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Chapter 67 - Demon On A Train

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 8th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - England
Location: Hogwarts Express
Time: Early Evening

On the Hogwarts Express on the way back to Hogwarts.

Most of the students were taking full advantage of the trip, showing off their new clothes or whatever else they

had bought in the Alley when they were supposed to be buying clothes.

Adam had declined to travel on the train and had opted to fly back as a falcon, he had said:

"It has been too long since I have flown over the British Countryside."

Dumbledore and the other professors were in a compartment near the front of the train while Buffy, Harry, Fleur,

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Colette, Neville and Luna were sitting in a compartment at the back, discussing Harry's new

found wealth much to Harry's annoyance.

"Can't we talk about something more interesting than my bank balance?" pleaded Harry, as the train experienced a

slight bump "Anything else will do. Skiing, chocolate, the fact that Luna and Ginny are both so good at the subject

that they are in the sixth years dueling class, anything."

"Ok then," replied Colette, with a grin that could rival anything the twins could have worn "Your manhood."

There were several speaks and coughs when she said this, not to mention a couple of laughs from Fleur and Luna.

Harry groaned and rolled his head back.

"Oh, I walked straight into that one."

"Yes you did," grinned Colette "But as we are on the subject Fleur, just how bi...."

"What is it?" asked Hermione as Colette trailed off, her expression one of thought.

"Is it just me or are we slowing down?"

The others turned to the windows on each side of the carriage and looked out at the side of the viaduct they were

travelling over.

"Yes we are," agreed Harry, reaching into his robe and withdrawing his wand, the others mirroring his movements as

he opened the compartment door and stepped out into the corridor. Further up the carriage Harry could see Tonks and

Remus emerge from the end carriage, their own wands in their hands.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"We've been disconnected from the engine." replied Tonks as other students started stepping out of their own

compartments "It's a good bet that the driver does not even know we have been left behind."

"Everyone draw you wands," ordered Dumbledore as he followed Remus and Tonks out of the end compartment "Be ready

for anything, Nymphadora, Fleur, Buffy and Harry watch the back of the train, Remus, Colette and myself will watch

the front, everyone else watch our sides, do NOT leave the carriage."

Just as the groups headed towards their respective guard posts the carriage under went an enormous jolt, sending

everyone to the floor.

Another jolt followed the first; except this one resulted in the back of the carriage being torn off of its wheels,

dropping the carriage directly onto the tracks, buckling the carriage so that the side were pushed out at the top,

ripping the ceiling and the back of the carriage open.

"Quickly!" called Dumbledore as everyone clambered to their feet.

Harry and Buffy were the first to reach the back of the train, jumping over the last section of broken flooring

where the walls had split open.

Ducking behind the remains of the carriages door, they looked through the cracked glass of the window at what ever

was attacking them.

Outside was a creature neither of them had ever seen before.

Crouched on the ground about five meters away from the remains of the door was a horrific creature, it looked

reptilian in nature, had a neck longer than that of a man with several horns pointing backwards off of its head. It

had bat like wings and a long thin tail with a single large curved spike on the end. It was wearing what appeared

to be metal armour over its torso, arms and legs, if they had had to guess they would have said that the armour was

actually a natural part of its body. In its chest armour were two slots holding daggers. It had talon like hands

and each talon was at least ten centimetres long.

"What on earth is it?" asked Harry.

"Why are you asking me?" asked Buffy.

"You know demons, I don't." replied Harry, aiming his wand at the creature as Fleur and Tonks came up beside them.

"Well I have never seen anything like that before." replied Buffy, drawing her own wand as she remembered that she

had one.

The creature snarled and bounded towards them talons and long fangs bared.

"Shoot it!!" called Buffy as she realised she didn't have a clue what to do with her wand to attack something like

that and if she tried to burn it she would probably incinerate them all.

Harry and the others fired curses through the gaps in the wall but the beasts effortlessly jumped sideways to avoid

the spells before lunging again.

"Back," he shouted pushing the girls away from the end of the carriage as the beast flattened the remains of the

door against the floor, trapping Harry underneath it.

"Arry!" cried Fleur as the creature began prowling over the door, making Harry grunt at the weight of the creature

and the door on top of him.

Buffy saw Tonks flick her wand in the direction of the first three compartments, making the doors slam shut,

protecting those inside. She saw Hermione, Ron and others she did not know trying to open the compartments to come

to their aid, but what ever the Auror had done to the doors had sealed them tight.

She saw a light appear to her side and turned towards it.

In Fleur's hand was a ball of fire illuminating the face of the angry mated Veela.

Jerking her hand forward she launched the ball of fire at the beast.

The creature reared up onto its back legs, causing the blast to impact harmlessly against its chest armour.

"Get Arry." called Fleur as she started launching more fireballs at the creature, changing the aim of her attack

each time to prevent the creature from dodging them all.

The creature was hit several times, burning the bits of reptilian skin that were not covered by the armour, this

only seemed to enrage the creature as it doubled back on itself and jumped out of the carriage and leapt upwards.

"It's on the roof." called Tonks to the rest of the carriage as Buffy and Fleur ran towards where Harry was forcing

the remains of the door off of his back. Helping him to his feet they saw that his back had several cuts in it

where the creature's claws had gone straight through the door.

"Arry, are you alright?"

"I've been better, but I've also been a lot worse." he grunted, shrugging out of their hands. Retrieving his wand

he unsealed the compartment doors.

Hermione and Ron ran straight to him.

"Harry, are you...."

"Yes, I'm fine, but...."

He stopped as a coldness swept over the carriage.

"Dementors." hissed Harry "Patronus charms, quic...."

He was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass.
________________________________________________________________________

Turning Buffy saw the beast flying towards Fleur and herself through the remains of one of the windows.

There was a huge thud as the pair were slammed into the floor, pinned as the creature towering over them, its claws

digging into their shoulders and its huge teeth bared mere inches from their faces.

Buffy saw Fleur raise her free hand to the creatures neck just above the metal armour and create a fireball

directly onto the beasts skin, making it howl with rage.

Managing to reach down Buffy was able to grab the thin knife out of her right boot and plunge it into the

creature's neck making it rear back in pain.

The wound should have killed it, as should the various spells that had been pounding into the creatures' side.

She didn't get the chance to strike again as the creature was rammed from the side by something with hooves and

antlers, throwing it off them.

Spinning to her feet she turned to see the stag get grabbed around the neck by the creature and dragging to the

floor, plunging its teeth into the deer's soft flesh.

"Where did Bambi come from?" she asked as Fleur got to her feet beside her, her silhouette illuminated by the

rapidly disappearing sun and the bright white light of the silver animals that the students and teachers were

casting around the carriage, warding off whatever the ‘Dementors' were.

"It's Arry." explained Fleur anxiously as she tried to aim a spell at the creature without risk of hitting her

mate, an impossible challenge as the pair were rolling and scrapping across the floor and the walls.

Tooth and antler, hoof and claw, they struggled, smashing through the door of a compartment and rolling inside.

Running to the door Buffy, Fleur, Tonks, Hermione and Ron watched as Neville and the other students in that

compartment had to jump onto their seats to get out of the way of the animals that were battling in front of them.

Harry was badly injured, he had deep puncture marks in his neck and many more minor injuries along the length of

his body, if it had not been for his large antlers getting in the beasts way he would almost certainly be dead

already.

Hermione fired a powerful stunning spell at the creature, thinking it would not hurt Harry if she missed, but the

creature moved at just the wrong moment that put one of its bits of armour in the spells path, reflecting the

stunner back towards the compartment door, knocking Ron unconscious.

Spinning on its attackers the creature looked over its shoulder before sweeping its long tail in their direction,

throwing the four of them backwards into the other wall of the carriage.

Buffy heard a cry of pain as they attempted to get back to their feet. Turning Buffy saw that Fleur's working hand

was pressed tightly against a large red stain on her dress where the creatures' tail spike had impaled her, leaving

a large wound on her side.

Tonks immediately moved to the French woman's side and began casting charms on her.

"Save....Arry...." gasped Fleur before she was rendered unconscious.

Turning back to the compartment they were just in time to see the beast with Harry's neck gripped between his

teeth, jump out through the window.

"Harry!" she shouted as she and the others ran to the window in time to see the beast jump up onto the viaducts

wall.

Buffy raised her wand towards the creature.

"No, don't." warned Neville "You might hit Harry."

They never got the chance to say more as they saw Harry kick out, his hind leg smashing straight into the leg of

the beast.

The creature fell, its body dropping, over the edge of the viaduct, its claws digging deeply into the stonework to

prevent itself from falling.

Buffy and the others watched horrified as Harry weakly tried to pull his blood stained neck out of the slipping

creature's jaws.

There was a crack as the stone beneath the pair gave way, falling into the deep valley forest below.

"Harry!!" cried Hermione as the pair dropped out of sight. Hermione, Neville and Buffy jumped out through the

shattered window, completely ignoring the compartment door as they ran to the broken wall.

Buffy couldn't believe it, he couldn't be dead, he couldn't be, not after all he had done and got away with over

the years.

She was barely aware of the chill around her intensifying before Neville cast another silver creature towards a

black shape approaching them.

"We need to get back inside!" called Neville giving Buffy and Hermione a tug as he tried to cast more charms,

exhaustion clearly evident on his face from the repeated casting.

Coming back to herself she helped Neville pull a crying Hermione back into the carriage. Just as they slammed the

door shut they heard a scratching sound of metal on stone before a clawed talon reached up on top of the wall.

"Why won't this thing die." she exclaimed, turning her dagger around to hold it by the blade before throwing it at

the beast.

The creature launched itself up and over the wall, the blade tearing through the wing it had just extended, sending

it crashing into the side of the carriage, the students in the compartment it collided with jumping backwards as

the glass cracked where it impacted.

Shaking itself as it regained its feet, the creature stood back away from the carriage and jumped in through the

cracked window, showering the students inside with shards of glass.

"Quickly!" she called heading into the carriage and down towards the invaded compartment.

"We will handle this." came Dumbledore's voice as he and Remus emerged from the end of the train "Stop the

Dementors, Colette can't hold them for long."

Nodding the groups moved past each other as the trio headed for the front of the train.

As they opened the door of the train Buffy saw three cloaked shapes hanging inches from the unconscious and very

white face of Colette, it looked like they were about to try to kiss her.

With a yell and a grunt Buffy launched herself at the creatures, kicking two away and tackling the third, her very

blood seeming to freeze as she made contact, all her worst memories rising to the surface of her mind as the pair

rolled off the end of the carriage and landed hard on the loose stones below.

Buffy grunted in pain before kicking the thing off her and jumping back onto the end of the carriage, trying to

overcome the chill that surrounded the creature.

She felt instantly better as she moved away and got into a fighting stance. As she prepared to defend herself the

other two creatures and an additional five began to float down and around the carriage towards them.

Throwing one of her spare knives at the nearest, the blade imbedded up to the hilt, not even phasing the creature.

"How do we get rid of these things?" she asked, drawing another knife.

Hermione and Neville both shouted out a spell in Latin, thrusting their fury at what had happened to Harry into

their spells, producing the same white animals that she had seen from the other students.

Charging the creature, the spells knocked them away from them, Hermione did not give them a chance to recover as

their spells circled back around for another attack, aiming her wand she muttered another spell, the tip of her

wand instantly became a flame thrower as the air in front of them was filled with fire.

Screeches could be heard from the other side of the wall of flame.

As the flame stopped the three saw the....‘Dementors', she thought they were called, flailing around trying to put

themselves out, but more of the creatures were rising up the sides of the bridge, to replace their injured

comrades.

Amongst the sea of black heading their way Buffy thought she saw something silhouetted against the moon.

"What is that?" she asked in between the others curses.

The students glanced quickly up at the moon; in front of it seemed to be some sort of snake flying through the

sky....and getting bigger.

They didn't have time to ponder this as a growl emanated from behind them. Turning they saw that the corridor was

full of Dementors, the beast itself was in front of them, crouched low on the ground. Many cuts and burns adorned

its skin and its wings had been shredded, but it was still fighting.

The creature growled and rose up on its hind legs. Standing a good six and a half feet tall, it balanced itself

with its tail while withdrawing both knives from their sheaves, holding them menacingly in front of them.

Further down the corridor they could see Tonks, Dumbledore and many of the others pinned down by the endless stream

of Dementors. Fleur and several students were lying on the floor shaking but the Dementors seemed to be ignoring

them, focusing most of their attention on the Professors and DA members.

The beast growled some sort of language, making the Dementors in front of the three stop. Realising the Dementors

were not going to attack they turned their full attention to the beast, aiming their weapons at it.

They never got the chance to fire as a screech from the Dementors behind them drew everyone and everything's

attention.

Turning to the sound they had to dive to the side as something very long thrust itself through the space they had

previously been occupying. Everyone was knocked to the floor as the thing bashed its way down the corridor,

breaking all the windows and smashing the walls as it went.

By the time Buffy and the other Hogwarts occupants managed to regain their feet all but a couple of Dementors, who

were also regaining their feet (if they have them) were now gone from the carriage.

With a running kick Buffy knocked both the remaining Dementors out through the broken remains of the windows before

the students spells drove them away, leaving the students and teachers to move towards the sounds of a fight

outside the train.

Looking out of the back of the carriage they could see the new creature, what ever it was, in a stand off with

Harry's murderer.

The creature was long and thin, between thirty and forty feet in length, though at the shoulder it was only around

five foot tall, with a long already badly injured neck that was holding the head two feet higher than the body's

maximum height. Its tail made up over half of the creatures length and was held curved backwards, ready to strike

should the beast get too close. The head of the new creature was long, pointed and appeared mammalian; it was

covered in the same light blue fur that covered the rest of the body, except for its spine which like its large

fluffy tail and a few smooth tufts on the creature's chest and knees was covered in longer dark fur. Two extremely

long whiskers extended from the creatures muzzle and seemed to float beside its body either by the slight wind or

some unknown magic. A vicious set of teeth were bared in its mouth and two large thick horns extended out the back

of its head, making for a most impressive sight as the two creatures circled each other with the Dementors

surrounding them, keeping their distance from the creature, not sure what it was or what its abilities were.

"What on Earth is that?" asked Buffy.

"I haven't a clue." Replied Neville "It's nothing I have ever heard of. It's not one of those demons you were

talking about is it?"

"Not one that I know," replied Buffy "And it's a bit too furry to be a pure demon."

"Whatever it is," said Dumbledore, coming up beside them "It's creating a distraction. Let's take advantage of it.

Revive and heal everyone you can while I get this carriage mobile." he commanded jumping down from the back of the

carriage and aiming his wand at the rear set of wheels further down the track.

The rest of the students and teachers began doing as commanded except Hermione who stood watching the face off,

wanting to see the new creature (which she decided would best be described as a Chinese Dragon) inflict pain on the

thing that had murdered her best friend.

With a snarl the beast lunged, throwing itself towards the dragon, extending its wings so as to plunge the claws on

the leading edge into the creature's skin.

The dragon swung its tail, colliding hard enough to break bones and sending the beast tumbling to the ground.

Jumping at the beast the dragon grabbed the its neck with its large jaws before curling its tube like body around

it like a snake. Now the beast's legs were pinned to its sides, but unfortunately its tail was not.

The beast threw its tail forward, plunging the long spike on the end into the already injured neck of the dragon.

Releasing the beast's neck the dragon howled out in pain, giving the beast a chance to bite into one of the coils

surrounding it. Fortunately it never got a chance to do more damage as the infuriated dragon clamped its larger

head around that of the beast and gave a sharp jerk.

A loud crack emanated from the beast's neck as it was snapped by the dragon's immense strength.

Uncurling itself the dragon turned to the surrounding Dementors and roared. Whilst it was not as deep as the roar

of a normal dragon, the Dementors got the message and turned tail and fled.

Waiting a few seconds the creature let its body drop to the floor, breathing heavily.

Hermione jumped down from the carriage to help the creature but never got the chance as the dragon shrunk into the

form of her masked saviour, blood covering his neck.

"You!" she asked going to his side as he heaved himself to his feet.

"I'm fine," he answered pain evident on his face "But your friend Mr Potter needs your help, he's badly hurt."

"Harry!" she exclaimed in surprise "He's alive!"

"Yes," he nodded before something occurred to him, aiming his arm at the sky he called out "Tutis!"

A ghostly shape of the dragon he had just been formed in the sky, the same way the dark mark did when it was cast,

the dragon roared and let out a jet of flame before returning to hover in the air.

She never even had a chance to say anything further as the masked man vanished into thin air without so much as a

sound.

After a few moments of shock she came back to her senses.

"Harry!" she called before turning and running towards the broken section of wall.
________________________________________________________________________

Appearing at the bottom of the valley near the remains of one of his antlers, Harry removed his ring and turned it

around as he dropped to the floor in pain, the temporary blood clotting charm he had cast on his neck wearing off

as he hit the ground, letting his blood begin to flood out of his body.

The last thing he remembered as his vision began to fade was the image of Hermione's head appearing over the side

of the viaduct high above him as blackness closed in.