Beach Blast

It was unbelievably easy to nod off where Harry was. The weather at the beach was simply gorgeous. The warm sun beat down on him, relaxing every muscle in his body. The slight breeze felt great when it blew threw his unbuttoned shirt. After all the stress at the Ministry it was good to get away from it all and chill out on the beach. A smile spread across his face as he slipped into a pleasant sleep.

When Harry woke he found he couldn't sit up. Something was holding his entire body down. A shadowy figure was standing over him, blocking the sun. In his hand was what looked like some kind of weapon. Harry had to squint his eyes against the sunlight to see who it was.

"Daddy no can get up!" said the figure in a small voice. Harry lifted his head as much as he could to see that his daughter and son had buried him in the sand while he had been sleeping.

"You rascals!" laughed Harry. With one great effort he stood up, rising like the un-dead from a grave. He scooped up the giggling Sirius in his arms and tickled him mercilessly. Sirius' plastic spade lay abandoned on the sand. Harry's son was two years old but showed no signs of the usual behaviour expected of the 'terrible two's'. Harry's five year old daughter Lily sat near her mother building a sandcastle. Ginny fished a bottle of sun block from her bag.

"Sirius! Sirius, come see Mummy. You need some sun cream on sweetheart!" Sirius waddled obediently over to her. Harry was amazed at how well behaved his son was. For most of his life he had believed what his uncle Vernon had told him about his own childhood. Uncle Vernon always told him that he had been an obnoxious little brat as a toddler. Just before Harry started his seventh year at Hogwarts Aunt Petunia had confessed to him how wonderful he had been, even when she and her husband hadn't deserved it. It was the only time Aunt Petunia had talked to Harry as a human being.

Harry joined Lily who was patting down an upturned bucket of sand.

"Hey sunshine, what's that?" he asked, pointing at the sandcastle.

"It's Hogwarts, Daddy," she explained, "see, here's the castle and there's Granddad Hagrid's house." She pointed at a smaller sandcastle near the big one. Lily couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts, even if she did have six years to wait. As a treat, Harry went and bought ice cream cones for his family. He handed Ginny and Lily's theirs and bent down to give Sirius his.

"What do you say?"

"Ta!" said Sirius as he took the cone and began to eat it. Harry laughed when Sirius got chocolate ice cream all around his mouth. It was hilarious when his son did cute things like that. Harry was about to start on his own ice cream when he heard three loud cracks, one after the other. Harry saw them apparate by the sea. Avery, Rodolphus and Bellatrix, all had their wands out ready.

"We know you're here, Potter!" called Bellatrix. The look in the Lestrange's eyes was full of murderous intent. Avery, on the other hand, looked tired, tired of running, tired of hiding. He wanted to kill the person who ruined his life or die trying. Confused tourists stared at them, wondering how they had appeared out of thin air. The three Death Eaters fired their killing curses into the crowd, each killing an innocent holidaymaker. The panic that ensued was chaos. "You can't hide from us Potter!" hollered Bellatrix. Over the screams of the Muggles, Harry called to his wife.

"Ginny! Take Lily and Sirius! Find somewhere safe and stay there!" As Ginny pulled the children away, they cried out to their father.

"Daddy!" Sirius began to sob. The beach was now deserted; the cries of the crowd were far away. Harry dropped his cone and pulled his wand from his pocket.

"Aaawww, did you hear that?" cooed Bellatrix, "ickle Harry Potter named his kiddies after his mummy and godfather. Isn't that cute?" Years on the run hadn't taken Bellatrix's sick sense of humour. Her disturbing smile became a fierce scowl. "You'll be with your beloved parents and godfather soon enough!" All three Death Eaters attacked Harry. Harry dived out of the way, taking cover behind a large boulder. The curses hit the stone wall separating the beach from the street. A massive explosion resulted, raining bits of stone down on Harry.

A million things raced through Harry's mind. His family were safe for now, but he was outnumbered. If he wasn't careful they would easily kill him. If that happened they would certainly go after his wife and children. He couldn't bear the thought of harm coming to them. He could hear them approaching, their footsteps crunched on the sand. With a sharp jab of their wands, the boulder exploded with great force.

Harry, however, had already disapparated and then apparated behind his attackers. Before they could respond, Harry stunned Avery, sending him to the ground. The Lestranges fired together, they were famous for that. Harry had to quickly disapparate. He was still outnumbered so he would have to out manoeuvre them. He apparated to the side of Rodolphus and stunned him. Bellatrix, however, he was fully prepared to kill.

The only problem was she wasn't there. She had disapparated at the same time as Harry and had cleverly figured out where he would go. As soon as she apparated she cried "Expelliarmus!" The simple charm hit Harry hard. His wand was ripped from his grip and he was knocked back with great force. He landed heavily on his front, his glasses landed several feet away. He knew what was coming next. Bellatrix had the perfect shot. He only hoped that Ginny could get the kids away from here, away from her.

"You're dead, Potter!" cried Bellatrix. Harry closed his eyes and prepared for the end. He had survived it before but he had the feeling that he wouldn't be so lucky this time. Bellatrix let out a piercing scream, not of triumph but of pure fear. The next voice Harry heard was a man's,

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Harry could see the flash of green out of the corner of his eye. Bellatrix's scream faded away. Harry lifted himself up, found his glasses and went to see what had happened. Bellatrix lay lifeless on the sand, her face frozen in an expression of horror. The blood was gone from her face. She looked paler than a ghost. Harry scanned the beach for the wizard that saved him. He could see no one along the beach or on the street. He wandered over to Bellatrix's body and noticed some odd footprints in the sand. Human footprints came from the street to just a few feet away from where Bellatrix lay. The footprints that led back to the street were not human. They were large pawprints.