Harry Potter and the Scar of Fate

Chapter 15

And Then There Were None

Emboldened by Neville's success, the light wizards redoubled their efforts.

"Go Neville!" thought Hermione. Dolohov was smirking at her. Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light sped towards her. Hermione closed her eyes. Goodbye Harry, she thought to herself, visualising his smiling face, I shall always love you. But the thought of Harry jerked her out of her numbness.

"Accio!" she yelled. A disused cot lying in the corner of the room blocked the curse in front of her and was blown to smithereens. But the green light dissipated as well. She smiled at the Death Eater, who stared at her in shock.

"Crucio!" he shouted. This time, Hermione could not duck. She screamed in agony as the curse hit her. Then suddenly, her pain disappeared. Dolohov gaped at her, shocked, but that was nothing compared to Hermione's own shock. However, without wasting any more time, she yelled, "Stupefy!" and the Death Eater collapsed, limp. Hermione gave the thumbs-up sign to Draco, and smiling at him, she followed the same course as Neville.

Draco Malfoy focussed his attention on the Death Eater in front of him. He didn't recognise the man, though he remembered having seen him at his father's party once. Whoever it was, the man was an excellent dueller. But I'm better, thought Draco lazily, and murmured, "Serpensortia."

A huge snake flew out of his wand and attacked the Death Eater, while Draco's mind flew back to his second year. The thought of Harry made him smile and wonder at his great friendship after years of rivalry. His mind snapped back to reality as he saw the Death Eater get rid of the snake. Before he could regain his composure, however, Draco yelled, "Impedimentia!" and the Death Eater flew back several feet, hit his head on the wall and collapsed. Smiling to himself, Draco took the same route as his friends before him.

Moody's opponent collapsed in a heap muttering something about his ill luck. He looked around with his magical eye and Apparated, convinced that things were under control.

Things were indeed under control. Tonks had managed to stupefy her Death Eater. She too Apparated after Moody.

Snape was having a slightly difficult time. The Death Eater fighting him was a vampire, and hence immune to most curses, specially the Dark ones. And he seemed to be determined to suck some of Snape's blood. However, Snape was no ordinary wizard himself. He was a master at potions. He slipped his hand inside his robes and took out a bottle of his own invention. He threw that at the vampire, who stared at him blankly for a minute, then collapsed in a heap. Snape glanced at Lupin, who was still fighting. The other three Aurors had moved away as well. Lupin's adversary seemed to be a werewolf, and a very powerful one at that. Snape recognised him as one of Voldemort's favourites. The Death Eater hit Lupin with the Imperius curse.

Severus Snape stood aghast, not knowing what to do. He knew that Lupin was vulnerable to the Imperius curse; it was an inherent weakness of all werewolves - one of the reasons why Voldemort had such a hold on them. Suddenly, however, Lupin's body glowed with a soft emerald light, and the vacant expression in his eyes was replaced by fire. He muttered a curse at the Death Eater, who keeled over, unconscious.

Snape was shocked. He had seen Hermione Granger glow with a similar light when Dolohov had put the Cruciatus on her. He frowned. He put his thoughts on hold, however, and the two professors deposited the last two Death Eaters with the Aurors and went to Hogwarts.