Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Once they were outside the castle doors, Potter immediately ran down the drive in the direction of the gate.

"Potter!" called Lucius.

"What?" Harry asked angrily.

"The attack is coming from the lake, not the gate. Pay attention. Now don't get ahead of us."

"I don't have to listen to you," Harry insisted.

"If you want to stay alive, you will," growled Lucius. He knew the enemy, better than anyone else. "Whatever else you do, stay near us. We can protect you, keep you alive. The Dark Lord would like nothing more than to single you out and make you an easy target. Do you understand?"

Harry was about to open his mouth to continue the argument when Hermione interrupted. "Harry. This is serious. This is a large attack. Combined, our magic is stronger than it is apart. Stay with us."

They hurried toward the lake, not wanting to get too close, but wanting to form some sort of protective shield between the invaders and the castle.

"We should go help them," insisted Harry once they could see the Order members at the lack were outnumbered.

"Our purpose is to protect the castle," replied Hermione.

"He will come to us. He wants what is in the castle. They will be here soon enough. Patience. I did not think you were that eager to die," added Lucius.

"I'm not going to die."

"Then you have some skill in the Seeing arts that none of us have." Lucius spared a look for Hermione, hoping it would not be his last, but he knew that once the battle raged in earnest around him, he would have no time to spare for her.

"What do we do when they get here?" asked Ernie.

"We'll know what to do," replied Luna in her ethereal voice.

Since those guarding the castle had not expected an attack from the direction of the lake, they were quickly defeated and the Death Eaters made their way toward the castle. The four Protectors stood in a wedge, with Lucius at the lead, Hermione to his right, and Ernie and Luna to his left. Harry was standing behind them, grumbling about not being allowed to go out and join the fight.

Standing in the front of the wedge, Lucius became the focus for the powers bestowed by the founders. The first wave of attackers was knocked back.

"Blimey!" Harry exclaimed from behind them. "They don't stand a chance.

Everyone was concentrating on the attackers coming from the lake, and they were quite surprised when Ernie fell.

Harry was the first one to react and spun back toward the castle. He saw several of the sixth year Slytherins crouched beside the main door, trying to take out more of the Protectors. "They're behind us!"

Hermione turned to focus on the threat to the rear. "There are too many. We're too exposed here."

"Where are the professors?" asked Harry as he tried to duck for cover amongst the rocks.

"Lucius, you need to get down," insisted Hermione.

"I can only affect those I can see."

"We need to move back to the castle. Something's wrong if McGonagall isn't out here yet," Hermione shouted over the din of spells being hurled from all sides. "We won't last long out here without reinforcements."

"If we move back to the castle, it will make it easier for them to get inside. We have to keep them outside," replied Lucius.

"They already have some inside. The older Slytherins are declaring their allegiance to Voldemort."

Lucius swore quietly and backed toward the castle.

"The door is sealed," said Luna.

"I'm going to open it," declared Harry before running toward the castle, catching the Slytherins off guard.

"Harry, NO!" shouted Hermione, but it was too late.

Lucius could feel her moving further away from the group. "Hermione, you have to stay close by." She wasn't listening to him and he could feel the power diminish as she moved out of range. He knew that he and Luna would not be able to hold back the frontal attack much longer. The spells the Death Eaters were casting were taking their toll. He could feel the shield slipping away, but before he lost his grip, he saw spells flying at the Death Eaters from his right. Reinforcements had arrived and had finally made their way from the main gate.

"Where's Ernie?" Hermione asked after they regrouped. She and Harry had removed the charm from the door and the young Slytherins had fled, unwilling to take on the two of them.

"He fell over there," said Luna as she pointed down the hill.

"Was he still alive?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know. I only saw him fall."

"We need to recover him and see if we can revive him," said Lucius. "Potter, you and Luna will go retrieve him. Hermione and I will cover you." He saw that Potter was about to argue. "Go! While we have the opportunity."

Potter and Luna quickly returned with Ernie. Lucius conducted a cursory examination. "He needs medical attention, but he will survived for the time being. We will have to leave him here."

"We should get him to the Hospital Wing."

"There isn't time and being in the castle could be more dangerous than being outside. Haven't you heard the sound of spells crashing against the walls? If we cannot stop the Death Eaters, it is only a matter of time before they start coming down." He looked around the grounds. "They have changed their plan of attack, we need to move." He could see Potter looking into the distance. "Potter! With us."

"He's over there. I can feel him."

"As wonderful as that is, you cannot single-handedly battle through his supporters. The time will come."

With only three Protectors remaining, they were not able to deflect spells as well. It seemed as though Lucius could feel every hit against the castle, and it spurred him on to work harder to protect the castle.

When there was another break in the action, he looked around. "Where's Potter?"

Hermione looked around. "He was right here. Luna?"

"I saw something moving that direction, but I didn't have time to notice what it was."

They all three ducked as an explosion rocked the castle behind them. Lucius looked up and could see the Astronomy tower wobbling dangerously. "Run!" he ordered as he shoved Hermione in front of him. While he could run faster than her, he ensured he kept her before him.

As the cloud of dust engulfed them, they were attacked. Unable to form a link, they each threw spells randomly at their attackers. Lucius made sure he kept track of Hermione, not wanting to lose her in the confusion. He saw a witch aiming a spell at her and shoved her to the side. The spell grazed his left shoulder, but he thought he saw his Stunner hit the witch before he fell.

Hermione crawled to his side. "Are you okay?"

He couldn't feel his left arm, but that was a small price to pay for her safety. Not wanting her to worry, he replied, "I'll be fine. You?" He could see she was covered in scratches.

"Nothing major."

"We need to move. Potter must be found before he gets himself killed."

"Where's Luna?" Hermione asked.

Glancing around, he didn't see her. "I don't know, but we don't have time to look for her now." He wasn't sure how much time had passed since the battle had begun, but he noticed that there seemed to be more bodies on the ground than standing.

Figuring that Potter would be in the middle of the action, they headed in that direction. Lucius felt a twinge of guilt about leaving the castle vulnerable, even though he knew that finding Potter was a necessity.

As they moved closer to the center of the fighting, they could see Potter, Ginny, Ron and Tonks trying to battle their way closer to the center.

"We have to stop him," Lucius said.

"How?"

He wanted to grab Hermione with his left arm, but found it still wasn't working. "Come on," he started rushing toward Potter, leaving her to follow. When he was close enough, he launched a Leg-Locker Curse at the young man.

Harry looked about wildly ready to destroy his attacker.

"Harry! Why did you run off?" demanded Hermione.

"I don't have time to wait," he growled. "The longer I wait, the more people will die, and I won't let that happen. Now, RELEASE ME!"

Lucius glared at Potter. "You will remain with us. Hermione and I can provide you protection that the others cannot. Do you understand?"

"And if I don't?" Harry asked defiantly.

"We can Levitate you to keep you close," Lucius replied with a wry grin.

As the ragtag group moved closer to the center of the battle, which was occurring at the rear of the castle, Hermione looked around nervously when they passed the wreckage of the greenhouses. She forced the grief for the loss out of her mind when she saw a foot sticking from the rubble. There would be time later to look for survivors.

"What are they doing back here?" asked Hermione.

"They have obviously decided not to enter the castle through the front door. That was a diversion to draw Order and Ministry personnel away from their true point of attack."

She felt she should have thought of that.

"I'm not letting him get in the castle," growled Harry.

"We don't want that either, but we must not be reckless," replied Lucius. He addressed the others. "Stay close so we can protect you."

Hermione's head was on a swivel, the adrenaline rush suppressing her fear. Even though the fighting waged around them, they seemed to have found a clear path.

"There he is!" Harry shouted out.

"You must wait. We have to get past the others," retorted Lucius.

Hermione surveyed the battlefield. "This way. We can approach from the side, and hopefully, they won't see us coming right away." She knew that Lucius' white-blonde hair would attract attention. So far that had not encountered any high level Death Eaters, but she knew that if they did, Lucius would be a target.

Harry and Ron kept trying to run ahead. Lucius had apparently given up on hexing Harry, and the group was moving a light jog to make their approach. She nearly tripped over a rock and fell a little behind everyone. Looking around to make sure it was due to her carelessness and not due to being on the receiving end of an attack, she saw motion out of the corner of her eye.

Peering into the darkness, she could see a group of the younger students being herded toward the forest by an adult. Wanting to make sure the children weren't in danger, she tried to identify their steward and recognized Remus. She was relieved to see that they were in good hands.

As her gaze returned to her companions, she could see a group of Death Eaters closing in on Remus and the students, and she knew that he wasn't aware of their approach. She started running toward them to intercept the enemy, but she realized she would not arrive in time and yelled out a warning. At the same instant, a wall of fire erupted from the ground between the two groups.

Searching the field, she tried to see who had cast the spell, but before she could locate the students' savior, she saw the Death Eaters thrown several yards through the air. The ferocity of the attack left her frozen. She no longer had a reason to run to Remus' aid, and she could see him leading the students away from the fighting.

Snape growled, "What are you doing? The two of you need to protect Potter. That is your only goal. I'll worry about them."

After the briefest pause, she ran back toward her companions. Lucius was running toward her. She noticed that he grabbed her with his right arm, and that he didn't seem to be able to use his left arm. "Your arm?"

"It doesn't matter. I can still use my wand. Come on, before he gets too far ahead of us." He gave her a quick embrace. "Please, don't do that again."

The two of them ran to catch up to the others, who were engaged in a skirmish with a half dozen Death Eaters. Hermione noticed that Ginny was lying on the ground, but there was nothing they could for her at the moment. Their arrival caught the Death Eaters by surprise, and the tide was quickly turned, though it did draw the wrong sort of attention.

From their right a bolt of green light flew into their midst and struck Ron. Lucius sent a retaliatory spell that direction.

"You'll have to do better than that, brother," shouted a derisive female voice.

By now the survivors had ducked for cover. "So will you, Bella," he retorted.

Hermione could feel the tightness in her chest. She knew that Voldemort would keep his closest and most powerful supporters closest, and the fact that Bellatrix was there meant that the others were likely nearby. They had to act quickly to get past them and to Voldemort before he realized what was happening.

Looking over the rock that Bellatrix was crouched behind, she could see that Bellatrix had also chosen a defensive position. Hoping to flush her into the open, Hermione cast a spell that caused the rock to explode in a ball of fire. She could hear Bellatrix shriek and couldn't suppress the grin.

Harry used this diversion to rush toward the Bellatrix screaming, "Murderer! You'll pay for killing Ron!"

Hermione, Lucius and Tonks were left to follow.

Drawing from his anger, Harry cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix.

"Harry, no!" shouted Hermione once she realized what Harry was doing. "Not an Unforgivable."

"It's what she deserves," Harry growled.

Lucius struck Bellatrix with a Stunner. "We don't have time. She will get her just reward in the end."

The group moved towards Voldemort. Looking at Harry, Hermione could tell that he was now focused solely on the goal that had been set forth for him that fateful night his parents were killed. She didn't watch him long, wanting to keep an eye on their surroundings, looking for further attacks. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blue spell hit Tonks and was able to retaliate against Tonks' attacker.

Before she could do anything else, she was frozen. "Lucius! Can you move?" Please don't let him have been trapped, too, she pleaded.

"No."

"What spell is it, Malfoy?" demanded Harry.

Hermione was dismayed that they had all three been so easily captured.

"Yes, Lucius, tell them what spell it is," chided a softly sibilant voice.

Lucius made a hissing noise in response, and Hermione wished she could see what was happening.

"You who professed to be my most loyal follower are now my greatest failure. It is for the best that your line will end tonight. And you have brought the lovely little Mudblood. After you have watched her die, I will have to find out how you kept her alive. But I think Potter will have to be first. I won't take chances this time."

"Riddle!" shouted a voice from the far side of the clearing.

As she strained to turn and see who was calling Voldemort by his given name, she suddenly found herself released from her invisible prison.

"Severus!" Voldemort hissed.

After that, everything moved too fast for Hermione to comprehend. Voldemort raised his wand to attack Snape, Lucius was running to Snape's side, and Harry was preparing to cast a spell on Voldemort. In this moment of indecision, she was frozen, a witness to the horror unfolding before her.

Lucius was hit by a spell from Voldemort, and she added her hex to ones from Harry and Snape. Voldemort spun on Harry, recognizing the young man as the greatest threat. She wanted to ensure that Lucius wasn't seriously injured, but the battle between Harry and Voldemort had her transfixed.

She watched the spells fly back and forth between the two men, neither seeming to gain the upper hand. The battle raged on, and she thought she could hear the distant cry of a phoenix growing stronger as spell after spell was cast. Harry and Voldemort were focused solely on each other. If there were any surviving Death Eaters in the area, they were as transfixed as she was.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "We need to move away from here," said Snape quietly.

"But Harry," she protested.

"He is doing what he is meant to do. We cannot help him." Snape gently pulled on her arm.

When she turned away, she saw that Snape had an unconscious Lucius Levitated. "Lucius?"

"He is alive. I will examine him more closely once we are someplace more secure." He hurried her from the duel toward the castle.

Once they were nearly at the castle, they heard a tremendous explosion coming from the direction the battle had been raging. Hermione turned to run back to where Harry was.

Snape grabbed her arm. "It's over."

"What do you mean?"

"Potter has done his job. Voldemort is dead."

"And Harry?"

"Choose who you want to help, Lucius or Potter."

"What do you mean, 'choose'?" she asked cautiously.

"I cannot reverse the spell that Lucius took on my own. If you go to check on Potter, who may not even be alive, Lucius will surely die."

She knew she had one choice and followed Snape.

A/N: First and foremost, I'd like to thank everyone for being patient with me. This chapter was very hard for me to write. When I set out on this story, I never imagined that I would be writing the final battle scene.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this story, and once it is complete, I will begin in earnest on "The Price of Glory" sequel to "To Regain Glory".