harry waited for what seemed like a long moment for the pain to hit, for his imminent death to strike home.

"Harry, catch!"

Automatically, Harry's hand came up and he caught his wand in mid-air. He stared at it in surprise, then looked down. His shirt was torn, and the ropes that had bound him were scattered, cleaved in two, at his feet.

But he was unharmed.

Percy stood before Voldemort, his own wand drawn.

"Run," Percy yelled.

Harry blinked. Percy had freed him. Percy had given him back his wand. Percy was facing Voldemort.

Percy... wasn't a traitor.

"Foolish, Weasley. All you have done is ensure that your death is slow, rather than quick. Bellatrix, take him."

Lestrange leaped in front of her master, her wand drawn and pointed at Percy's chest.

"Crucio!" she yelled. Percy was just able to twist out of the way of the spell, although it looked as though it had grazed his left arm. Certainly he cried out, and it seemed to hang limp beside him as he brought his own wand up to return fire.

"Stupefy!" he yelled. Bellatrix ducked.

"You dare betray our master?" she screamed. "You weak, pathetic fool! Diffindo!"

Percy staggered backward as the Cutting Hex caught him on his left shoulder. Bellatrix brought her wand back up to hex him again, but Harry lurched into action, bringing his own wand up as he realised that he couldn't just watch Percy dueling his - former? - colleague.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, but even before he'd completed the incantation, Voldemort moved in the way and easily deflected the Disarming Spell with a wave of his own wand.

"Not very like a Gryffindor, Potter," he said. "Hexing an opponent from behind. Perhaps you and I should finally finish the duel that we began two years ago. And to make sure there are no interruptions..." Voldemort snapped his fingers. Wormtail came forward, making a wide circle around Bellatrix, who was trying to draw a bead on Percy. Percy, in turn, was crouched on the other side of the fire, keeping the flickering flames between himself and the enraged woman. He seemed unsure about what to do next, and Harry grimaced. Percy may have received high marks in his Dark Arts work, but Harry knew all too well that in a real fight knowledge was only one of the things required to survive.

"Wormtail, take our well-placed colleague and do something with these two," Voldemort said idly, as though telling Pettigrew to clear the table rather than fight Ron and Hermione. Wormtail nodded nervously and waved at the shadows. Another figure came forward. Masked as he was, there was no mistaking the distinctive walk of Lucius Malfoy.

"You!" Harry yelled. "You should be in Azkaban!"

"Me?" Malfoy laid one hand on his chest in feigned surprise. "But I am innocent, Potter, the Ministry cleared me. And when I am elected deputy Minister of Magic, why, I can foresee so many of my tragic colleagues who have been falsely accused of these terrible crimes having their sentences overturned."

"You bastard," Ron roared. Harry turned and saw that he and Hermione had separated. While they were still guarded by giants, they had drawn their wands.

"How brave," Voldemort said, with a high-pitched snort of laughter. "How very brave. How noble. How very like a Gryffindor. Well, Lucius, today you can see two Weasleys removed from the face of the earth."

"Thank you, my Lord," Lucius said, bowing slightly. "With your permission?"

"By all means," Voldemort said. "Bellatrix?" he called.

"Master?"

"On my word, you will stop toying with the boy."

"I would be happy to," she said, with a sigh of satisfaction that almost sounded sensual. Harry shuddered.

"Your friends will die, Potter. Then you will die after seeing it. Such an ignoble end... how very fitting."

Harry was desperately trying to think of a way out of the situation. He couldn't move, or Voldemort would kill him. Malfoy and Pettigrew were taking up positions to hex Ron and Hermione. Malfoy was sauntering forward, apparently enjoying the moment. Pettigrew was shuffling forward, not happy, but resigned to doing what he had to. Harry didn't feel a great deal of sympathy for him.

"Now, children, put down your wands and this will all be over much quicker," Malfoy said.

Ron told him to do something that under ordinary circumstances would have had Hermione telling him to mind his language.

"Careful, Weasley," Malfoy said. "That foul mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one day... Although I suppose today is that day, isn't it?"

"Potter, I shall enjoy seeing you suffer," Voldemort said. "On my word--"

Whatever Voldemort was about to say was interrupted by a terrific crashing noise from the far side of the clearing. Almost everyone, human and giant alike, span around to see what had caused the noise. Only Percy and Hermione didn't move. Percy fired a quick Disarming Spell of his own at Bellatrix, and Harry wanted to cheer in delight as her wand soared up into the air and dropped into the fire.

Bellatrix screamed in fury, but her cry was dwarfed by a huge roar that made the smaller trees around them shake.

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. They all recognised the sound.

"Grawp," Harry breathed.

And then he arrived, smashing through the trees in his way and coming to a halt behind Percy. With a bellow that made the ground shake, he pointed one huge finger at one of the other giants.

"Sszzzhhuuu-zzyyyy!" Grawp roared.

Harry turned to look at the giant that Grawp had pointed to. He thought that it might have been one of the giantesses, but couldn't say for sure.

"Sszzzhhuuuzzyyyy!!!" Grawp roared again.

The other giants seemed to recover from their shock, and they began to roar as well, both at Grawp and at the giant who seemed to be the object of his affections.

Voldemort seemed to forget everything else that was going on and strode forward, wand raise and pointed at the largest of the giants.

"You will listen to me," he began, before he was forced to dive out of the way of a mighty swing of the giant's axe. Bellatrix screamed in horror.

Suddenly, all about them was chaos. Voldemort pushed himself to his feet and launched a Killing Curse at the giant. It hit the giant in the chest, and he staggered backwards, roaring in pain. Harry would have covered his ears - the giant was even louder than Grawp - but he was so amazed that giant was still alive that he didn't move.

Suddenly, Ron and Hermione were beside him.

"We've got to move," Hermione said. "Harry, come on."

Harry grabbed them, and pulled them to the floor, just as one of the giants took a swing at them.

"Herrrmy!" Grawp roared. "Sszzzhhuuuzzyyyy!!!"

He reached out and tore a tree from the ground. Without pausing, he hurled it across the clearing into the giant who'd attacked them. Harry watched in amazement as the giant caught the tree to his chest and staggered backwards, before tossing the tree aside as though it weighed nothing at all.

Harry, Ron and Hermione scrambled to the edge of the clearing, away from the battle, before Ron stopped them.

"Percy," he said. They stopped, and looked back. Percy was making his way around the fire, and appeared to be heading for Bellatrix. Wormtail was lying on the ground, whether hurt or dead Harry couldn't tell. Voldemort was hexing the giants, hitting them with everything that he could, but even Killing Curses didn't seem to have much affect on them. Lucius was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?" Ron muttered.

"Percy? He's--"

"Malfoy," Ron hissed. "He won't have gone far."

"Quite correct, Weasley."

Harry didn't turn in time. Malfoy had stepped out from behind a tree and seized Ron around the throat. His wand was pressed to Ron's temple.

"Now, while my Master deals with those troublesome fools--"

"Stupefy!"

The hex blasted past Harry and Ron and hit Malfoy right in the face. He crumpled backwards without a word.

"Wow, Hermione," Ron said, rubbing his throat where Malfoy's wand had been pressed against it. "Good shot."

"Thanks," Hermione said. She was shaking slightly. "I was worried that I was going to miss."

Ron looked slightly green at the idea.

"Let's get going," Harry said, quickly. "We've got to set Susan and the others out of there."

Hermione and Ron nodded. Ron took a deep breath, and asked, "How?"

"Well, Voldemort looks pretty busy," Harry said. Voldemort was still occupied with the giants, who seemed to be highly amused by the Dark wizard's efforts to hex them. Two of them had walked over to Grawp and were yelling at him. Grawp appeared subdued. Percy, meanwhile, had stunned Bellatrix and was binding her. "Come on," Harry said. "While we've got the chance."

They darted out into clearing again, where the Death Eaters had left their captives to undertake Voldemort's mission. Hermione tried to revive Aberforth, but he appeared to be too deeply unconscious. Harry dropped to his knees beside Susan, and waved his wand over her bonds, slicing through them neatly.

"Harry," Susan gasped. He helped her sit up. She was very shaky, and didn't seem to have any strength in her arms.

"Pins and needles," she said weakly. "I'll be fine."

"Harry," Hermione said. "I can't get him to wake up."

Harry darted over to Hermione and Aberforth.

"I think he's really hurt," she said.

"Can we move him?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Hermione said, sounding very desperate. "I don't know much about magical medicine. Only what we've learned in the HA."

"Harry," Ron called. "She wants to talk to you."

Harry left Hermione to tend to Aberforth. He was pleased to see that Susan was moving over to them as well as he dashed across to Ron and Rose. Voldemort, he saw, was now completely surrounded by giants.

"Come on," he said. "We've got to get out of here."

"Wait," Rose said, clutching his arm in a surprisingly strong grip. Harry looked down at her and winced. Her face was heavily bruised where Voldemort had hit her, and she was bleeding from her mouth.

"Harry, I know what the dream meant," she said.

Harry, who had been trying with Ron to lift Rose up, paused.

"What?"

"The dream. I understand it."

"Well, tell us on the way out of here--"

"No, Harry," Rose said, smiling slightly. "It's my time. I have to tell you about the dream."

"Rose!"

"Harry, listen," she said. "It's an allegory, a symbol. Time loops in on itself, and Seers know this. We can see very clearly what happens when time crosses itself, in the future, or the past. Harry, we're crossing time a thousand years ago now. That's where the dream came from. It's happening again."

"What is?"

"The founders," she said, her eyes lost focus as she coughed loudly.

"Rose!"

"The houses are all represented here. In spirit, if not in blood. Gryffindor," she said, lifting her hand to Harry's cheek. "Brave and noble. Hufflepuff, loyal and steadfast," she added, looking at Ron. "Ravenclaw, wise and ingenious," she said, looking at Hermione. "And Slytherin, of course. But not just that. The dark army is here, there's been betrayal - on both sides this time. Be proud of your brother," she said to Ron, who looked totally confused.

"Harry, you have to face him again," she said, turning back to him. "It's fate."

"But Gryffindor died, and so did Slytherin," Harry protested.

"It might not be the same," Rose said. "That's up to you. The important thing is that you fight, Harry. You have to stop him, or he'll take over the school, just as Slytherin wanted to do a thousand years ago."

"Rose, I--"

"Goodbye, Harry. It's been nice knowing you. Remember, I have chosen this."

Moving with surprising speed, Rose pushed herself free from Ron and Harry and stood up just as Voldemort broke free of the giants. The Dark wizard raised his wand and pointed it at Ron. Rose stepped in between the two of them. There was a flash of green light, and she fell back down to the ground.

"No," Harry said, too stunned even to yell. He looked up as Voldemort loomed over him. The Dark wizard was bloodied but stood tall, fury evident on his chalk-white face.

"You have cost me the Seer, Potter. That is the last time that you will do anything to foil my plans. Stand up, boy, and face me. I shall break you, and then when my Death Eaters return with the other heir, I shall tear your minds apart until I know what the dream means."

"What it means?" Harry repeated. "I'll tell you what it means!"

He pushed himself to his feet, trying to ignore Rose's body lying between them. Drawing his wand, he pointed it at Voldemort, who laughed.

"Your bravery does you credit, Potter, but you and I both know that this is a futile exercise on your part."

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled. Voldemort continued to laugh, even as the Stunning Spell hit him in the chest. He was pushed backwards slightly, but barely moved. He didn't appear at all phased by the powerful spell.

"Pathetic, Potter. And to think they say that you have the power to defeat me. Is that the best you can do?"

"Ron, get the others out of here," Harry said.

"You must have misheard me, Potter. I am keeping yourself and Bones here. Rather fitting that I should kill of the last descendants of two old, but ultimately worthless, family lines in one stroke. The Bones family were old enemies, many years ago. My Death Eaters greatly enjoyed killing them, and now I shall kill this last one. After that, perhaps I shall visit the last remnants, and eradicate the line as finally as I eradicated the Potter line."

"Tom..."

"Don't say that name!" Voldemort snapped, his demeanour shifting in a heartbeat from arrogance to rage.

"That wasn't the best I can do," Harry said quietly. He thought of Ginny, and Ron and Hermione, and Quidditch, and Hagrid, and found himself on the battlements of the castle again. Sirius was there, but for the first time they weren't alone. There were a few scattered soldiers along the battlements. One or two of them had bows, the others carried swords.

"Harry, I'm going to leave you now. You've got others to help you," Sirius said, gesturing with his wand.

"No!"

"It's time. You have to let go, and you know it. You've spent the last year wondering what I would do, turning to me for help. But I'm not here, Harry, not really. It's only you."

"I can't," Harry said. "I can't lose you again."

"You won't. I'm always here, Harry," Sirius said, laying his hand over Harry's heart. "You've always known it. But you can't lean on me anymore. I'm gone. You can't keep doing what you think I'd want you to do, you can't keep hold of me for fear of letting me go. It's your life you have to live, Harry, not mine."

"Sirius..."

"Well, maybe one last thing."

"What?"

"Kick his arse, alright?"

Harry smiled.

"Sure."

"Oh, and Harry?"

"Yeah?" Harry looked up into Sirius' smiling face.

"All the Potter men like redheads. Your granddad used to tell me these stories... Now, that's not an order, or a bequest or anything. But you might want to think about it, okay?"

Harry opened his eyes. No time had passed.

"Are you going to show me your best, Potter?"

"Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Run, now!"

Harry brought his wand up in a slashing motion. A Blasting Hex erupted from the tip of it and caught Voldemort in the chest. The Dark wizard was knocked off his feet and crashed to the ground. Ron scrambled clear and hurried over to Susan and Hermione. With their help, he got Aberforth upright and they began to head out of the clearing. Percy, who had been helping with the old wizard, darted over to the prone form of Bellatrix and heaved her upright, dragging her with him as he shepherded the others to safety. He still seemed to be favouring the arm that had been hit, but otherwise appeared unhurt.

"A valiant effort, Potter," Voldemort snarled, standing up and walking back towards him.

Harry took a deep breath. All the months of training with Dumbledore and Marchbanks had come down to this moment. He felt his heart stop for a second as Voldemort grimaced and clutched at his side. Harry let out the breath slowly as he tried not to get too hopeful. He'd hurt his opponent, but he wasn't sure how badly.

"I should kill your friends, Potter, but first I shall remove your meddlesome presence. You are like an annoying fly - always buzzing around. Soon your usefulness will be extinguished, and then you will be as well. Crucio!"

Harry dived to his right, and felt the Cruciatus Curse blaze over him. He hit the ground hard, and for a second couldn't move, but then he rolled, exactly as Marchbanks had taught him, bringing his wand around and waving it at Voldemort. He launched a Cutting Hex and followed it with a Pinching Hex. While Voldemort avoided the first one, he moved right into the path of the second one, and it hit him in the chest. He cried out as the Hex caused his muscles to spasm, and clutched at his throat. Harry wondered if the air was being cut off from his lungs. He frowned. Since his rebirth in the ritual two years earlier, Harry wasn't even sure if Voldemort had lungs any more.

Harry took a moment to look around the clearing. Grawp was now struggling in the grip of the two giants who had been yelling at him before, and was bellowing in anger at being held back. On the other side of the fire, the other giants were gathered in one circle, roaring loudly in the giant language. Harry couldn't understand a word, but he could see that they were all grouped around one giant, who seemed to be the one that Grawp was trying to get to.

"Pathetic, isn't it Potter?" Voldemort said, bringing Harry's attention back to him. He was free of the Pinching Hex, but his breath was raspy in his throat. Harry felt a glimmer of triumph, even as Voldemort brought his wand up. "Love. What nonsense. She was supposed to keep him quiet, and make sure that no-one would guess what we had planned. But she came to genuinely care for him, and she would betray her tribe for that idiot, not that giants are exactly geniuses to begin with.

"Now, isn't it time that we finish this, you and I? After all, I shall have to hunt down your friends and bring Bones back. The others I shall have to dispose of as well."

Harry brought his wand up and tried very hard to think of good things as he launched another Blasting Hex at Voldemort, but the Dark wizard easily sidestepped the attack and with a smirk, raised his wand.

"Legilimens!"

Harry found himself struggling. He was on the castle walls, but rather than just seeing Voldemort trying to cross the lake around it, the water in the lake was crashing against the castle. He had never quite appreciated quite how strong Voldemort was, and he wondered if he could resist. He concentrated on staying calm, and wondered how he could fight water. It didn't seem possible.

With a start, he realised that the vision was all in his mind. Dumbledore's words returned to him, "Your mind is a highly personal place -- there is nothing there but that which you put there yourself."

Harry changed his mind.

Harry stood atop a tall hill, the highest point as far as the eye could see. A rolling landscape surrounded him in all directions, and a rich, dark, pre-dawn sky spread out above his head from horizon to horizon.

Harry smiled as he turned, his hand going to the sword at his belt. He drew it with a flourish, and crossed blades with the man standing opposite him.

"This duel should have been ended a thousand years ago," he said, as opposite him Voldemort, dressed in the robes of Salazar Slytherin, narrowed his eyes.

"Potter," he hissed.

"Riddle," Harry replied.

"I am Lord Voldemort!"

"You are Tom Marvolo Riddle! You're just a man, Tom, and barely that anymore."

Slytherin swung his emerald-studded sword. Harry caught the attack easily enough with his own blade, and broke the lock with a hard punch that caught his opponent under the jaw and shut his mouth with a click. He staggered back, raising his hand to his mouth. He appeared shocked at the sight of blood on his hand.

"You dare lay your hands on me?"

"It doesn't hurt here," Harry said.

"Then let me find something that does hurt," Voldemort snapped, lunging forward with a sweeping attack that Harry blocked low with his sword.

"No-one is a greater Legilimens than I, Potter!"

"So what?" Harry asked. "I know Occlumency. I can defend myself against you."

Voldemort's thin lips parted in a cold sneer.

"Then let us see," he said.

Voldemort came forward in a flurry of flashing steel, swinging over and over at Harry and forcing him back. Harry strove to block each attack, knowing that he couldn't risk being hurt by the attacks. Darkly, he wondered whether the right blow would rid him of his memories of the Dursleys, but he decided that he wasn't going to let Voldemort stab him in hopes of finding out.

Finally, Voldemort made a mistake. With Harry on the edge of the hilltop, he swung his sword back for a powerful blow, but Harry was far too rested to allow that. Harry lunged forward, driving the tip of his sword at Voldemort's chest. Voldemort threw himself backward as he realised his error and crashed to the ground. Harry recovered his balance and swung at Voldemort's prone body, but Voldemort was able to get his sword up to block.

"Valiant, Potter, but I don't just have a sword."

Voldemort's hand went to his belt. Just as quickly, Harry reached for his own wand. He leaned as much as he dared on the crossed swords, pinning Voldemort in place even as they drew their wands together and pointed them at each other.

"Stalemate," Harry said.

"Only if one chooses to play by the rules," Voldemort said. "I might just choose to upset the board."

Beneath them, the hill shook.

"My ancestor was powerful, Potter, but he always had to fight in the physical world. In the mind, anything is possible, if you know how to achieve it."

Voldemort smirked.

"And no-one is better than I."

Harry stumbled as the ground beneath him shifted. He reared back, swinging futilely at Voldemort as the ground between them cracked in two, a fissure opening up and widening by the second. Harry's scar throbbed as Voldemort began to tear apart his defences.

"So you have studied under Dumbledore," he hissed. "But the old fool is no match for me, Potter. A capable Occlumens, perhaps, but Legilimency requires power, and no-one is more powerful than I. There is no escape, Potter," he said, as the ground around Harry erupted and formed into the shape of a hand. Harry watched in frozen astonishment as the hand clasped around him, holding him in place. He hacked at it with the sword, but the earth had become as solid as steel, and he didn't even dent it as it continued to tighten around him to the point where he couldn't breathe properly.

Harry looked up. Voldemort was standing on the other side of the fissure but, in the blink of an eye, he was before Harry, swiping the sword from his hands with a contemptuous wave of his wand. Harry had no idea where his wand was, and was left helpless. Voldemort smirked as he raised his wand, but then he froze, a look of utter surprise on his face.

"No..."

In an instant, he was gone from Harry's mind, and Harry sagged in relief as the shattered landscape around him faded. His head ached, and he wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep for a long, long time, but whatever it was that had drawn Voldemort from his mind had surely only granted him a temporary reprieve.

The earthen hand was the last thing to fade. Harry dropped free, landing on solid ground although all around him was a featureless void. He felt something cold under his hand, and realised that the red-jeweled sword of Gryffindor had survived Voldemort's attack as well. Harry gripped it tightly, and pushed himself to his knees. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes--

--and opened them on chaos.

Harry couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He was still in the clearing, kneeling as he had been in his mind. A whole herd of centaurs had flooded the clearing and two of them were being ridden, to Harry's amazement, by Hermione and Ron. These two were firing a steady stream of arrows at the giants holding Grawp. Even as Harry watched, the two giants released their prisoner. Grawp roared, and plunged forward, through the fire. In two steps he was clear of the mighty blaze, although his rough trousers were alight in places. This didn't seem to faze him in the slightest as he ploughed headfirst into the group of giants who were holding the female giant captive, but who were also being fired upon by other centaurs including, to Harry's astonishment, Bane. She responded with a roar of her own and as Grawp struggled with her clansmen, she joined the attack.

Voldemort was watching in shock as the battle raged, but he turned as though he felt Harry's eyes upon him.

"No matter, Potter," he said. "Soon I shall have the school. My giants will crush the feeble resistance put forward by a mere group of teachers, I assure you. And as for you... No more games, no more time wasting. Potter, you are dead."

He drew his wand.

"Avada Keda--"

Harry swung, Gryffindor's sword clasped in his hand as it had been in his mind.

Voldemort screamed, a high, inhuman sound that brought a pause to the battle as human, centaur and giant alike turned to see the cause of the noise.

Voldemort staggered backward, clutching at the shorn-off stump of his wrist. Black blood spilled freely from the wound. Harry glanced downward, and instantly felt ill. Voldemort's hand lay on the ground just before him, still clasped around the black wand that had been used to take so many lives, including those of his parents.

Bane was the first to move. He crouched and sprang forward, a leap that carried him halfway across the clearing and brought him down beside Harry. He took one heavy, deliberate step and brought a hoof down on Voldemort's wand, snapping it in two and causing a brief fireball.

"No!" Voldemort screamed. Bane calmly brought his bow up and loosed an arrow at the Dark wizard. It lodged in his chest, where the heart would have been on a human, but Voldemort had moved beyond humanity, and he merely cried out in pain once more as he stumbled backward. He crashed to the ground beside the prone body of Wormtail - miraculously untouched, despite the chaos around him - and grabbed at his servant.

"You haven't beaten me," he spat. "Merely postponed my victory."

There was a rushing sound, and Voldemort and Pettigrew vanished. Harry sagged back on his haunches, holding tight to Gryffindor's sword even as he felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. His head continued to ache, although the pain had immediately lessened with Voldemort's departure.

"Harry Potter," Bane said. He bent down and picked up Voldemort's severed hand and shattered wand. "Your Professor Dumbledore will want these, I think."

"You helped," Harry said, feeling thoroughly out of touch with the events around him. As he watched, Grawp delivered a thunderous uppercut to the jaw of the tallest giant. The giant toppled backward like a collapsing tree and landed with a tremendous crash that shook the ground. Deprived of their leader, and looking thoroughly fed up at having been shot with so many arrows, the other giants lowered their weapons. Grawp pushed through their ranks to the giantess for whom he had apparently fallen.

"Sszzzhhuuuzzyyyy!!!" Grawp roared, apparently delighted.

"Grawp!" the giantess replied.

Harry looked away. It was bad enough seeing Ron and Hermione kiss.

"Your Invisibility Cloak is very effective, Harry Potter," Bane said slowly. "It hides more than just a person's appearance - it hides their mind as well."

"Er..."

"Your young friend Mr. Weasley, for example. He is an expert in centaurs, and speaks our language. He reminds me of a representative from the Ministry who bothered, once upon a time, to come and learn our language... He persuaded us to help you, although we were doing quite well in picking off stray Death Eaters as it was."

"How many--"

"Enough. We do not concern ourselves with the affairs of humans, Harry Potter, but in entering our Forest, and attacking our kind, they have made this war our affair. And if we cannot defeat Voldemort, we can certainly hurt him."

"Harry, here's your wand."

Harry looked up. Ron had ridden up to them on the back of a chestnut-coloured centaur who Harry recognised from previous trips into the forest. Harry took his wand, and stared at it blankly.

"Good morning," Ronan said, in his deep, slow voice. "Your friend and I have been discussing matters. I understand that there is more fighting on the school grounds."

"Yes!" Harry said suddenly. He couldn't believe that he'd forgotten about the other giants, not to mention the Death Eaters who had attacked the school.

"We have already sent some of our herd to help," Bane said. "But I am sure that reinforcements would not be rejected. Can you ride, Harry Potter?" At Harry's astonished look, Bane for a moment looked somewhat embarrassed. Then he drew himself up to his full height and added, "In these extraordinary times, one must take extraordinary steps."

Harry rather thought that Ronan gave Bane a knowing look at this, but he felt extremely tired, and was prepared to admit that he may have been mistaken.

"Yeah, I can ride," he said. "Hang on, what about the others?"

"Percy took Susan and Aberforth off on Magorian," Ron said, as though this was something that happened every day. "Magorian said he'd take them to one of their healers."

"Right, good. Well, let's go and help the others then."

Bane crouched down, and let Harry climb gingerly onto his back. Harry grabbed hold of the thick, curly hair that grew all along Bane's shoulders.

"Are you ready, Harry Potter?" Bane asked.

"Yes," Harry said. He immediately regretted saying it. Bane led the other centaurs off at a gallop, far faster than any horse could manage. They thundered through the Forest at a speed that Harry had only ever managed on a broom, and they seemed to be destined to crash into every tree in their path. But Bane wove and ducked and leapt, and they passed through unscathed. Harry could hear Ron whooping in delight behind him. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Hermione was coping - she didn't like flying, and Harry had the feeling that she was enjoying the ride even less than he was.

At last, after what felt like much more time than was necessary considering how fast they were traveling, they exited the forest onto the school grounds. To Harry's amazement, the giants were clustered in a group, unarmed and surrounded by centaurs armed with bows and spears. He almost felt like cheering, but then he saw a number of sheets covering what could only be bodies lying on the ground, and his enthusiasm departed as quickly as it had arrived.

"Harry?"

Harry turned to find Bill approaching, a thoroughly confused look on his face.

"Here we leave you, Harry Potter," Bane said. "We will see you again."

"Thank you," Harry said, as he dismounted. "And I'm glad that you're on our side."

"For now," Bane said proudly. He held out Voldemort's hand and wand. Harry took them gingerly. "Once Voldemort is defeated, things will return to their natural order."

Harry nodded, not sure of what he could say to that.

Ron and Hermione joined him and thanked the centaurs before they turned and galloped back into the Forest.

"Does anyone want to tell me what happened?" Bill asked. "I just spent twenty minutes chasing some git I went to school with through the grounds only to have him vanish from under my nose. Then I come back here to help with the fighting to find a herd of centaurs going crazy, thank Merlin, because we would have taken a beating without them. And then you three appear out of the Forest! Mum's going to have a fit!"

"We'll explain," Hermione said. "Harry, you should go to Dumbledore. He'll want the, er..." she gestured vaguely at the items that Harry was holding.

Harry nodded. Dumbledore was visible standing beside the bodies of the fallen. As he made his way across the scarred grounds, Ron and Hermione began to fill Bill in on what had happened in the Forest.

"Sir?"

Dumbledore looked up, apparently shaken from deep thought.

"Ah, Harry," he said heavily. "And how are you?"

"Fine," Harry said. "Who..."

"Professors Sinistra and Flitwick," Dumbledore said softly. "As well as Elphias Doge and Mundungus Fletcher of the Order."

Harry looked at the covered bodies in dismay. As much as he ached from his battle with Voldemort, he was alive. Four people that he had known were not. He knew that later he would feel terrible about that - especially about Flitwick and Mundungus - but for now he had to talk to Dumbledore.

"Sir?" he ventured, quietly.

"Yes, Harry?" Dumbledore replied. "I see that you managed another miraculous escape."

"Yeah. The centaurs helped," Harry said. "So did Percy and the others."

"Ah. Molly and Arthur will be delighted," Dumbledore said, smiling slightly. "And you have something there?"

Harry handed over the wand and severed hand, rather glad to be rid of them.

"Well, with no brother wand it should be easier to battle Voldemort. Fawkes is not likely to give another feather. I am sure that can eventually come by another hand, although by studying this we may be able to find out what it is that he did to himself, and how we might counter that."

"Sir," Harry said. "There's Death Eaters in the school."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. "Mostly unconscious, I believe, although some were just captured. I understand that Miss Weasley and Mr. Longbottom led your fellow students in arranging a series of ambushes involving the many secret passages in the school. Of course, how they were able to find these passages I could not say."

Harry felt fervently glad that he had shown his friends the Marauder's Map. He had a brief vision of Ginny and Neville marching ahead of a huge group of students, leaving some under the one-eyed witch, some behind the tapestry on the second floor and so on.

"Thankfully, no students were killed, although I understand that there have been some nasty injuries. Still, they will recover in time."

Harry nodded. Madam Pomfrey, he knew, could heal nearly anything.

"Forgive me, Harry," Dumbledore said. "I am delighted that you were victorious. I trust that Miss Bones is well?"

"She should be okay-- Sir!" Harry said, mentally kicking himself for not remembering sooner. "They had your brother and Rose."

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.

"Your brother was hurt. The centaurs have him and Susan and Percy, but..."

Harry couldn't bring himself to say the rest.

"Rose is dead," Dumbledore finished.

Harry nodded.

"Harry, a Seer often knows when their time is coming," Dumbledore said. "For some it is a gift. For some, a curse. Rose told me three months ago that her time was nearly up. Her loss grieves me terribly, but it was not unexpected."

"She saved Ron," Harry said. He felt it important that he say that. "She stood in front of a Killing Curse from Voldemort to protect him."

"She will be pleased to have made that choice, then," he said. He looked down at the bodies, and Harry realised that all four of the dead had been Dumbledore's friends, as well as teachers or Order members. "That's something," the headmaster sighed.

*

Eventually, Professor McGonagall came and collected Harry to take him up to the Hospital Wing. Although she too appeared stricken by the losses suffered, she was philosophical about it.

"They chose to fight. They knew the risks," she said. "It seems hollow, even cold, to say so, but they gave their lives to protect others. There can be no greater praise than that."

The doors swung open as they approached, and a great cheer rang out as they crossed the threshold. Harry was swamped by students shaking his hand and slapping him on the back. He felt overwhelmed by it all, and a little part of him felt it was rather hypocritical for them to be cheering him after they had spent so long happily spreading lies about him. But he remembered Ernie, who had been given a second chance, and who seemed to have learned his lesson. He smiled, and nodded, and thanked everyone, and finally the crowd began to disperse.

And then Ginny was in front of him.

Harry didn't think. He just grabbed Ginny into a hug and held her close to him, feeling the tension burn away as her arms linked around his back and she held him in return.

To be continued...