Grace Jordan & Lee Jordan v. Mitzi Abbott & Isobel MacDougal
Isobel held onto Mitzi’s hand, as she ran through the rubble, dodging various stray spells. A crack on her specs sent her vision in a tiny spiral, but she would be fine. She insisted that she be fine. And she would damn well be fine.
Her eyes caught sight of two rabble rousers, however, and her first instinct was to throw a Gouging Spell at them, aimed at the woman in particular. “Defodio!” Isobel shouted, before throwing up a Shield Charm.
As soon as the fighting broke out again, Grace’s first instinct was to find Lee. Overbearing or not, after the chaos around them, after a reprieve to bury their dead, after Potter — Grace couldn’t breath until she’d seen Lee.
And she’d be damned if anything happened to him now.
Grace’s own shield charm was quick, though the force of the spell forced her to stumble back. “Confringo,” she fired back, and then sent a volley of jagged rubble rocketing after the pair.
Hoping that two Blasting Curses would be better than one against the Death Eaters, Lee followed in his sister's footsteps and yelled, "Confringo!" As the pair of Death Eaters were busy dealing with the effects of the curses, Lee's attention turned to Grace. He ignored the numb pain in his leg, not wanting to react to it, in case it looked worse than it really was.
"You okay?" he shouted over the noises.
Grace nodded, her own eyes urgently scanning Lee for injury. Grace had escaped her earlier altercation with a hastily fixed shoulder dislocation and mild cuts and bruises.
“I—“
Mitzi arose from the rubble, severely annoyed at the Jordan siblings. Her extremities were bruised and bloody, but not broken — they’d pay for it anyway. To teach them a lesson, she pointed her wand at the boy and sent a blood boiling curse his way, before glancing at Isobel to see if she was okay. “Get up,” she hissed, then turned her attention back to the annoyance at hand.
“Immobulus.” This was aimed at Grace as Mitzi stalked toward her.
Isobel didn’t need to be told twice. She was on her feet instantly, assessing their current situation. Irritated by this sudden twist of fate, she aimed her spell at the boy, an Obstruction Charm. “Obscuro!” The blindfold appeared over his eyes, and she waved her wand once again, making sure it was tight.
Literally being blindfolded wasn't something Lee had expected at all, and yet here he was, literally blindfolded. He shouted something in agitation and used his free hand to reach at the blindfold, trying to free himself from the grasp. Flustered, Lee threw a barrage of stunning spells at Isobel, hoping at least one would stick, as he still grappled with the blindfold.
"Grace, a little help, please!" he exclaimed in the general direction of his sister.
Grace barely missed the immobilizing spell, and in the process of dodging it, went crashing painfully to her knees. Fuck.
She had Lee in her periphery as she eyed the two Death Eaters.
Fire burst from her wand, following on the tails of Lee’s stunning spells, and giving Grace time to slide in behind her brother. A flash of her wand and the blindfold fell from her brother’s eyes in two pieces. “Can’t take you anywhere.”
Mitzi’s shield went up, but it wasn’t as strong as it usually was and she was sent backwards, the wind getting knocked out of her when she landed. From her place on the ground, she sent a Cruciatus Curse in the general direction of the vigilantes. If it landed, it would’ve fizzled out in mere seconds. Something wasn’t right. Finally she stood and, using every bit of anger and focus she had, levitated a large piece of rubble before sending it zipping towards Grace.
Isobel glanced at Mitzi, her expression full of worry, but there was no time to deal with all of that right in the middle of a battle. Her gaze shifted to Grace, and without thinking about it, she sent a volley of Stinging Hexes at the woman, trying to aim each spell a little differently so it would strike her in various parts.
"No!" Lee shouted in protest, as the rubble headed towards Grace, followed by the Stinging Hexes. He tried his best to throw up a Shield Charm, though he failed to do so as quickly as he could have done. The rubble had already gotten past the circumference and had struck Grace, the Stinging Hexes not far behind. "Grace!" he yelled again.
Clipped and momentarily pinned by the rubble, Grace’s own shield charm caught only a few of the hexes. Grace swore, chest heaving (it was one thing to train, quite another to have two Death Eaters target you specifically). Her hand and arm began to swell, angry and red. Thank god it wasn’t her bat hand.
“Stop worrying about me Lee,” she shouted back, determined not to be a liability even as she pushed the rocks angrily away from her. She eyed the half broken windows just adjacent to them. “Focus on you.” With a pull of her wand the remains exploded outwards, bombarding the Death Eaters with broken glass and wooden shards.
The glass and shards rained down on Isobel and she wasn’t able to stop them as quickly as she would have liked. Rubble pierced through her skin at various spots, with a particularly large glass slashing through her arm enough so that she was beginning to lose sensitivity through her entire arm. Isobel wailed in pain, but used her emergency Healing spells -- though to no avail. She was losing too much blood and too quickly. With the last amount of energy she had, she sent a fireball at her enemies.
Appearing from underneath a pile of wood, the mysteriously unharmed Mitzi screamed in rage that the siblings wouldn’t go down. A glance to her side, however, changed her expression — not that anyone could see it behind the mask — to one of concern. She couldn’t focus on Isobel, though. Not now. She’d take care of her in a moment.
She fired off a bone-twisting curse in their direction, but her rage was barely keeping her dark magic afloat. In frustration, she summoned an array of knives and directed them right at Grace’s heart.
Despite everything, Lee suddenly felt like time had slowed down. He could see the knives heading right towards Grace, and there was nothing he could do besides scream her name. He didn't even use his wand to divert the knives away from his big sister. Instead, he chose to dive forward in front of her, knives plowing through Lee's skin.
He knew his stomach was damaged the moment a knife struck it, but the taste of iron filled his mouth at once, blood spewing not seconds later.
At that moment it felt like Grace didn’t have any air left in her body, but she heard herself cry out in agony anyway.
“Lee.” Her hands were shaking as she fumbled to get up onto her knees, to reach him as quickly as possible where the blood was beginning to pool.
The Death Eaters first, Grace.
She felt incandescent with white hot fury. The shards of glass and wood suddenly rocketed back into the air circling furiously before coming down on the Death Eaters in a well aimed gust.
“Defodio,” the ground beneath the Death Eaters was suddenly carved out into a hole.
More shards cut through Isobel’s skin and she screamed again, but she was silenced at once -- the shock of the sudden appearance of a hole distracted her for a brief moment. But she was falling and she was in pain, and in the process, she managed to lose her wand and her specs flew away from her face.
The moment her body made contact with the ground, a particularly sharp wooden spike pierced Isobel through her chest, lung puncturing at once. She felt herself gasping for air and her eyesight was useless, tunnel vision setting in.
Mitzi had avoided the wood, but a piece of glass had embedded itself in her shoulder during the fall. Still, she forced herself up and dashed to Isobel’s side. “Shit,” she muttered, fumbling for her wand. First she set off an explosion of light, hoping to distract, before trying basic healing spells to stabilize Isobel as best as she could.
She climbed out of the hole, directing her attention to Grace. “We could continue our fight, but the boy doesn’t have much time.” Neither did Isobel, but Mitzi didn’t add that part. “If you let me go, he might still live.”
Grace stood firm, a barrier between the Death Eaters and her brother. The only sign that the woman’s words gave her pause was a flexing of her hand.
Lee was bleeding out, quickly, and Grace knew that no matter her anger, she didn’t have the skills to face off with two Death Eaters. Letting them go seemed to go against all they’d come to achieve, but she would always choose Lee.
Grace’s grip on her wand tightened, impatient and disgusted. “Then go.”
“With pleasure,” Mitzi quipped. She briefly considered leaving Isobel, but levitated her comrade out of the hole with a huff. Apparently she’d grown a conscience. That wasn’t good.
“Toodles.” And with that, Mitzi zipped away, using her wand to carry Isobel with her.
The second they were out of sight Grace collapsed beside her brother, shaking hands pressed against his wound, summoning anything she could remember of Nora’s healing to stabilize him as best she could.
“Idiot,” she said wetly, choking on a sob. “You’re going to be fine, just stay with me ok? Le—Lee, stay with me.”
Jasper Williamson & Oliver Wood v. Winthrop Abbott & Hugo Nott
Jasper had almost died more times than he wanted to count tonight, so when he spotted what he was pretty sure was a Puddlemere Quidditch Player pursuing a pair of Death Eaters out of the Great Hall, his immediate thought was, 'Ah, fuck. Scotland'll need him for the Cup. If I die, they'd better fucking thank me,' before rushing out to help.
"Impedimenta!" He cast the spell at the Death Eaters, giving him enough time to catch up to Oliver. "How handy's your blasting curses, lad?"
It was reckless as hell, what he was doing, but Oliver was angry and it was easy to get caught up in the intensity of the moment. It felt like when he was wrapped up in a match and the team was behind. In those moments, he saw nothing but his goal. In this case, it was the Death Eaters.
He was just thinking that Percy would kill him for this when the Auror showed up - Jasper, he recalled - and turned to look. “Let’s find out.” And then he cast one towards the other pair.
Hugo was still going, persevering despite the intense pain in his leg, the burns and wounds that the swamp had inflicted on him. No spells were working as they should, he hadn't been able to use the killing curse when he desperately needed to. He yelled out as the first jinx hit him, sending him stumbling to the ground just as he was trying to make his way up a staircase just outside the Great Hall. He twisted round to face his attacker as he stood up, wand arm raising a shield charm in front of himself.
Winthrop used that opportunity to attack those that attacked him and his dear friend. "Oh, for Merlin's sake," he whined loudly, before letting out a disheartened groan. And then he aimed a rather powerful fireball at the pair some ways across from them and waited for it to explode somewhere in the middle of them. He smiled at the effect, his wand still pointed at them for quick retaliation, if necessary.
The fireball faltered — Jasper had instinctively dived out of the way nonetheless, hoping Oliver had thought to do the same — but there was no need. It hissed into a smoke ball as it rapidly approached him.
Unsure what to make of this, Jasper experimentally cast a second bombarda at the staircase, right where Hugo Nott was attempting to make an escape.
Like Jasper, Oliver’s instinct had been to cast a shield and to get out of the way. He narrowed his eyes as he watched, and then shook his head. There was no time to analyse that; he had to focus on the Death Eaters instead. They couldn’t let them get out.
He felt a little braver, all of a sudden, and he stepped up alongside Jasper just before he cast the explosion. He aimed a spell at their opponent’s feet, intending on sticking them to the ground there on the stairs.
Hugo tried to continue up the stairs, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot. He turned to the Quidditch player tried the killing curse once more but in the same moment that his spell failed, Jasper’s hit. The bottom of the staircase was no more, his foot along with it. Blood and debris existed where the stone stairs had been just seconds ago. Hugo’s momentary shock quickly moved into sheer horror, his howl of pain was loud and long.
Winthrop shot a quick glance at his fellow Death Eater, realisation striking in. "Nott!" he shouted, attempting to throw some basic Episkeys at the injured spot. And then, his attention turned to their opponents. Glowering, he attempted his own Killing Curses at the pair. However, it failed and Winthrop merely looked at his wand with confusion. That had never happened before.
Time wouldn't stand still for Winthrop to analyse what had just happened. Instead, he settled for shooting a bone disintegration curse at Williamson, followed by a bone dislocating curse at Wood.
Oliver’s own surprise took at the sight of multiple Killing Curses being flung in their direction took him off guard, and for a moment, he froze, unsure of what to do. That curse was supposed to be unstoppable, and yet --
The next curse hit as his reaction time was slightly too slow, but as he felt his shoulder shift and then pop back right away, he knew the magic wasn’t going to leave the mark it was meant to. He waved his wand at the Death Eaters and sent a pile of rubble towards their heads.
Realising that even the Killing Curse was no longer working as it should, Jasper swallowed his nooooooooooo that was on the tip of his tongue as he watched the green light hit Oliver’s shoulder. He buckled up and aimed an arresting charm at the Hugo — “Get the other one!” He shouted at the Definitely Not Dead Quidditch Player.
“You do not have to say anything,” he began, triumphantly vindicated. He was an Auror again. He was finally performing his function and purpose in life! “But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you may later rely on before the Wizengamot. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
Hugo’s breathing was getting shallower by each passing moment, barely aware that he was arrested, let alone being told his rights. “Just bloody kill me,” he rasped some words at the man, another wave of pain passing through him as his foot — what had been his foot — Hugo’s vision clouded over.
Oliver felt invigorated -- he didn’t even mind that Jasper was ordering him around. He grinned at the Auror and nodded. He could help. He could stop the Death Eaters! Why hadn’t he wanted to become an Auror, he wondered, because this was brilliant.
He didn’t know the charm Jasper was using, though, so he opted for a well-placed stupefy instead. Maybe Jasper could read the other one his rights (did he have rights?) when he woke up.
Winthrop's reflexes weren't fast enough and his retaliation — whatever it was, it didn't matter — came a fraction too late, as he had suddenly found himself to be Stunned. Unable to move any part of his body, his wand slithered out of his hand and fell to the floor. His weight didn't cooperate with him, neither, as he suddenly felt himself topping over, specs falling off and nose breaking as it made contact with the ground.
Not caring a whit that Winthrop was a) unconscious and b) had just fallen on the floor and broken his nose, Jasper quickly cast the arresting charm on him too (for when he woke up), then smugly stood over him. “YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING! BUT IT MAY HARM YOUR DEFENCE IF YOU DO NOT MENTION WHEN QUESTIONED SOMETHING WHICH YOU MAY LATER RELY ON BEFORE THE WIZENGAMOT. ANYTHING YOU DO SAY MAY BE GIVEN IN EVIDENCE!”
And with that, he turned to high five Oliver. “Bloody brilliant work, mate.”
Arthur Weasley & Bill Weasley v. Walden Macnair
Macnair was in an especially bloodthirsty mood. The Dark Lord had been feeling somewhat merciful toward the schoolchildren, not wanting the magical blood of young people who could eventually learn their place to be shed if it was avoidable. Macnair did not want to show anyone mercy - he wanted to kill and to do so brutally. So he sought out adult opponents. Catching a glimpse of some red hair, a cruel smirk spread across his features. Arthur Weasley. A blood traitor through and through, and well past the age that the Dark Lord found salvageable. The only thing someone like Arthur Weasley was good for was target practice.
He announced his approach with a stinging hex aimed at Arthur’s legs.
Arthur wanted to see this through, the Weasleys had been hit hard enough by this war, they didn’t need more. He thought the last war had done a number on his wife, his family, but he was wrong. Arthur would do his best to keep himself and some of the other students safe. He was helping up one of the students who had stayed when the stinging hex hit him unexpectedly. “Go,” he told them as he turned to face the Death Eater.
“Deprimo,” Arthur threw the spell towards the Death Eaters direction be it to knock him down or send the floor down making him unstable. Arthur stood ready for whatever would come next.
Macnair moved as soon as he heard the spell. The ground beneath him crumbled and he had to scramble to avoid plummeting down to the floor below. As it was, stumbled, knee twisting painfully as he moved toward more solid ground.
“Crucio,” he snarled.
Arthur was ready, he threw up a shielding charm protecting himself from the unforgivable. “Not today,” he muttered to himself. He had seen off one Death Eater before him, he could handle another. Arthur sent a severing charm their way.
Macnair moved to dodge, but with his injured knee, he didn’t manage to completely dodge the charm. It cut into his sleeve, and into the flesh of his arm, cutting cleanly down to bone, and partially through. He let out a yowl. While it wasn’t as painful as a well-cast Cruciatus curse, it hurt, and blood was flowing freely along his arm. His only consolation was that his wand arm hadn’t been hit and that this damage would be easily repaired. Perhaps by Macdougal, perhaps by the younger Abbott among their ranks.
He would have liked to savor slaughtering Arthur Weasley, but the man was proving to be annoying. “Expelliarmus,” he cast first at Arthur’s wand hand, following through immediately with a spell aimed at Arthur’s ankle. “Levicorpus.”
Arthur was too slow on the shielding charm, his wand whipped from his hand. His eyes immediately darting the direction it flew. Arthur moved to get the wand but in that same moment he realized he had made a grave error, should have had his focus on the Death Eater as he was lifted into the air by his ankle. The queasy feeling of his stomach flipping as his legs came out from underneath him and he dangled from his ankle in the air.
This would be a grand display. The sort that would get the Inner Circle and most importantly the Dark Lord’s attention. He lifted Arthur further up, so that all could bear witness as he was slashed completely in half. It would take excellent timing. Just as Macnair released the Levicorpus jinx, however, he was distracted for a moment by a loud bang nearby. Rather than slice neatly down the middle, his slashing curse went wild and sliced off Arthur’s leg mid-thigh before his body crashed unceremoniously to the ground.
Macnair cursed under his breath. “Well, as long as he’s dead, I suppose,” he said, drawing back his wand. “Avada K--”
“Fuck off!” Bill roared, crashing through the crowd and directing a Knockback jinx towards the Death Eater. It had been bad enough when he’d seen his father hoisted in the air, he would not let this piece of shit take his father from him too. He followed his attack with a stunning charm, before dropping to check on his father.
“Dad, are—“ He went white when he looked at Arthur’s leg, unable to completely comprehend what he was seeing.
Arthur yelled out in agony as the spell hit and he dropped. Arthur was completely disoriented and moaning in pain. Arthur heard his son’s voice but couldn’t really register what was being said. “Tell Mol—” but he passed out before anything else could come out.
Macnair found himself slammed into a wall by the jinx and then promptly stunned. He lay slumped on the ground for a minute, and then began gradually testing his range of movement discreetly. The younger Weasley was focused on his father, so if he played this right, he’d be able to kill two Weasleys. First, he wiggled his toes in his shoes. Then his fingers. Quietly, he pushed himself up against the wall. As he rose, the surrounding area spun. Vertigo had set in from the blow to the head he’d taken when the knockback jinx sent him into the wall. Still, all it would take would be disabling the younger Weasley (he didn’t know which of the Weasley sons this was - there were too damned many of them). Arthur was unconscious. Easy to finish off. Once he disabled the son, he would finish him quickly with an Avada Kedavra, and then he’d go and find somewhere to sit for a few minutes, so he could wrap his bleeding arm.
He tried to cast a blasting curse, but missed courtesy of the vertigo, swaying to the side shakily. The curse hit stone near the younger Weasley instead, sending rocky debris flying.
Bill had forgotten about the Death Eater for the moment, instead being wholly focused on his father. His limited healing knowledge meant that he knew his father was going to bleed out any second, but he wasn’t sure he was working fast enough with his blood slowing spells. His father needed a proper healer, now.
His concentration was interrupted by a rain of rocks, Bill belatedly pulling up a shield to protect his dad from anything further attack. He ignored the bruises and scrapes he was left with, the trickle of blood from where a rock caught him on his forehead.
“You piece of shit,” Bill yelled, conjuring a ball of acid and throwing it at the figure that had practically killed his father.
Rather than think to cast a shielding charm, Macnair acted on instinct, reflexively bringing his arms up to shield his eyes from the incoming acid. His eyes were spared, but the acid splashed his lower lip and chin, and soaked through his sleeves. His flesh hissed as the acid melted through his arms. Macnair didn’t even notice when he dropped his wand, or when he collapsed on the ground. The pain was excruciating and all consuming. The screams that came from him barely sounded human.
Bill knew he should care more about the pain the Death Eater was in, but he didn't. He really didn't. Instead he just returned to the triage he'd been doing for his father, hoping it was going to be enough for Leon or Jeremy or one of the other healers to keep him alive.
He couldn't look at the severed leg, or think about what it would mean for his dad. That was a problem for another time. So were his own injuries. All that mattered was keeping him alive.
Alicia Spinnet & George Weasley v. Antonin Dolohov
If it weren’t for her sister’s skill, Alicia might not have been standing to fight at all in the second round of it. The first had been horrifying enough, but she had little choice but to push away the thought of Fred having gone missing or the way her skin still felt a bit like it was on fire. She wasn’t going to let the Death Eaters get away with it.
She glanced at George before she inclined her head toward a Death Eater throwing spells toward a group of their former classmates. Alicia cleared her throat and aimed to grab his attention with a blasting curse.
Dolohov—who up until this point had been gleefully throwing nasty curses down at the teenagers before him—noticed Alicia too late. He turned and attempted to deflect the blasting curse, only to cause it to ricochet and blow off a good chunk of his other hand. He howled in pain, then leveled a blood-boiling curse right back at her.
Alicia realized immediately what a terrible idea it’d been for her to rush back into the fray held together with burn salve, pain potions and a stubborn streak. With the Death Eater’s curse flying straight for her, she realized too late that her reflexes weren’t nearly what they should’ve been. And yet somehow, by some miracle, the curse missed.
Surprise made her hesitate, but her shock eventually subsided. She drew in a deep breath and swung her wand, shouting an incantation that turned the ground at the Death Eater’s feet into quicksand.
Dolohov just cackled as he began to sink. “Quicksand? Quicksand? Do you really think a bit of sand is going to stop one of the Dark Lord’s best? Crucio!” He fired off the Unforgivable quickly before turning the quicksand into regular sand and pulling himself free, then strolled toward Alicia and George, twirling his wand menacingly.
George wheeled around in the direction Alicia had indicated, wand gripped tight enough to make the wood creek. He didn’t know why Alicia had insisted on going back out there but he knew there was no point in trying to convince her. They were giving this their all, and George’s heart raced as he rushed forward to back his friend up, the sight of her struggling against her pain enough to force down the near-panic he’d felt for the last hour as he’d not found Fred anywhere. George whipped his arm up, pulling debris into the path of the Cruciatus before it could hit Alicia and then flung it back at him. There was no witty quip in return to the Death Eater’s boast now, just a low “Alright?” toward Alicia while keeping his eyes locked on Dolohov and standing his ground - George didn’t hesitate before sending a slicing curse at the cloaked figure in retaliation, then two blasters in quick succession.
Dolohov deflected the slicing curse, but was not nearly as successful with the blasting curses; one caught him in the torso, and he crumpled to the floor with a cry of agony. He whipped his wand back at them somewhat blindly, shouting, “Avada Kedavra!”
Alicia’s heart jumped to her throat before she could answer George. Like the Death Eater’s last unforgivable, it missed its mark. Alicia didn’t know how, but there wasn’t time to question it. Her insides gave a painful lurch as she aimed her wand again and yelled, “Incarcerous!”
George’s heart leapt as he ducked out of the way of the passing green light and as soon as he saw Alicia was still standing, he ran forward to take advantage of the her spell’s distraction. Just after it hit, he was on top of Dolohov, rolling him over and landing hard on his knees. “MISSED, YOU PIECE OF SHIT,” he shouted down at him, clawing off the man’s mask and balling his hand into a fist around his wand to bring it down on exposed face.
Dolohov had not been expecting that. He spluttered with surprise as the younger wizard's fist made contact with his face with a sickening crack. He attempted to push back with the hand he was still in possession of, scrabbling blindly for George's throat as he tried to get out from under him.
“How fitting that you should wish to die the muggle way!” the Death Eater jeered, aiming what was left of his blasted hand at the younger man's face.
George had wound another fist back but the hand reached for his neck forced him to divert, jabbing his elbow at the man’s arm and rolling to the side enough to escape Dolohov’s grip. He tried to recover before the other could shift but a bloody knucklebone met the ridge of his brow and he yelped, feeling the skin split. “Fuck you!” he growled back inelegantly, swiping at the blood dripping into his eye while he scrambled to his knees and lunged once more to grab at the man’s wrist.
“It is you who is about to be fucked!” Dolohov screamed, then inelegantly headbutted him in the face.
Not having time for his face to twist in confusion at the words, George felt the impact on his nose and cried out in pain with the crack. The hand that was originally going to restrain the Death Eater instinctively reached up to cup the blood pooling from his nostrils now instead. “Merlin- fucking-” he spat out, reeling back as his head swam.
Dolohov gave him a maniacal, bloody grin, then reached for his throat, shoving him against the wall as he squeezed. “Riddle me this—was it all worth it? Say hello to your friends in the underworld…” he cackled, bashing the younger man’s head against the stone.
Lights flashed in George’s periphery as brick hit the back of his skull, he moved to desperately claw at the Death Eater’s hand around his neck. He jabbed his wand at the man’s wrist but his windpipe was closed too tightly to get out any type of spell and he gasped for air, eyes wide. Maybe he was about to die, but maybe if Fred already had it wouldn’t be so bad he thought in some concussed section of his mind.
Panic settled in Alicia’s chest as she watched the fist fight, desperately waiting for a chance to intervene to help George. Her hesitation evaporated as soon as the two men stopped moving and she took her shot as soon as she saw it. “Confringo!” she screamed, aiming straight for the Death Eater.
Dolohov didn’t even have time to react. One moment he was gleefully reveling in strangling his prey, the next, Alicia’s powerful blasting curse had hit him squarely in the back of the head.
His head—quite literally—exploded.
When Alicia saw the man’s headless shoulders, she could barely breathe — at least not until her stomach lurched and she hunched over to empty its contents on the ground.
George slumped along the brick behind him, gulping in air he’d been kept from moments before and holding a hand to his still-bleeding face. There was a pause while he stared at the ground, then slowly up at the man’s body that had crumpled without a head and he blinked before searching behind them for Alicia, his relief to be alive overriding any concern about… exploded Death Eater on his person, for now. He started to call out her name but it came out in a gurgle and he coughed, instead slowly and shakily getting to his knees. He wobbled there, leaning back onto the wall for support as his head still throbbed.
“Al…” he said again finally, still catching his breath and swiping more at the blood that kept leaking from his apologetic brow. “Thanks.”
Alicia wiped her mouth and on her sleeve and moved toward George, collapsing on her knees next to him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he managed to croak out, even as he could still feel waves of dizziness. “I think…” he brought a hand away from his face and seeing it completely coated in deep red gave his own stomach a lurch. “You?” George looked at her now, forcing his eyes to focus.
Looking at George sent Alicia another wave of nausea and she shifted back a bit. “I don’t know,” she admitted, afraid to look at the Death Eater’s remains an uncomfortable few feet away. She swallowed. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
George gave her a small nod, and pushed up off the wall, slowly getting to his feet and reaching over to help her do the same. “Yeah.” He squeezed her hand. “Who even says ‘riddle me this’?” he scoffed as the two started their trek back to the Healers. “Douchecanoe.”
Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley & Molly Weasley v. Bellatrix Lestrange
There was hardly a moment to do anything but jump into the fray, but part of Hermione’s mind was still outside where Harry’s body had laid. How could he have not told her or Ron what he was planning to do? And how could her oldest friend be gone just like that? But grief wasn’t a luxury she could indulge, not when a familiar head of dark hair sparked a humiliation Hermione was sure she would never forget.
Throwing a look over at Ginny that plainly said she could join her if she wanted, Hermione’s fist went tighter around her wand and she bounded forward, aiming a loud Bombarda at Bellatrix Lestrange.
Hermione wasn’t one for rectal humor, but she’d show Bellatrix exactly where she could shove her lost sword.
Ginny didn't hesitate to follow suit; focusing on channeling all her rage, all her grief onto this single battle — the freezing curse, the bat-bogey hex, the stunning spell — one after the other in rapid fire, hoping something would stick. That anything would stick.
The girls’ spells caught Bellatrix off guard, tearing her away from a frustratingly fruitless duel with someone she’d never seen before. Though she regained her composure quickly, the absence of her peripheral vision left her a beat behind the mark.
Hermione’s spell hit, sending Bellatrix flying backward with a blast of force, mercifully out of the path of Ginny’s prank-laden barrage. Bellatrix didn’t bother take the time to clamber to her feet before she fired off a series of killing curses at her two opponents.
Some of the Killing Curses flew wide of Hermione — one so wide it sprayed her with bits of enchanted ceiling. But they mostly made her suck in a breath that felt stuck in her chest. Thinking quickly, she dropped the point of her wand to the floor and transfigured the stone into grasping hands.
The ceiling raining down is what made Molly look up from the student she was tending to and see Bellatrix Lestrange in the middle of a duel of Hermione and -- Ginny? GINNY! WHAT WAS GINNY DOING IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE WITH BELLATRIX LESTRANGE WHEN SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE ROOM OF REQUIREMENT?!
Jumping up, she ran across the Great Hall towards the three witches. “NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!” she yelled at the Death Eater as she flung her cloak off her shoulders, and a short “OUT OF MY WAY,” at the girls once she arrived, not wasting any time with an Expluso, and a Flipendo, and then a Cascata for good measure.
Though Bellatrix had made it back to her feet, the floor reached up to grip her ankles and held her rooted in place. But the floors grip was nothing when Molly’s first spell hit her, ripping her from the spot and sending her flying backward again. She skidded to a stop a few meters away. Without hesitation, she unleashed another round of curses at her opponents.
“Potter’s dead and you’re all next!” The air cracked with lightning and flashes of red, but much to Bellatrix’s consternation, none of them seemed to meet their marks. Her eyesight couldn’t have been that bad.
Ginny’s chest tightened suddenly. She knew she shouldn’t listen to the deranged terrorist, but the taunting reminder of Harry’s death sucked the air out of lungs.
But the world didn’t slow down and stop the way she wished it would. She didn’t have a moment to panic, and struggle to breath.
“Angor!” she screamed instead, wanting to make Lestrange suffer physically the way that she felt.
Harry was a sore spot for Hermione, too, but after everything that had happened, especially where this particular madwoman was concerned, especially with her very wand in Hermione’s hand, she refused to give her the upper hand. She set her jaw and sent a duo of slicing hexes Bellatrix’s way.
Ginny’s spell struck Bellatrix in the chest, but she felt it in her throat as though a hand had wrapped around it to press against her windpipe. She sucked in a deep breath and managed to narrowly avoid the mudblood’s attacks. When she opened her mouth to cast her next curse, she found her throat too tight to speak.
But no matter — Bellatrix didn’t need an incantation to use magic. She was still collected up until the moment her good eye landed on the wand in Hermione’s hand. She recognized it immediately — it was hers.
A fury of spells escaped the Death Eater’s wand next, each more fervent than the last, and further from their marks. Only the last of them, a Killing Curse, came anywhere near the two girls.
With another killing curse narrowly missing Ginny and Hermione, Molly's anger and desperation rose. A barrage of Confrigo and Bombarda flew from the tip of her wand towards the walls and floor around the Death Eater, hoping to force Bellatrix into defense than offense, though her aim was sloppy from fury.
It was the blasting curse that caught her off guard, her focus trained on the second spell when the first hit her on her blind side. Her feet left the ground and she was once again pitched end over end, her replacement wand sending out a wave of shock with each impact.
Seeing Bellatrix down, Molly took one more shot, a blasting curse aimed right at her chest.
The expression on her face became one of perpetual shock when Molly’s spell landed. Bellatrix never moved again. A scream of fury rose from nearby as Voldemort realized what had happened — his most loyal servant killed at the hands of a blood traitor.
Stunned and body pulsing with adrenaline, Molly dropped to her knees, trying to catch her breath and not think about what she'd just done.
But Hermione’s eyes found the source of that horrible scream and found Voldemort pointing his wand at Mrs Weasley. Her breath caught in her chest again and she could only manage a breathless, “No, wait,” as her fist clenched around Bellatrix Lestrange’s wand. All she could think about was Ron and how she’d be seeing Harry again sooner than she’d thought and —
From somewhere in the Great Hall there came a bellowed, “Protego!” And the voice was so familiar Hermione couldn’t help but search for its owner.
And then, suddenly, there was Harry, alive and determined.
A red-gold glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort’s was suddenly a flaming blur. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he too yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand:
“Avada Kedavra!”
“Expelliarmus!”
The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort’s green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy’s shell.
One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspended: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him.
ANGELUS ROSIER: Hollllly shit, Britain. Angelus Rosier here with Barnaby Snell -- we totally didn’t break into the WWN or anything. As you may have heard before, You-Know-Who with a veritable army of Death Eaters overwhelmingly congregated and attacked Hogwarts this evening after an apparent citing of Harry Potter. A large scale battle ensued, and, well. Barnaby?
BARNABY SNELL: Potter actually did it! You-Know-Who is dead. Like, for real this time!
AR: Right? Reports have surfaced that all fighting now has ceased at Hogwarts castle, and Potter has once again - against all odds - triumphed over You-Know-Who.
BS:[somberly] There are reports of numerous casualties on both sides. Rumors abound, but we can’t provide any names at this point in time.
AR:[matching Baz’s tone] As one can expect there was a lot of damage to the building itself, and first responders are currently hard at work searching for survivors and providing medical attention to the wounded. Additional reports, without confirmed names, suggest that several Death Eaters have also been captured and arrested during the assault.
BS: Be frank with me, Rosier. Did you ever believe a teenager would pull this off?
AR:[disbelieving, scoffing laugh] Hell no. Frankly, I thought it’d be a miracle if it happened. But maybe that’s what happened after all.
BS: The students of Hogwarts showed remarkable courage in the face of adversity. We can’t confirm any details just yet, but several sixth and seventh years were allegedly responsible for taking down some of the most dangerous Death Eaters.
AR: It doesn’t surprise me, actually — it sounds like more than a few were standing up against the Carrows and Snape all year. Has this whole thing really sunk in for you yet? Like, he’s gone?
BS: Honestly, no. I think I stopped believing someone was going take him down months ago. But I’m glad I was wrong.
AR: Everyone is far better off, obviously. We’ll be here all night providing updates as soon as we can further confirm information. I just have one more question for you right this second, Barnaby.
BS: Yes, Rosier?
AR: Have you ever realized your initials are ‘BS’ and how that must look on any transcripts people put out of our broadcasts?
BS:[cheerily] I’m going to let that slide for now.