48

Ron, Hermione and Neville had a plan. They would not sit around Hogwarts whilst their best friend fought Merlin-knows-what- they were Gryffindors, goddammit! They had spent exactly two minutes in their common room before sneaking out, dragging Blaise along with them, and heading for the headmaster's had only made it to the gargoyle however, where they had hit a snag in their plan.

"You don't know the password, do you?" Blaise asked. He had not had any part in the making of the plan, nor did he really agree with the necessity of it. Sure, he wanted to go along- his best friend was there as well as Harry, and Blaise wanted nothing more than for them both to be safe. He just wasn't sure how four fourth year's help would make any difference. None of them had Harry's skill in defence, nor did they have a cool godfather who taught them hexes over the holidays. If anybody needed a potion made, or a plant grown, or a book read, or to play some chess then sure, they were the ones to turn to. But fighting Death Eaters? Blaise honestly didn't see what help they could offer. But he had tagged along anyway, in the hopes that he could discourage them. So far, he had had no luck.

"Harry said that it's normally sweets," Hermione huffed, "We'll just have to try and guess it."

"Sugar quills?"

"Acid pops?"

"Sherbet lemo-"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a dreamy voice from behind the group spoke up, interrupting their guessing. They all turned to find Luna Lovegood blinking up at them.

"Why not?" Ron snapped. He was beginning to get anxious, scared that the adults would leave before they could get there.

"You can't fight the death eaters, silly. You don't know enough, and even if you did, it isn't all about book-learning. You'd need experience in the field to be truly helpful. That's the problem with you Gryffindors, you never seem to realise your own limitations. I've long suspected that there's an infestation of nargles in your dormitories." The four of them stared at her for a minute, unable to tell if she was making sense or talking rubbish. Luna stared back for a little while before turning on her heel and skipping away down the corridor.

"She's right, you know," Sirius said, stepping out from behind the gargoyle which had slid open when everyone's attention had been otherwise occupied with Luna.

"We can fight!" Ron exclaimed, Neville and Hermione nodding in agreement next t him. Blaise wisely kept silent.

"I'm not saying that you can't,although she was right that you've got no fucking chance against death eaters. If it's even death eaters that've taken Harry, could have just been Lucy by himself for all we know. But anyway, I'm saying that you shouldn't.Fuck, me and James and Lily and Remus didn't get dragged into the war until we were at least of age. That's the way it bloody should be. Unfortunately, Harry doesn't have that choice, but you lot do. Be kids for a bit longer, for fuck's sake. Besides, Harry'd never forgive himself if any of you lot got killed trying to save him. So just fucking leave it, okay?"

Ron had turned bright red in the face and Hermione, sensing an imminent explosion, decided to intervene.

"But we can still help," she argued, "We don't have to fight. We can rescue Harry while you distract whoever took him!" Before Sirius could reply, there was a pop and Dobby appeared next to him.

"We is waiting for you, Master Padfoot," he squeaked urgently.

"Wait, Dobby gets to go and we don't?" Neville asked.

"Dobby's 58 years old and can beat Lucius Malfoy in a fight," Sirius snapped bluntly, "You lot are 14 and couldn't take fucking Lockhart in a duel!" The four students recoiled slightly at the harsh words, but watched silently as Sirius and Dobby disappeared back up the winding staircase.

Sirius and the rescue crew found chaos when they apparated into Riddle Mansion. They were squashed into an already crowded room, full of figures in black cloaks with white masks on. Everybody looked around warily, waiting for somebody to make the first move. Then there was a scream from the back of the group; it sounded like Fleur but Sirius couldn't be sure. All he knew was that when he turned to look, he caught a glimpse of Voldemort standing over a broken body with a mop of black hair.

"Harry!" he screamed, trying to fight his way through the crowd to his godson. It was at that minute however that the first of the spells began flying and he was forced to duck and shield when a green spell shot in his direction. A cloaked figure was descending on him quickly and Sirius, unwilling to stay in such a defensive position, tore down his own shield and threw himself at the figure, pummeling his fist into the man's face. The white mask crumpled under a few blows, shards of it sticking into the man's face but most of it falling away to reveal Lucius Malfoy.

"You!" Sirius snarled, remembering what Hermione and Blaise had told them. He had to die if they wanted Draco back. And, Merlin help him, Sirius found that he reallywanted Draco back. With a battle cry that was lost in the din of the fight, Sirius thrust his wand forward, wordlessly transfiguring it into metal. Lucius, though only half conscious, managed to dodge his head sideways, avoiding the fatal blow. A banishing charm later, and Sirius was forced off of Lucius. The two men circled each other, ignoring the rest of the battle, before throwing themselves forwards, each determined to fight to the death.

Cedric had no idea what was happening. He understood why he and the other champions had been asked along; they were clearly the most skilled of their schools and the adults had needed a few extra hands in case the worst was to happen. Well, Cedric could say with certainty, the worst was happening, but he wasn't sure what help he was being. It was one thing to be good in defence class, it was a whole other story actually being in battle.

He hadn't expected it to be so confusing. He had thought that the opponent would be easy to see but they weren't. There were spells flying everywhere, figures running through the crowd, tripping over the ones lying on the ground. Most of the death eaters had lost their white masks, so it took a second to recognise the person you were shooting a spell at as friend or foe. Early on, Cedric had thought that the man in front of him was Viktor, only to find out that it was a death eater. The second of hesitation had cost him a broken arm, though it could have been much more had Fleur not intervened.

"'Elp me with ze wounded!" she yelled in his ear as she pulled him up and Cedric nodded dumbly. And that was what he had been doing ever since- dragging the wounded to the edges of the room, away from the main battle, and trying to help them as best he could. He put shields up around them, though one good spell was enough to crumble them.

He wasn't cut out for battle, but this was something he seemed to be good at. With a deep breath, Cedric abandoned his charges, ignored his own injuries and ran back into the battle, having seen Professor McGonagall fall.

When Harry awoke, it was to pain and noise. At first he thought he was back at Grimmauld Place, back to hangovers and Sirius being obnoxiously loud in the morning. He soon found out that he wasn't, however, when he opened his eyes and saw Voldemort standing over him, engaged in a battle with somebody out of Harry's line of sight. Harry groaned and felt around him for his wand, the memories already beginning to flood back into his brain. He couldn't believe he had been stupid enough to fight Voldemort by himself. He had been crucioed to the point of passing out, and even then Harry was sure that the spells hadn't stopped.

Unnoticed by those around him, he crawled away from Voldemort and began making his way to the edge of the room. Those fighting around him mostly ignored him, though a few deathe aters recognised him and sent spells his way. He was able to shield them, but only just. His strength was waning, and he was losing too much blood. He was sure that his right leg was broken and from the pain in his abdomen there were surely a few cracked ribs there as well. At length, he found himself up against a wall.

As he lay there bleeding he watched his friends fall in the battle playing out before him. He saw Remus locked in a struggle with Fenrir Greyback, he saw Sirius with a metal stick dripping blood trying to fight off three death eaters at once, he saw Cedric limping out of the battle, dragging Professor Snape who was bleeding from the neck, he saw the headmaster beginning to lose the upper foot in his battle against the dark lord. And then he saw Draco, with half of his face mangled and cut to ribbons, dueling furiously with Wormtail.

And suddenly he had a renewed strength. He found a chunk of brick on the floor from one of the walls that had been destroyed and managed to transfigure it into a replica of the sword he had forced Sirius to buy him over the holidays. With great effort, he dragged himself into a standing position, testing his right leg to see if it could hold any weight. Determination scrawled all over his face, he limped back into the battle, the fighters parting before him and leaving his path to Voldemort clear. Albus, on the other side of the dark lord, widened his eyes in shock as he saw what Harry intended to do and redoubled his efforts in the duel, successfully distracting Voldemort.

With a great cry of pain, Harry brought his arm up, impaling Tom Riddle's head with his sword. There was a great scream and a wind blew up in the room, causing all other battles to pause as they watched the newly ressurected dark lord be destroyed once more.

And then Harry fainted.