Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Slayer, The Avatar And The Guardian Of Light
Chapter 49 - The Masked Hero
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 26h August 2001 AD
Country: England - Cotswold Hills
Location: Unknown
Time: Late Morning
Hermione waited for her chance.
"Avada Kedav...."
She ducked as the last syllable, praying that Death Eater would end up cursing one of his own.
She missed the sound of an object flying through the air and of spraying liquid as she dropped.
As she hit the floor she kicked out with her legs, praying that the Death Eater was close enough, her legs connected with the Death Eaters knees kicking his legs out from under him.
She spun around and threw herself at the falling Death Eater, tackling him backwards grabbing his wand hand as they landed, desperate to get her only weapon back.
But something was wrong, the Death Eater was silent, un-moving.
Hermione tilted her head up to look into the Death Eaters face.
When she looked past his neck she jumped back in shock, throwing herself off the Death Eater, only just resisting the urge to exclaim.
The Death Eaters body was lying on the floor where they had fallen....and a meter further down the hall was his separated head.
She leaned heavily against the wall, trying to suppress the urge to bring up her breakfast at the sight of the decapitated head and the sprayed blood covering the walls.
Hearing a thumps she spun around aiming her wand, forcing herself to focus on the danger rather than the horror scene behind her.
As she turned she saw not the Death Eaters that had been standing there but a man.
He was wearing a long black cloak and a mask, but unlike the Death Eaters his mask was not white, instead it was a dark grey ranging into black with silver highlights and no holes for the eyes, in addition to the half mask he wore armour on his wrists and arms and she thought she could see similar armour on his shins under his cloak.
Looking at the ground in front of them, all the Death Eaters that had been on that side of her were now lying unconscious on the hall carpet, one of them had a sword imbedded in his side, their blood stained the black robes and also (she noticed) her jeans and top.
"Are you alright?" asked the figure "Do not worry, I will not harm you."
"Who are you?" she asked fearfully, keeping her wand pointed at him.
"I'm....I'm a friend." Replied the figure after a moment's hesitation, before looking down at his hand.
Looking at his armoured hand she saw four wands gripped between his fingers. He held out the wands for her.
"Take these, you may need them."
Hermione slowly took the wands from his outstretched hand.
"Thanks." She replied uncertainly.
It was then that she became aware of the events outside of the hallway as the sounds of battle drifted through the front door.
"Excuse me." He bowed, picking up his sword before turning and running out of the door.
Hermione instantly ran after him, following him through the wreckage of the front wall.
Outside was one of the most extraordinary sights she had ever seen.
There must have been at least twenty black cloaked figures in the street, most were masked and engaged in battle with four cloaked figures and the masked hero who had just saved her, more Death Eaters had obviously arrived during the course of the battle as another five masked figures were lying unconscious or wounded on the ground.
Quickly muttering some binding spells at the fallen enemies she ran towards the Death Eaters the masked figure was fighting.
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Harry and the others had arrived just in time, while the others engaged the twenty or so Death Eaters in the front garden and street he charged straight at the two in the way of the door, with a couple of vicious slicing hexes to their stomachs they doubled over gripping their midsections.
Ignoring their cries he entered through what remained of the front wall.
As he passed through the hole he was in time to see Hermione standing, eyes closed, proudly awaiting her fate at the hands of four Death Eaters, or so it appeared, she had something up her sleeve.
Rage weld up inside of him, they dared to attack one of his friends; they dared to attack a person he considered a sister.
"Avada Kedav...."
The Death Eater never got the chance to finish the curse as his head flew of his shoulders as Harry's sword sailed through the air, decapitating him before impaling itself in the wall.
The other Death Eaters were stunned by the sudden movement of both the sword and the witch in front of them; they came back to their senses quickly and spun on him but all too slow to save themselves as rage fuelled Harry's movements.
Grabbing the head of the nearest Death Eater he slammed it hard into the wall, knocking him unconscious, blood pouring down his face, at the same time Harry extended his arm, casting a silent summoning charm.
The Death Eaters raised their wands as Harry's sword sailed between them into his waiting hand before being brought around in an arc to slash into the stomachs of the pair, causing them to double over like their friends at the door, not letting them hit the floor Harry grabbed their heads and crashed them together, knocking them both out, dropping one of the men he silently summoning their wands to his hand and froze.
The expression on Hermione's face terrified him, she had just seen what he had done to the Death Eater who was about to kill her, he watched as she covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stop herself being sick.
He had done that.... It pained him that something he had done could cause that reaction from anyone, especially not someone he considered to be a sister. He had to resist the urge to go over and comfort her; he now knew that he could not reveal his identity, even to Hermione, if she reacted that way to the body, how would she react if she knew it was him who had killed them?
Dropping the Death Eater in his left hand the body dropped to the floor with a thud, getting Hermione's attention.
She spun around aiming her wand.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice a little deeper than normal and more soothing., doing his best to assure her that everything was alright without actually comforting her "Do not worry, I will not harm you."
"Who are you?" she asked
Harry at to think about this one, what could he tell her.
"I'm....I'm a friend."
Trying to get off the subject as quickly as possible he handed the wands to her, picked up his sword and ran back towards the sounds of battle, knowing she would follow him.
Running into the fight he saw that several other Death Eaters had Apparated in.
They appeared to be outnumbered almost four-to-one.
Colette and Fleur were fighting side by side against seven opponents, one blocking and deflecting while the other threw curses, Viktor was engaged in a running battle with five others using his seeker skills to dodge the curses being thrown at him much to the annoyance of the Death Eaters, especially as he was firing some of the spells they were using back at them (one of the advantages of going to Durmstrang) , that left Adam dealing with the remaining eight who Harry could tell feared their cloaked opponent, while one hand was holding up a shield that was reflecting their curses back at them the other was throwing spells at them, making them dive out of the way.
Drawing both his swords he ran straight towards the group attacking the girls, turning his swords outwards and bringing them against his sides he ran straight through the Death Eater lines, his swords slicing into the sides of the opponents he ran between.
He did not stop to see the result of his attack and instead dodged through the exchanging curses and headed straight for a group of five who had just exited a nearby house and appeared to be trying to come up behind the girls.
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The Death Eaters could never have foreseen what was about to happen to them, this was supposed to be an easy job, one fifteen year old witch and a street full of Muggle's to kill, an excellent mission for the rookie group, they never expected to meet much opposition especially not a masked figure wielding swords.
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Harry's swords came around in an ark, cutting straight through the arm of one Death Eater and into the shoulder of another.
Replacing one of his swords he then started aiming is wand arm at his opponents, aiming weak blasting curses at them, hitting with just enough power to blast them unconscious.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Hermione running up beside him to take on the remaining two enemies.
He watched as Hermione cast a complicate arrangement of summoning and banishing spells to propel the knifes that littered her lawn at the enemy.
Taking advantage of the distraction he turned the ground below the Death Eaters feet into mud making them sink up to their waists.
Stunning them Harry then froze the mud to stop them sinking any further, he then moved towards the next six who were just emerging from houses further down the street, Hermione in hot pursuit.
Unfortunately this set saw them coming and fired long range curses at them.
Harry idly recalled something Moody had said about rudimentary wand safety before his fifth year.
Carefully aiming a cutting curse he fired, praying that it would hit its target.
A fraction of a second later it did as the spell sliced through the Death Eaters wand causing the magical core to explode, taking the Death Eaters hand with it.
It may not have been his buttocks but it still must have bloody hurt.
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Bill Weasley relaxed as the last Death Eater at the Burrow dropped to the ground.
Looking around he saw the twins and Ron busy binding the others and removing their wands.
Turning back to the house he could see Tonks and the rest of the family checking each other for injuries, some had cuts and the odd gash, the most serious being his father who had had the bones in his right arm shattered during the battle.
Reaching the door to the kitchen he headed for the sitting room to Floo Dumbledore about the attack, he only got as far as the kitchen table when he heard the sound of the klaxon alarms going off, running into the sitting room he saw several of the warning alarms attached to the wall blaring away, flashing red to indicate that other locations were under attack, he had helped Dumbledore install them at Hogwarts, Order Headquarters and the residences of several of the Order members to monitor several locations around Wizarding Britain, the sounds of battle must have been blanketing out the alarms.
Turning back to the kitchen he shouted "Get in here quick!"
There was the sound of pounding feet before most of the family members ran in.
"Hermione's!" cried Ron.
"Not just the Granger's," continued Charlie "The Lovegood's and Longbottom's as well."
"Quickly," shouted Molly resuming her role as Matriarch "Bill and Tonks head for the Grangers, Fred and George the Longbottom's, Ginny and Ron get to Order Headquarters and rally all the help you can get and contact Dumbledore, Arthur get to the Ministry and contact the Auror's if they are not already on their way while I and Charlie go to the Lovegood's"
There were nods of confirmation from the group.
"And remember that our fight started at least fifteen minutes ago so move as fast as you can, especially you two." She said pointing to Tonks and Bill "Hermione may be clever but she is still only one witch."
They jumped into action, most running out into the back garden to get beyond the Anti-Apparation wards, Bill briefly heard Ginny and Ron complaining that they weren't going to help Hermione before he went beyond hearing range.
"Ready Bill." Asked Tonks, drawing her wand.
"Whenever you are ready." He replied.
Giving her a short nod they both Disapparated.
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When the pair appeared the sight that greeted them couldn't have been further from what they expected.
The Dark Mark hung over the street, half the houses along the road had had their doors blasted in, on the pavement and front gardens of the houses were over a dozen unconscious Death Eaters in various states of health and lastly but certainly not least were the two groups of cloaked figures and Hermione duelling away at the centre of all the devastation.
"What in Merlin's name!" exclaimed Tonks.
"I haven't a clue." He replied, examining the scene, for a brief moment he thought he saw something familiar from the hand of one of the thinner cloaked figures but dismissed it just as quickly "But whoever they are they are doing better than we were, nine of us against fifteen DE's took us this long, but these five and Hermione against over twenty five DE's, and they appear to be winning, especially as all the people on the ground have Death Eater masks."
"Shall we help out or just watch the entertainment?" asked Tonks.
"Might as well assist, they probably don't need it but...."
"As much as I am sure you are enjoying the show," hollered Hermione angrily "Would it be too much trouble to ask you to assist?"
The pair exchanged a look.
"I think you have your answer." Said Bill before running straight into the fight.
Coming up on either side of Hermione the pair started reigning curses down on the group of Death Eaters in front of them.
"Wotcher Hermione, what's going on?" greeted Tonks.
"I thought that was blatantly obvious." She replied hotly "What took you so long; my parents and I had to hold them off on our own until this lot arrived."
Bill spared a glance at the cloaked figures; one was different as he was wearing a strange half mask, he also wielding a sword.
"And who are this lot?" he asked.
"I haven't a clue but they saved my life so I was saving questions until after the battle."
"Fair enough." Nodded Tonks.
"What took you so long?" demanded Hermione again hitting a Death Eater square in the face with a rather nasty hex while a knife impaled his left leg "You took ages to get here and I was expecting a bit more help."
"Sorry about that, the Burrow was attacked, everyone's alright, dad got hit in the arm but nothing more serious than that. It was only after we had defeated them that we heard the alarms going off, the homes of all the students who were at the DOM minus Harry are under attack, we split up and came to assist."
"You seem to have a lot more Death Eaters than we did and so far you are doing better than us too." Grinned Tonks.
"If you three would be so kind as to stop gossiping like a load of old women," Said the masked figure coming up beside them, throwing a blasting hex at the feet of the Death Eaters in front of them "We have a battle to win."
"Who are you anyway?" Demanded Tonks, not liking the figure for interrupting the conversation.
"That is for me to know," He replied drawing a second sword and diving between the Death Eaters, aiming low he again turned his blades outwards and extended his arms just enough to cut into one ankle of each Death Eater as he passed between them, causing them to buckle as their tendons were cut, spinning around he brought his swords up cutting neatly through the wands of each, causing them to explode taking the users fingers with them.
Quickly stunning the two Death Eaters he turned back to the three, the blood running down the now red and slightly burnt swords.
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"And for you not to." Replied Harry, watching amused as Bill, Tonks and Hermione stood their in shock at his speed and manoeuvrability.
Looking around he examined the area, there were no more Death Eaters, the others were busy binding the unconscious ones, casting minor healing charms on them to prevent them bleeding to death in the time it took the Aurors to arrive.
"That's the lot." called Fleur, her voice changed so it had a different sound to April's.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Nothing a quick healing spell wont heal." Replied Viktor, his voice also different.
"Good." Nodded Harry walking along beside Hermione's garden wall, examining the scene.
He watched as Hermione was checked over by Bill, breathing a sigh of relief that the battle was over she looked back towards the remains of her home, presumably worried about her parents and eager to go and see how they were. Her face rapidly changed from concern to worry.
"Look out!" she cried aiming her wand.
Turning around Harry raised his swords high, preparing to strike down whoever was left.
As he turned, time seemed to slow as he caught a glimpse of a Death Eaters with his wand raised before the air between them was filled with fire.
"No!" he heard Fleur cry.
Turning his face to the left he brought his arms across and down to protect his face, his swords crossed just as the flame hit him.
Harry never remembered quite what happened next but all he knew was a brief feeling of warmth then gasps of surprise. Opening his eyes he realised that he was still in one piece and not in fact a charred lump of roast homo-sapien.
Everyone stood still for several seconds, shocked by what they had just seen, not believing the evidence of their eyes, he should have been a smoking corpse.
The Death Eater who had been hiding behind the garden wall came back to himself first, re-aiming his wand he shouted.
"Accio Mud-Blood."
No one reacted fast enough as Hermione sailed through the air towards him, grabbing her wand he brought both to her throat.
"Let her go." Demanded Bill, aiming his wand, his movements mirrored by the others.
"I don't think so, lower your wands or she dies."
The threat hung for several seconds no one moving before Tonks slowly lowered her wand, followed equally slowly by everyone else.
Harry looked into Hermione's eyes, asking him for help, he was aware that she still had the other Death Eaters wands in her other hand, something her captor was not aware off, she needed a distraction.
The Death Eater laughed before turning to him.
"Any last words before I kill this piece of filth?"
Harry sent a glance over the Death Eaters shoulder.
"Yes, just one....Fore."
The Death Eater looked at him confused.
"Fo...." Was all he managed to say before a golf club collided hard with the back of his head.
Hermione took advantage of the distraction and jumped out of the Death Eaters grasp, before spinning around and blasting him to the other side of the garden.
"Hole-in-one." announced Mr Granger with a satisfied smile, examining the dent in his makeshift weapon "Dam that was a good club."
"Head-in-one's probably more accurate." Grinned Tonks.
"Dad." Sighed Hermione in relief, running to embrace her father.
"I'm fine Hermione, I was knocked unconscious and your mother seems to have been hit with what fits your description of a Leg-locker curse." Looking around he saw all the unconscious and deceased bodies "It seems to have got a bit livelier since we were incapacitated."
"Just a bit." grinned Bill.
They were interrupted by the sounds of many people Apparating in.
"Out!" Cried Harry.
"No wait!" cried Bill but all too late as the cloaked strangers Disapparated before the Aurors had the chance to react.
No one noticed an injured Death Eater behind a garden wall reach into his robes and activate a portkey.
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Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 26h August 2001 AD
Country: England
Location: Unknown
Time: Early Afternoon
Somewhere in England a manlike creature sat in a large chair of a cold stone room as one of his servants moved before him; kissing both his feet he rose and awaited his master's command.
"Report." Hissed the figure.
"My Lord....all the attacks....they all...."
"Crucio." Cried the Lord pointing his wand at the man for being slow to respond.
The man was held under the curse for many minutes, lying on the ground he cried out in pain.
Finally the spell was released.
"Now report." Repeated the cloaked figure "Did Potter appear?"
"No My Lord, all the attacks failed." Reported the man, not making the same mistake twice.
"All?" hissed the Lord.
"Yes My Lord, the blood traitors were all at the house as well as the Auror Tonks they were able to capturing all your Death Eaters, the Lovegood's escaped before we could catch them, the Longbottom's were not at the house and the Mud-Blood was rescued by five cloaked figures, one wearing some strange sort of mask, only five of the Muggles on the street were killed."
The Lord sat still in his chair for over a minute saying nothing before letting some of the anger he was feeling dissipate by torturing the Death Eater in front of him.
Finally the Lord was bored with torturing the pathetic man and allowed him to stand again.
"Tell me of this masked figure."
"Yes My Lord, he wore a black cloak as well as dark metal armour on his arms and a strange half mask with no eyes holes. He was wielding a pair of swords and was casting wandless magic, he was very fast and wasn't hit by a single curse during the course of the battle, he was even able to survive being hit at point blank range by an Incendio, he had no problem when it came killing as he eliminated many of your followers with his swords without pause."
The lord thought for a moment before giving his servant his orders.
"You have done well Nott; continue to gather support for our cause."
The Death Eater bowed low before backing out of the room, relieved that his torture was over.
As soon as the door was closed a darkly dressed figure walked out of the shadows.
"Looks like we have a new player." Smiled James "And an interesting one at that."
"Indeed," hissed Voldemort "As expected all the attacks against wizards failed and while it is a shame that the Mudblood and most of the Muggles survived it has definitely been enlightening, it was worth loosing that many Death Eaters to make my point, I believe that Potter and the rest of the Wizarding population will have got the message, you do not oppose me without risk of retaliation."
"If I were you I would not be so confident that that is the message you just made, but time will tell"
"What do you make of this masked figure?"
"He is no one that I know of, but with only five of them they can hardly cause us much trouble, it will definitely be interesting to see how this plays out....This war is turning out to be most interesting....yes."
AUTHOR NOTE: All those of you who wanted Hermione dead....TOUGH
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 26h August 2001 AD
Country: England - Cotswold Hills
Location: Unknown
Time: Late Morning
Hermione waited for her chance.
"Avada Kedav...."
She ducked as the last syllable, praying that Death Eater would end up cursing one of his own.
She missed the sound of an object flying through the air and of spraying liquid as she dropped.
As she hit the floor she kicked out with her legs, praying that the Death Eater was close enough, her legs connected with the Death Eaters knees kicking his legs out from under him.
She spun around and threw herself at the falling Death Eater, tackling him backwards grabbing his wand hand as they landed, desperate to get her only weapon back.
But something was wrong, the Death Eater was silent, un-moving.
Hermione tilted her head up to look into the Death Eaters face.
When she looked past his neck she jumped back in shock, throwing herself off the Death Eater, only just resisting the urge to exclaim.
The Death Eaters body was lying on the floor where they had fallen....and a meter further down the hall was his separated head.
She leaned heavily against the wall, trying to suppress the urge to bring up her breakfast at the sight of the decapitated head and the sprayed blood covering the walls.
Hearing a thumps she spun around aiming her wand, forcing herself to focus on the danger rather than the horror scene behind her.
As she turned she saw not the Death Eaters that had been standing there but a man.
He was wearing a long black cloak and a mask, but unlike the Death Eaters his mask was not white, instead it was a dark grey ranging into black with silver highlights and no holes for the eyes, in addition to the half mask he wore armour on his wrists and arms and she thought she could see similar armour on his shins under his cloak.
Looking at the ground in front of them, all the Death Eaters that had been on that side of her were now lying unconscious on the hall carpet, one of them had a sword imbedded in his side, their blood stained the black robes and also (she noticed) her jeans and top.
"Are you alright?" asked the figure "Do not worry, I will not harm you."
"Who are you?" she asked fearfully, keeping her wand pointed at him.
"I'm....I'm a friend." Replied the figure after a moment's hesitation, before looking down at his hand.
Looking at his armoured hand she saw four wands gripped between his fingers. He held out the wands for her.
"Take these, you may need them."
Hermione slowly took the wands from his outstretched hand.
"Thanks." She replied uncertainly.
It was then that she became aware of the events outside of the hallway as the sounds of battle drifted through the front door.
"Excuse me." He bowed, picking up his sword before turning and running out of the door.
Hermione instantly ran after him, following him through the wreckage of the front wall.
Outside was one of the most extraordinary sights she had ever seen.
There must have been at least twenty black cloaked figures in the street, most were masked and engaged in battle with four cloaked figures and the masked hero who had just saved her, more Death Eaters had obviously arrived during the course of the battle as another five masked figures were lying unconscious or wounded on the ground.
Quickly muttering some binding spells at the fallen enemies she ran towards the Death Eaters the masked figure was fighting.
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Harry and the others had arrived just in time, while the others engaged the twenty or so Death Eaters in the front garden and street he charged straight at the two in the way of the door, with a couple of vicious slicing hexes to their stomachs they doubled over gripping their midsections.
Ignoring their cries he entered through what remained of the front wall.
As he passed through the hole he was in time to see Hermione standing, eyes closed, proudly awaiting her fate at the hands of four Death Eaters, or so it appeared, she had something up her sleeve.
Rage weld up inside of him, they dared to attack one of his friends; they dared to attack a person he considered a sister.
"Avada Kedav...."
The Death Eater never got the chance to finish the curse as his head flew of his shoulders as Harry's sword sailed through the air, decapitating him before impaling itself in the wall.
The other Death Eaters were stunned by the sudden movement of both the sword and the witch in front of them; they came back to their senses quickly and spun on him but all too slow to save themselves as rage fuelled Harry's movements.
Grabbing the head of the nearest Death Eater he slammed it hard into the wall, knocking him unconscious, blood pouring down his face, at the same time Harry extended his arm, casting a silent summoning charm.
The Death Eaters raised their wands as Harry's sword sailed between them into his waiting hand before being brought around in an arc to slash into the stomachs of the pair, causing them to double over like their friends at the door, not letting them hit the floor Harry grabbed their heads and crashed them together, knocking them both out, dropping one of the men he silently summoning their wands to his hand and froze.
The expression on Hermione's face terrified him, she had just seen what he had done to the Death Eater who was about to kill her, he watched as she covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stop herself being sick.
He had done that.... It pained him that something he had done could cause that reaction from anyone, especially not someone he considered to be a sister. He had to resist the urge to go over and comfort her; he now knew that he could not reveal his identity, even to Hermione, if she reacted that way to the body, how would she react if she knew it was him who had killed them?
Dropping the Death Eater in his left hand the body dropped to the floor with a thud, getting Hermione's attention.
She spun around aiming her wand.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice a little deeper than normal and more soothing., doing his best to assure her that everything was alright without actually comforting her "Do not worry, I will not harm you."
"Who are you?" she asked
Harry at to think about this one, what could he tell her.
"I'm....I'm a friend."
Trying to get off the subject as quickly as possible he handed the wands to her, picked up his sword and ran back towards the sounds of battle, knowing she would follow him.
Running into the fight he saw that several other Death Eaters had Apparated in.
They appeared to be outnumbered almost four-to-one.
Colette and Fleur were fighting side by side against seven opponents, one blocking and deflecting while the other threw curses, Viktor was engaged in a running battle with five others using his seeker skills to dodge the curses being thrown at him much to the annoyance of the Death Eaters, especially as he was firing some of the spells they were using back at them (one of the advantages of going to Durmstrang) , that left Adam dealing with the remaining eight who Harry could tell feared their cloaked opponent, while one hand was holding up a shield that was reflecting their curses back at them the other was throwing spells at them, making them dive out of the way.
Drawing both his swords he ran straight towards the group attacking the girls, turning his swords outwards and bringing them against his sides he ran straight through the Death Eater lines, his swords slicing into the sides of the opponents he ran between.
He did not stop to see the result of his attack and instead dodged through the exchanging curses and headed straight for a group of five who had just exited a nearby house and appeared to be trying to come up behind the girls.
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The Death Eaters could never have foreseen what was about to happen to them, this was supposed to be an easy job, one fifteen year old witch and a street full of Muggle's to kill, an excellent mission for the rookie group, they never expected to meet much opposition especially not a masked figure wielding swords.
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Harry's swords came around in an ark, cutting straight through the arm of one Death Eater and into the shoulder of another.
Replacing one of his swords he then started aiming is wand arm at his opponents, aiming weak blasting curses at them, hitting with just enough power to blast them unconscious.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Hermione running up beside him to take on the remaining two enemies.
He watched as Hermione cast a complicate arrangement of summoning and banishing spells to propel the knifes that littered her lawn at the enemy.
Taking advantage of the distraction he turned the ground below the Death Eaters feet into mud making them sink up to their waists.
Stunning them Harry then froze the mud to stop them sinking any further, he then moved towards the next six who were just emerging from houses further down the street, Hermione in hot pursuit.
Unfortunately this set saw them coming and fired long range curses at them.
Harry idly recalled something Moody had said about rudimentary wand safety before his fifth year.
Carefully aiming a cutting curse he fired, praying that it would hit its target.
A fraction of a second later it did as the spell sliced through the Death Eaters wand causing the magical core to explode, taking the Death Eaters hand with it.
It may not have been his buttocks but it still must have bloody hurt.
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Bill Weasley relaxed as the last Death Eater at the Burrow dropped to the ground.
Looking around he saw the twins and Ron busy binding the others and removing their wands.
Turning back to the house he could see Tonks and the rest of the family checking each other for injuries, some had cuts and the odd gash, the most serious being his father who had had the bones in his right arm shattered during the battle.
Reaching the door to the kitchen he headed for the sitting room to Floo Dumbledore about the attack, he only got as far as the kitchen table when he heard the sound of the klaxon alarms going off, running into the sitting room he saw several of the warning alarms attached to the wall blaring away, flashing red to indicate that other locations were under attack, he had helped Dumbledore install them at Hogwarts, Order Headquarters and the residences of several of the Order members to monitor several locations around Wizarding Britain, the sounds of battle must have been blanketing out the alarms.
Turning back to the kitchen he shouted "Get in here quick!"
There was the sound of pounding feet before most of the family members ran in.
"Hermione's!" cried Ron.
"Not just the Granger's," continued Charlie "The Lovegood's and Longbottom's as well."
"Quickly," shouted Molly resuming her role as Matriarch "Bill and Tonks head for the Grangers, Fred and George the Longbottom's, Ginny and Ron get to Order Headquarters and rally all the help you can get and contact Dumbledore, Arthur get to the Ministry and contact the Auror's if they are not already on their way while I and Charlie go to the Lovegood's"
There were nods of confirmation from the group.
"And remember that our fight started at least fifteen minutes ago so move as fast as you can, especially you two." She said pointing to Tonks and Bill "Hermione may be clever but she is still only one witch."
They jumped into action, most running out into the back garden to get beyond the Anti-Apparation wards, Bill briefly heard Ginny and Ron complaining that they weren't going to help Hermione before he went beyond hearing range.
"Ready Bill." Asked Tonks, drawing her wand.
"Whenever you are ready." He replied.
Giving her a short nod they both Disapparated.
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When the pair appeared the sight that greeted them couldn't have been further from what they expected.
The Dark Mark hung over the street, half the houses along the road had had their doors blasted in, on the pavement and front gardens of the houses were over a dozen unconscious Death Eaters in various states of health and lastly but certainly not least were the two groups of cloaked figures and Hermione duelling away at the centre of all the devastation.
"What in Merlin's name!" exclaimed Tonks.
"I haven't a clue." He replied, examining the scene, for a brief moment he thought he saw something familiar from the hand of one of the thinner cloaked figures but dismissed it just as quickly "But whoever they are they are doing better than we were, nine of us against fifteen DE's took us this long, but these five and Hermione against over twenty five DE's, and they appear to be winning, especially as all the people on the ground have Death Eater masks."
"Shall we help out or just watch the entertainment?" asked Tonks.
"Might as well assist, they probably don't need it but...."
"As much as I am sure you are enjoying the show," hollered Hermione angrily "Would it be too much trouble to ask you to assist?"
The pair exchanged a look.
"I think you have your answer." Said Bill before running straight into the fight.
Coming up on either side of Hermione the pair started reigning curses down on the group of Death Eaters in front of them.
"Wotcher Hermione, what's going on?" greeted Tonks.
"I thought that was blatantly obvious." She replied hotly "What took you so long; my parents and I had to hold them off on our own until this lot arrived."
Bill spared a glance at the cloaked figures; one was different as he was wearing a strange half mask, he also wielding a sword.
"And who are this lot?" he asked.
"I haven't a clue but they saved my life so I was saving questions until after the battle."
"Fair enough." Nodded Tonks.
"What took you so long?" demanded Hermione again hitting a Death Eater square in the face with a rather nasty hex while a knife impaled his left leg "You took ages to get here and I was expecting a bit more help."
"Sorry about that, the Burrow was attacked, everyone's alright, dad got hit in the arm but nothing more serious than that. It was only after we had defeated them that we heard the alarms going off, the homes of all the students who were at the DOM minus Harry are under attack, we split up and came to assist."
"You seem to have a lot more Death Eaters than we did and so far you are doing better than us too." Grinned Tonks.
"If you three would be so kind as to stop gossiping like a load of old women," Said the masked figure coming up beside them, throwing a blasting hex at the feet of the Death Eaters in front of them "We have a battle to win."
"Who are you anyway?" Demanded Tonks, not liking the figure for interrupting the conversation.
"That is for me to know," He replied drawing a second sword and diving between the Death Eaters, aiming low he again turned his blades outwards and extended his arms just enough to cut into one ankle of each Death Eater as he passed between them, causing them to buckle as their tendons were cut, spinning around he brought his swords up cutting neatly through the wands of each, causing them to explode taking the users fingers with them.
Quickly stunning the two Death Eaters he turned back to the three, the blood running down the now red and slightly burnt swords.
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"And for you not to." Replied Harry, watching amused as Bill, Tonks and Hermione stood their in shock at his speed and manoeuvrability.
Looking around he examined the area, there were no more Death Eaters, the others were busy binding the unconscious ones, casting minor healing charms on them to prevent them bleeding to death in the time it took the Aurors to arrive.
"That's the lot." called Fleur, her voice changed so it had a different sound to April's.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Nothing a quick healing spell wont heal." Replied Viktor, his voice also different.
"Good." Nodded Harry walking along beside Hermione's garden wall, examining the scene.
He watched as Hermione was checked over by Bill, breathing a sigh of relief that the battle was over she looked back towards the remains of her home, presumably worried about her parents and eager to go and see how they were. Her face rapidly changed from concern to worry.
"Look out!" she cried aiming her wand.
Turning around Harry raised his swords high, preparing to strike down whoever was left.
As he turned, time seemed to slow as he caught a glimpse of a Death Eaters with his wand raised before the air between them was filled with fire.
"No!" he heard Fleur cry.
Turning his face to the left he brought his arms across and down to protect his face, his swords crossed just as the flame hit him.
Harry never remembered quite what happened next but all he knew was a brief feeling of warmth then gasps of surprise. Opening his eyes he realised that he was still in one piece and not in fact a charred lump of roast homo-sapien.
Everyone stood still for several seconds, shocked by what they had just seen, not believing the evidence of their eyes, he should have been a smoking corpse.
The Death Eater who had been hiding behind the garden wall came back to himself first, re-aiming his wand he shouted.
"Accio Mud-Blood."
No one reacted fast enough as Hermione sailed through the air towards him, grabbing her wand he brought both to her throat.
"Let her go." Demanded Bill, aiming his wand, his movements mirrored by the others.
"I don't think so, lower your wands or she dies."
The threat hung for several seconds no one moving before Tonks slowly lowered her wand, followed equally slowly by everyone else.
Harry looked into Hermione's eyes, asking him for help, he was aware that she still had the other Death Eaters wands in her other hand, something her captor was not aware off, she needed a distraction.
The Death Eater laughed before turning to him.
"Any last words before I kill this piece of filth?"
Harry sent a glance over the Death Eaters shoulder.
"Yes, just one....Fore."
The Death Eater looked at him confused.
"Fo...." Was all he managed to say before a golf club collided hard with the back of his head.
Hermione took advantage of the distraction and jumped out of the Death Eaters grasp, before spinning around and blasting him to the other side of the garden.
"Hole-in-one." announced Mr Granger with a satisfied smile, examining the dent in his makeshift weapon "Dam that was a good club."
"Head-in-one's probably more accurate." Grinned Tonks.
"Dad." Sighed Hermione in relief, running to embrace her father.
"I'm fine Hermione, I was knocked unconscious and your mother seems to have been hit with what fits your description of a Leg-locker curse." Looking around he saw all the unconscious and deceased bodies "It seems to have got a bit livelier since we were incapacitated."
"Just a bit." grinned Bill.
They were interrupted by the sounds of many people Apparating in.
"Out!" Cried Harry.
"No wait!" cried Bill but all too late as the cloaked strangers Disapparated before the Aurors had the chance to react.
No one noticed an injured Death Eater behind a garden wall reach into his robes and activate a portkey.
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Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 26h August 2001 AD
Country: England
Location: Unknown
Time: Early Afternoon
Somewhere in England a manlike creature sat in a large chair of a cold stone room as one of his servants moved before him; kissing both his feet he rose and awaited his master's command.
"Report." Hissed the figure.
"My Lord....all the attacks....they all...."
"Crucio." Cried the Lord pointing his wand at the man for being slow to respond.
The man was held under the curse for many minutes, lying on the ground he cried out in pain.
Finally the spell was released.
"Now report." Repeated the cloaked figure "Did Potter appear?"
"No My Lord, all the attacks failed." Reported the man, not making the same mistake twice.
"All?" hissed the Lord.
"Yes My Lord, the blood traitors were all at the house as well as the Auror Tonks they were able to capturing all your Death Eaters, the Lovegood's escaped before we could catch them, the Longbottom's were not at the house and the Mud-Blood was rescued by five cloaked figures, one wearing some strange sort of mask, only five of the Muggles on the street were killed."
The Lord sat still in his chair for over a minute saying nothing before letting some of the anger he was feeling dissipate by torturing the Death Eater in front of him.
Finally the Lord was bored with torturing the pathetic man and allowed him to stand again.
"Tell me of this masked figure."
"Yes My Lord, he wore a black cloak as well as dark metal armour on his arms and a strange half mask with no eyes holes. He was wielding a pair of swords and was casting wandless magic, he was very fast and wasn't hit by a single curse during the course of the battle, he was even able to survive being hit at point blank range by an Incendio, he had no problem when it came killing as he eliminated many of your followers with his swords without pause."
The lord thought for a moment before giving his servant his orders.
"You have done well Nott; continue to gather support for our cause."
The Death Eater bowed low before backing out of the room, relieved that his torture was over.
As soon as the door was closed a darkly dressed figure walked out of the shadows.
"Looks like we have a new player." Smiled James "And an interesting one at that."
"Indeed," hissed Voldemort "As expected all the attacks against wizards failed and while it is a shame that the Mudblood and most of the Muggles survived it has definitely been enlightening, it was worth loosing that many Death Eaters to make my point, I believe that Potter and the rest of the Wizarding population will have got the message, you do not oppose me without risk of retaliation."
"If I were you I would not be so confident that that is the message you just made, but time will tell"
"What do you make of this masked figure?"
"He is no one that I know of, but with only five of them they can hardly cause us much trouble, it will definitely be interesting to see how this plays out....This war is turning out to be most interesting....yes."
AUTHOR NOTE: All those of you who wanted Hermione dead....TOUGH
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