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Chapter 45 - Rites Of Passage (Part 2) - Assault On Beauxbatons

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 25th August 2001 AD
Country: France - The French Riviera - Marseeleveyre Mountains
Location: Chateau Delacour
Time: Noon

Pleased with his accomplishment of defeating Adam, Harry was looking forward (with confidence) to the rest of the tests that were to follow later that day.

He was currently standing in the room he had been in during his first few days at the Chateau focusing on his Animagus transformation.

With his eyes closed he focused hard on what his hands would look like when he was a stag, he could feel the changes begin, he felt the hairs on the back of his hands lengthen and change colour, he could feel the bones in his hand rearrange fusing together and changing in shape.

Opening his eyes he looked down at his new cloven hooves.

Closing his eyes again he focused on spreading the change up his arms.

According to Delphine transforming was not a very pleasant experience during early attempts, this was an opinion that Harry definitely agreed with, it was not overly pleasant to here and feel your bones and tissues moving around each other and change shape.

Opening his eyes again he looked down at his now fully transformer arms.

"Well done Harry," smiled Delphine as she came in through the doorway "Your progressing well."

"Thanks, I'm surprised I'm getting it so fast."

"I told you it would be easier to transform into your natural form."

"You were right, though it still takes me time to transform, McGonagall can do it in a second."

"She has been practicing longer." Grinned Delphine "Just give it some time, now....how about you try your hind legs."

Smiling Harry closed his eyes and focused on the look of his feet, imagining the feeling of cloven toes rather than fleshy pads.

Slowly he felt the bones begin to shift, his feet shrinking and changing shape.

"Err Harry, you may want to...."

As his feet shrank Harry began to loose his balance, he waved his cloven front legs about in an attempt to steady himself but to no avail as he fell towards the floor, his shoulder exploding in pain when he landed on it causing him to yell out.

"Never mind." Finished Delphine, kneeling down beside him drawing her wand, waving her wand over his shoulder she sighed "I was afraid of that, you dislocated your shoulder when you fell."

"How on earth did I manage to do that?" Asked Harry through gritted teeth.

"You have the shoulder of a human but the front leg of a deer; they are not designed to work together so your shoulder was very weak and prone to damage, brace yourself I'm going to put your shoulder back." She explained taking a gentle hold of his arm.

"Ok." He nodded.

"On three, ready?"

He nodded.

"Okay, one....two."

"AARRRGGGHH!! What happened to three!" he demanded.

"You would have tensed on three," she explained "Your muscles were still relaxed on two, that may ache a bit but you will be fine."

"Arry!" cried Fleur as she charged into the room her wand in hand, only to see her mother crouched over a half transformed Harry "What did you do?" she demanded, turning to her mother.

"I put his shoulder back in after he dislocated it."

"How did he do that?" she asked worried.

"He tried to transform his back legs while he was still standing up, you can transform back now Harry."

"Thanks." He nodded, returning his body to normal, his annoyed tone not phasing Delphine in the slightest.

"When you try to transform your torso lay on your side." She added before turning back to Fleur "When are the rest of the tests starting?"

"In a few minutes, Adam sent me to...."

She never got the chance to finish her sentence as Dimitri ran into the room.

"We've just got word, Beauxbatons is under attack."
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"How are we going to get there?" shouted Harry as they ran towards the training room.

"Portkey is the fastest," replied Dimitri from beside him "I can legally create one that will pass through the wards."

"Your job really does come in handy sometimes." Commented Harry as they made a sharp right into the training room.

Moving to the wall Harry grabbed a pair of rapiers fitted to a belt and rapidly put it around his waist.

"Where are Fleur and the others?" he asked turning back to Dimitri who was casting a spell on a piece of rope.

"Right here." Replied Adam as he, Viktor, Fleur, Delphine and the rest of their trainers came running in through the door, most moving straight towards the weapons.

"It's ready," announced Dimitri holding up the rope "Everyone grab on."
________________________________________________________________________

They appeared in the middle of the grounds of Beauxbatons just in time to see an explosion go off to their right.

"Everybody down." Yelled Adam as another blasting hex flew over their heads.

Drawing one of his swords Harry saw Adam raise a shield over the group giving them a chance to get their bearings.

Further down the lawn were a mass of forty or so Death Eaters which appeared to have just crossed the ward line, up behind them Harry could see that the school had been locked down, the main doors were closed and the windows in the Circle Building had disappeared leaving nothing but walls.

"Dam it, they've already gotten through the wards," shouted Dimitri "We need to move towards the school."

"I can keep the shield up but everyone must stay close." Replied Adam "Lets move."

They could see and hear the spells ricocheting of the shield, as they reached the main doors they heard some one yell out from above them before the doors opened just wide enough for a person to squeeze through.

"Quickly, inside." Gasped Delphine, not slowing down to pass through the door.

As soon as the last person passed through the gap the doors slammed shut and many locking charms were cast upon it by the group of seventh years gathered in the Entrance Hall.

"Professor!" exclaimed Monique moving towards him, luckily he had remembered to put on his disguise before they left "Thank goodness you're here, the school is under attack."

"We know that Monique," replied Fleur "We just outran them."

"No I mean from inside, there are Death Eaters inside the school; they came in through the Floo Network before Madam Maxime was able to block the grate."

"How many?" asked Adam.

"At least ten probably more, Madam Maxime and the other Professors are trying to track them down while we wait for the Auror's."

"Monique, you and the others stay here while we help round up the Death Eaters," commanded Harry turning to the others "We need to round them up as quickly as possible, Viktor, Polly and Dimitri search the Ring Building to the left, Jenny, John, Delphine search to the right, Fleur, Adam and I will check the tower, everyone understand?"

The others nodded drawing various weapons and heading of in the directions ordered.

"Go!" he barked before turning and leading Fleur and Adam towards the inner doors towards allowing entry to the courtyard and the Tower, another group of seventh years commanded by Violette gave him a quick nod before opening the door a crack to allow them to pass through.

Adam moved through the gap first, extending his hand out he erected a shield out through the gap to encompass the area on the other side of the door allowing the others to squeeze through without risk of being cursed.

As the door closed behind them curses started landing on the shield before ricocheting off to strike the inner walls of the Ring Building.

Looking for the source of the curses Harry could see five Death Eaters advancing from the doorway of the Tower.

"The shield is unidirectional." Explained Adam firing a short burst of blue magic through the shield towards the Death Eaters causing them to dive out of the way as the magic created a large explosion against one of the open doors of the Tower behind them, shaking it violently on its hinges.

Following his lead Fleur and Harry began launching curses back at the Death Eaters forcing them to take cover as the trio advanced on them under the cover of the shield.

They managed to hit two of the Death Eaters when they leaned around the doorframe in an attempt to fire back leaving three still standing, as they got closer to the Tower a massive flash of purple light impacted the top of the shield causing Adam to drop to the ground holding his arm in pain.

Looking up Harry saw a mirror image of Adam hovering in the air halfway up the side of the Tower.

"Oh Sorry brother, did that hurt?" he taunted, laughing evilly.

They did not get the chance to react to the new comer as the remaining Death Eaters emerged from cover and began launching a nasty array of curses at them.

"You take care of the Death Eaters, I'll deal with him!" shouted Adam jumping to his feet, drawing a large curved blade from an invisible sheave to his side. He then proceeded to leap into the air straight towards his twin.

Harry and Fleur did not get the chance to find out what happened as another group of Death Eaters started firing spells down at them from the Towers windows.

Harry rolled to the side as two rippling purple spells passed through the space he had just been standing in only to dissipate like electricity against the wall behind them.

Rolling over he fired a pair of spells at the Death Eaters causing two of them to slump to the floor as the muscle relaxing charms took affect.

Jumping to his feet he took an evasive course towards the remaining Death Eater as he futilely tried to dodge Fleur's curses and retaliate at the same time.

As he got within five meters of the target he leaped into the air raising his sword, slicing it across the stomach of the Death Eater causing him to crumple to the floor grasping at his stomach, screaming in pain.

Breathing deeply Harry looked down at his sword, the blood sliding down its length dropping to the floor, and then to the injured Death Eater slowly bleeding out, a pool of blood forming around him.

What should he do with the dieing man?

Put a stasis field around him?

Stun him?

Leave him?

Or finish him off?

The question was answered for him when Fleur cast a stasis charm around the Death Eater before moving over to him, her eyes filled with concern.
________________________________________________________________________

Fleur moved towards her mate, the sounds of the curses colliding the grass behind her falling into the background as concern for her mate grew, knowing how he reacts to deaths he thinks are his fault, how would he react when he actually does cause a death.

Looking to the dieing man on the grass she quickly muttered a stasis charm; if by saving this man she could prevent Harry from withdrawing within himself again then she would do whatever it took.

"Arry....are you ok?"

He looked up at her blankly, no emotion showing in his eyes, the very though of loosing him to this terrified her.

"He's not dead Arry," she told him forcefully "You didn't kill him."

He didn't react.

Opening up the link as fully as she could she flooded the connection with all the love and feelings she could muster, attempting to blanket out what ever it was he was feeling and bring him back to her.

She saw him let out a breath and his eyes rolled shut as the wave of emotion crashed into him, he wobbled for a moment before his eyes opened slowly, they were not as empty as they had been mere moments before but they were not back to normal either.

"Thank you." He said quietly, giving her a light kiss on the lips before turning and heading into the Tower.

She stood there for an extra second, praying to whatever Gods were listening that he would not change because of this.

Following Harry into the Tower they quickly checked the Great Hall before heading up the Main Staircase.

The sounds of battle could be heard above them as they hurried upwards.

They came to a halt as a jet of red light bounced its way down the staircase and a black cloaked figure got thrown around the corner towards them, unconscious before he hit the ground.

Turning around the corner the pair could see the battle taking place before them, eight Death Eaters were fighting their way upwards forcing who he guessed were some of the Beauxbatons staff backwards up the stairs.

Giving each other a nod they jumped around the corned hurling curses and swinging blades.

The Death Eaters were taken completely by surprise; they began spinning around trying to defend themselves on two fronts but failing miserably as Harry and Fleur were already amongst them cursing them at point-blank range and swiping at their arms and legs with their blades causing them to crumple to the ground and drop their wands as they grasped at their injured arms and legs giving their original opponents the chance to take down the rest of them.

As the last of the Death Eaters hit the floor Harry and Fleur moved towards the teachers.

"Radcliffe, where have you been?" demanded Plaindre moving forward completely confident of her own superiority over him; three other Professors followed her down, their looks showed how annoyed they were at her for her aggression towards their reinforcements.

"Not that it's any of your business....Agnes," returned Harry, pronouncing her name as badly as he could "But I was visiting friends, I believe I am allowed to."

"And what are you doing here Delacour?" she continued ignoring his response.

"That's Lady Delacour, Plaindre." Fleur snarled "If you remember correctly on my last day of schooling I reminded you that as my parents are nobility you are obliged to call me Lady unless I tell you otherwise and I was the one that Daniel was visiting at the time."

"As soon as we heard we came here bringing reinforcements with us." Added Harry.

"For a Duelling Master you seem to have forgotten that fighting is easier when you have numbers of your side, and where pray are these supposed reinforcements?"

The instant she finished speaking the wall to their left exploded sending shrapnel flying out into the hallway.

Harry threw himself around Fleur, shielding her from the flying stone, as he spun around he was just in time to see Adam and his brother come flying out of the hole and explode out through the opposite wall.

As the dust settled and everyone began checking themselves for injuries Agnes turned to glare at Harry.

"What was that?" she demanded.

"That was one of my reinforcements," Harry returned with a smile "Now if we have finished bantering there may still be Death Eaters in the school so shut up before I make you." he turned to the elderly Defence Professor, ignoring the outraged and spluttering Agnes "What else do we know?"

"Olympe and several other Professors chased some Death Eaters up to the top of the Tower we know at least five went back down."

"We've dealt with them but some Death Eaters were firing down at us from the windows."

"We'll check the rooms while you go and help Olympe."

"Agreed, when you are done head back out to the Ring Building, there was a large force coming up the lawn." Said Harry as he and Fleur headed up the stairs, a couple of the Professors quickly greeting Fleur as they passed leaving a highly annoyed Agnes behind them.

As they moved up the stairs they could here the sounds of explosions coming from above them.

Speeding up their ascent they reached the top floor just in time to see a familiar looking green spell erupt through the now destroyed doorway of Harry's Office and impact the opposite wall.

Moving to the side of the door they both turned around the frame, Fleur dropping into a crouch while Harry remained standing.

The sight that greeted them was utter carnage, the bodies of several Professors and Death Eaters littered the floor, bloodied burned or just dead. Three Death Eaters stood over one of the two surviving Professors in the room, but before they could act one of the Death Eaters fired a killing curse at her letting her body slump to the floor.

Harry's eyes flared with anger as he saw his colleagues fall.

Roaring he launched a blasting hex at the murderer, the explosion throwing him back against the wall burned and bleeding heavily.

Fleur jumped into action, firing curses at the others taking out the next Death Eaters just as quickly as the first but the third raised a shield and started to retaliate and unlike the others this one was skilled.

Fleur and the Death Eater engaged in a fire fight while Harry spun on the last of their opponents who was standing over the bleeding form of Olympe Maxime.

The last enemy was different, the cloak he wore was thicker and had more layers and he did not wear a mask, just a hood.

The figure stood looking at Harry for several seconds before moving his hands to push back his hood.

Harry's Occlumency training helped to suppress the pain that flowed through his scar, confirming what he already knew the figures name was....

Voldemort.