It seemed as though Wesley Turpin had been inside Hogwarts for hours, although it had been less than an hour. Part of the reinforcements for Hogwarts, fighting the Death Eaters that he'd been working alongside at the Ministry only days before. At least now he could openly fight against it. Finally do his job as an Auror, fighting Dark magic.
But he hadn't been able to find either of his daughters, Mandella often as much his in his thoughts as Lisa was, not amongst the students there. In a heart-stopping moment of fear he'd even checked amongst the dead for them. But they must have escaped or been evacuated with their younger siblings, and the relief was almost enough to reinvigorate him after that panic as the fighting began anew.
Wesley dashed down a staircase, two steps at a time, wand raised. This was what he'd trained to do, and he rushed to join the fray in the school grounds. Spotting one known Death Eater, Wesley’s shouted incantation might have been too much warning of the stunning spell he sent in the man’s direction.
Magnus whipped around, as much as his twisted ankle would allow, to face down his next opponent. "Crucio," he screamed back indiscriminately, voice hoarse. He couldn't care less if it was a 17-year-old girl donning a Gryffindor tie, or Harry fuckin' Potter himself.
Defensive, but unable to protect himself from the curse with something like a shield charm, Wesley took the short moments of torture. His body writhed, but it didn't seem to last long. Perhaps this Death Eater was off his game, and that thought occurred to him as he responded with his own shout of expulso. Pressure forming to make an explosion, aimed just over the Death Eater’s shoulder.
The force of it pushed Magnus forward; bones crunched, a sharp pain shooting up his forearm. Was this life's sweet irony? Breaking him down the same way Freya had been broken? His ears rung, his back was sticky with blood - sore from the debris spraying across his back.
"Avada Kedavra." He aimed desperately at the other man's legs. Miss. His hand gripped his wand limply, so he swapped to his weaker, but unbroken left arm and shot out a trip jinx instead, hoping to buy himself time to stand up again.
Once, a while ago, Wesley had held beliefs in the law. That was probably still true until his work had been taken over by the very people that he'd sworn to fight. Faced with one of them now, he took the threat of the killing curse as a sign that this wasn't a fight to back down from. He sent a blasting curse towards his opponent, only for it to be dislodged by the trip jinx that hit his feet and sent him to the floor.
Magnus took this brief reprieve as a chance to gather enough strength to stand. Or something close to it. He was on his feet, yes, but he wasn't fully upright -- his shoulders sagged, his eyes narrowed, trying to keep the dust streaked across his face away. His back must have had several large grazes on it. "Aculeo," he started. Because they were supposed to be winning. Miss. "Crucio!" he screamed again, but his heart wasn't in it.
The cruciatus curse felt weak, and Wesley was able to throw it off after a short moment of not quite the debilitating pain that the curse usually held. It was still enough to seem a threat, even if his opponent was off his game, and Wesley slammed one hand into the ground while still on his knees before pointing his wand arm and wand at the man. “Defodio,” he tried the gouging spell.
Magnus deflected this with a hastily thrown up shield charm. He backed up considering his best options. I need you. Do I not matter anymore? he heard Freya's voice in his head, he saw her defiant stare, the way that she curled her fingers up with her nails digging into the palms of her hands to stop herself from crying. Because he had told her to.
He looked around him, his comrades, the reinforcements -- everyone battling for something. Someone. Something greater than themselves.
He remembered the days he paced his cage in Azkaban, mind slowly dwindling down to pain, and terror, and anger, and viciousness. His first Crucio. His first kill. The twisting knife in his gut as he closed those first lifeless eyes with his hand.
And in the pit of his stomach, he knew that she was right. So he turned on his heel, and ran into the woods, trying to get as far out of Hogwarts' magical borders that he could Apparate away. Each step jarring the pain in his ankle as he landed heavily on the twisted foot, across the uneven ground.
"Reducto!" he shouted, aiming at a tree to his right, trying to slow Turpin down, throw him off his trail.
Wesley chased after him, his start halted by the tree and he stumbled over it. Spurred on by the knowledge that he couldn't let Jugson escape, he had to do his job, he jumped back up to his feet. But Jugson had a good start on him, and Wesley couldn't possibly catch up. They were too close to the boundaries of the school, and one they reached it Jugson would have ample opportunity to escape.
Thinking fast, Wesley aimed his wand at some of the debris on the ground and sent it soaring towards Magnus Jugson. A hefty tree branch, a large piece of broken stone, even a few shards of broken glass. Anything to try and slow him down. Desperate, Wesley kept running and sending things flying ahead of him. A smaller branch soared faster, another rock. The items moved faster as Wesley got more fixated on the target. More broken glass. A large, sharp piece of metal from one of the castle’s suits of armour.
Magnus knew there was a tree with a particular knot in it that he had to reach. It marked the boundary of where he'd managed to Apparate just past without triggering the school's anti-apparition wards.
Just that knot in the tree and he would be with his daughter. He could see her now, closer, closer.
He stumbled over a tree branch; debris from the battle and the forest floor flew at him. A small rock struck his already bleeding shoulder as he fumbled, trying to regain his footing amongst the roots that spilled up out of the ground, twisting about. Branches scratched his face and hands and robes.
Nearly there. Just another few feet.
Ooffh.
He stopped.
Something in his mouth gurgled up, refusing to be swallowed down, spilling over the side of his lips. Magnus looked down, a shard of metal stuck out of stomach. He didn't need to look behind to know that it had gone in through his back.
Freya, he thought, pressing on despite the pain. There was only two feet left. His steps slowed even as his urgency increased. Left. Right. Left. Right.
Finally.
Magnus Apparated.
And then he screamed.
It wasn't the first Splinching that Wesley had seen, but it was by far the most brutal. He stopped dead in his tracks, wand still raised, staring at what he could see of Magnus. The sharp piece of metal sticking in the part of his back that was still there. Merlin only knew where the rest of Magnus was. Wesley’s instinct was to help, no one deserved suffering like that, but a split second later he had the dull realisation that Magnus Jugson was beyond help now.
A Splinching like that. Or being stabbed in the back. It would only take one of those things to kill a man. It was impossible to come back from both.
THORFINN ROWLE vs. CELIA BROWN & MEGAN JONES
Megan considered herself to be pretty good at shutting out her emotions in stressful situations in order to allow her to do her work. Earlier this evening she had run around the Hospital Wing with a steel face, bandaging up wounds and responding to the most horrific situations with consummate professionalism. There was no time to stand still and consider the pictures in front of her, although she wouldn’t be surprised if she was going to revisit them later in her nightmares.
It had been a long night, however, and Megan was exhausted. Seeing Harry’s body carried onto the grounds by the Death Eaters, a triumphant Voldemort at the head, had been the ultimate demoralising experience. Rather than go back to the Great Hall, Megan had stayed outside to help those who had fallen on the battlefield. Her hair was frazzled and dirty, her clothing and skin was smeared with the blood of the wounded, but she wasn’t going to stop until she could no longer move.
“Shhh, I’m here, It’s going to be okay,” she whispered to the boy currently in her care. He couldn’t be any older than 19, she reckoned, and blood was bubbling up from his mouth as he struggled to breathe. If she wanted to do anything for him at all, she would have to be quick.
“That’s a nice sentiment really. Even if it’s a lie,” came a voice from behind her. Thorfinn understood the need to comfort the wounded, but he didn’t have time for useless actions. Leaning in toward the girl, the Death Eater jabbed her in the back with his wand a few times. “Stand up. Slowly.”
Megan froze. The Death Eater was looming over her, and she quickly considered her options. Perhaps if she turned around quickly enough, she could get a hit in before him? But no, that was too risky. He was surely expecting a move like that.
Deciding that for the moment it was best to just comply, she slowly pushed herself up from the ground, holding her hands up in the air so he could see them. If he was going to kill her where she stood, he already could have done so.
The start of the battle felt all at once years ago and a moment ago. The ceasefire had practically torn Celia apart, and all she could do now that the fighting raged on around her was to fight harder. She kept her wand out, as steady as possible, in front of her as she raced across the grounds. She caught sight of Megan out of the corner of her eye, bent over a someone who was wounded - would she be able to save that boy? Celia’s breath caught in her throat and she looked away, tears stinging at the back of her eyes.
When she saw the Death Eater loom over Megan, the “No!” slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She followed it up with Lacarnum Inflamarae, and a ball of fire burst at the Death Eater’s back.
He screamed as his robes caught fire and the flames danced upon his exposed skin. Spinning erratically, Thorfinn flapped around a few times as the flames singe his body before he was able to discard of his burnt robes. Anger filled him as he finally was able to see who had sent the spell on him and he wasted no time in sending a Cruciatus Curse in her direction.
The curse hit Celia before she could cast her shield charm, and even then she wasn’t sure that her shield was good enough to block his cruciatus. She took the hit and cried out, her grip on her wand tightening as she collapsed to her knees. The pain was all-encompassing, and it made her scream inside her mind and her muscles lock up. Everything hurt, and she wanted it to stop so badly, but she didn’t know how to make it stop.
While the Death Eater was distracted, Megan wasted no time and crouched down to retrieve her wand. The boy that she had been trying to help was no longer breathing. Fire burned low in her belly -- she could have saved him -- and she turned around with a glare.
“Depulso” she yelled, then moved to the side of her fellow Hufflepuff. “Celia, are you okay? Can you stand?”
His arm raised to cast a counterspell, but it was too late. After the charm hit him in the knee, Thorfinn was cast backwards and landed a moment later in the pile of rubble that used to be a statue. His head forcibly collided with some of the rock, which caused his vision to go completely black for a few moments. When he returned to reality, his vision was blurred and it was accompanied by a loud roaring in his ears that only served to add to his confusion.
Somehow, he managed to push himself up from the rubble and almost immediately began throwing blasting curses in the direction of the two students. “I’m going to make sure you both suffer!” he yelled between curses. “And when I’m done with it, He will make sure of it too!”
Celia gave a gasp and scrambled to her feet. Her entire body hurt, and even her brain hurt. “I - think so,” she called out to Megan. She wiped at her eyes furiously with the back of her hand. She was determined to make things hurt for this Death Eater. “Diffindo!” she screamed.
Megan managed to duck out of the way of the blasting curses, but one hit the ground nearby, throwing up sharp bits of gravel and pebbles that pelted against her skin, while another ricocheted off a nearby tree, sending leaves and exploding branches in their direction.
“All He is going to do today is die!” she sniped once the dust had settled. With Harry gone, the chances of that happening were slim to none, but Megan wasn’t about to let her spirit be broken just yet. She would go down fighting, if she had to. “Lacarnum Inflamarae!”
The slash ripped deep across his torso just in time for his arm to collide with the fire ball. From beneath his mask, a howl of pain erupted as he stumbled backward, wand arm wildly flailing as a lightning charm escaped from its tip.
Celia cast another Diffindo at the Death Eater because it seemed to be working, and if it was working, why shouldn’t she keep using it? She put all of her anger and horror into the spell as she cast it, stepping forward towards him.
“Careful,” Megan warned her housemate. The Death Eater was badly wounded, but he seemed like the type to retaliate, and Megan didn’t want her to end up like the poor boy that she had been trying to help. “Confundo!”
It was only by chance, probably due to his random flailing, that both spells managed to miss him. Thorfinn knew he didn’t have long thanks to the blood that was escaping his abdominal wound at an increasing rate and that was when desperation set in with the Death Eater. As his arm ached with pain, he set about throwing every curse he could at the girls. Blasting charms, fire curses, and slashing hexes were shot off in rapid succession with the hopes one would hit its intended target.
Celia cast her shield charm but it wasn’t quick enough, and one of the Death Eater’s curses hit her wrist, blasting her wand out of her hand. She heard a sickening crack of the bone there and she screamed out at the pain, stumbling forward. She looked around wildly for her wand but couldn’t find it. She looked desperately at Megan for a moment before another spell hit her too, knocking her out, her already-broken wrist hitting the ground first.
Megan threw up a Protego just in time. She had to strain to keep up her shield against all the curses that pelted against it, the very last slashing hex cutting through her shoulder, blood welling up from the wound instantly.
“Celia!” Megan yelled when the girl went down. She quickly threw an Immobulus at the Death Eater before tying him up as tightly as she could, leaving him incapable of doing any more harm. Then she ran over to her fallen friend.
She was alive, thank Merlin. Celia’s arm was bent at an awkward angle, her wrist bone sticking out, and that last Blasting Curse had left her with a big head wound that would have to be dealt with at St Mungo’s, but she would be fine, eventually. Ignoring her own injuries, Megan used a Bone Setting Spell to keep Celia’s wrist in place before carefully levitating her up. She would look at her wounds more closely once she had gotten the both of them to safety.
PAUL AVERY vs. ANTHONY GOLDSTEIN & TRACEY DAVIS
Slinking around in the shadows of the grounds, Avery spotted the boy from earlier. The one who, with his friend, had set his robes on fire and left him to burn, like the muggles did to witches and wizards for centuries. He was with another person now, a girl this time, and Avery hoped that meant that the friend that had been with him earlier was dead now. Regardless, going up against one of his former attackers was better than none, so before he could be spotted he flung his wand in their direction. “Ignis Pellis!”
The spell grazed against the fabric of his shirt along his shoulder, signalling that Tracey and he were no longer alone. Wand ready, Anthony pivoted to face the direction from where the spell came and a frown came across his face once he realized who had sent it. “Not fucking you again!” he shouted before casting a blasting charm in the Death Eater’s direction, followed by a volley of arrows from Tracey next to him.
Who was very much not playing nice…
“Where's your little friend?” Avery taunted, throwing up a shield charm, but not before some debris from the blasting charm hit him.
“He’s fine,” Anthony shouted before attempting a Disarming Charm on the Death Eater’s magical shield. Over the years, he had seen plenty of muggle movies that told him monologuing during these crucial moments was never a good idea, but his anger with the older man was getting the best of him. “How’s your face? Any of the skin melt off from the fire?”
“Anthony,” said Tracey under her breath in warning, sensing that his temper was about to get an edge over him. “Focus. Confundo,” she hissed at the Death Eater, jabbing her wand in his direction.
The spell hit Avery and he blinked, looking around as he tried to remember where he was and what it was he was meant to be doing. “Pardon,” he said to the two children in front of him. “Can you let me know…”
“Cascata,” was the spell that cut through the Death Eater’s sentence. Blue light escaped from the tip of Anthony’s wand and immediately set into motion a series of explosions that were heading toward the masked man.
That was enough to pull him out of his stupor, and in response he rounded on the boy with a “Crucio!” Instantly, Anthony dropped to the ground. Tracey yelped and threw a series of bright lights at Avery, exploding into flares in front of his eyes. They did not need the precision that a conjunctivitis or blinding curse did, and hopefully they would be enough of a distraction to break the Unforgivable hold on Anthony.
The spell ended suddenly as Avery jumped at the bright lights. He suddenly couldn’t see very well, looking around wildly but not able to find the two students. “Confrigo! Confrigo! Confrigo!” he shouted, haphazardly casting blasting curses in the general area of where they had been standing, though his aim was nowhere near what it needed to be.
Anthony managed to crawl to his feet in just enough time for one of the curses to make contact with the ground a few feet in front of him. Debris of dirt and stone exploded into the air, which he took as an opportunity to launch a further attack upon the Death Eater. With a whip of his wand, a large chunk of stone rose from the ground and shot straight toward the masked man at a fast speed.
The debris hit him square in the stomach and flung him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. Avery was furious that these children were getting the best of him, the Dark Lord would not be happy at all. It took a second for the dust to settle and he took that moment to regather his wits. Once he could make out the shape of the students through the debris, he shot a “Decrusto!” directly at the boy, aiming to kill.
In his panic upon hearing the deadly curse cast, Anthony threw up the first spell that came to his mind, but things didn’t go according to plan. The two spells collided mid-air three feet in front of him and the subsequent explosion propelled him backward through the air as the bones in his left lower leg shattered from the force of the blast. Seconds later, his body slammed into the ground and several ribs snapped upon impact, puncturing his right lung in multiple places. Sharp, stabbing pain shot through his chest as he began to gasp for air.
It wasn't quite what Avery had been aiming for, but he'd take it all the same. Now that the boy was down, he focused on the girl, sending another disintegration curse her way. “Oh, fuck you,” the girl muttered, then sent a severing curse towards him and the spell felt like it was something bigger than her erupting out, that she was empty of everything but rage—
Avery wasn't paying enough attention, was overconfident after getting the boy, was caught off guard, and the severing charm hit him in the leg. One swift slice and his leg was gone, and he toppled over in pain. “FUUUUUUCK,” he yelled quickly focusing on how to stop the bleeding before he lost too much.
Tracey called his wand over, pocketing it neatly and eyeing him impassively. “You can bleed to death for all I care,” she added quietly, then crouched down next to Anthony. “Anapneo. Can you stand if I help?”
Coughing and sputtering, Anthony rolled onto his back as the taste of iron began to fill his mouth. His vision was blurry, but he was able to make out a shape he knew to be Tracey. A weak smile crossed his lips as breathing suddenly felt a bit easier, but there was still something distinctively wet in his voice when he spoke. “Yeah. Anything for you, dear,” he said while trying not to wince. “Just give me a minute, yeah? Gotta catch my breath first.”
HENRY SELWYN vs. POMONA SPROUT & ISAAC MONTAGUE
Invigorated after the brief ceasefire, Selwyn was eager to get back to fighting, and decided to celebrate this feeling by cursing the first person he saw who was definitely not a Death Eater. “Crucio!” He said, almost lazily.
Isaac fell to the ground in pain. Barely able to raise his arm, he aimed instead for Selwyn’s feet with a weak Bombarda, which Selwyn easily sidestepped. This was easy, almost too easy, for it to be any fun, though he watched with a sadistic, pleased look on his face as Isaac contorted with pain.
He flicked his wand again. Let’s see what the boy had had for dinner, shall we? “Exintera.”
The contents of Isaac’s stomach emptied onto the ground in an unrecognisable mush, until all that remained was bile. He continued to dry heave, hoping to convince the Death Eater that the curse was still doing its job, and shot an incendio at Selwyn’s robes to try create a distraction that would at least give him enough time to get back to his feet.
It would’ve worked, had Selwyn not grown bored with watching Isaac throw up rather quickly after casting the spell. After putting out the flame with a quick Aguamenti, he threw over another curse that would hopefully be more satisfying: the bone-breaking kind. “Osso torqo!” Maybe he should’ve let the boy get up, at least. It wasn’t as much fun when they were just lying there on the ground, barely able to fight back and put on a show.
Isaac’s limbs contorted against his will, twisting and twisting until they snapped, now unable to move his arm to cast, or stand up, and the pain so great he could feel himself slipping out of consciousness. There was nothing he could do now, Meredith was right; he shouldn’t have tried to fight.
“Flamma pellis!” Then, “Minuatarius!”
And that was the moment Sprout managed to find her way to this duel. She recognised Montague at once, and all her instincts were aimed at protecting the boy. She shifted her focus to the Death Eater and pointed her wand at him, before shouting, "Bombarda!"
Selwyn dove to the side. “Nitor lapsus! Diffindo!” And repeated this several times, to give Professor Sprout multiple lacerations.
The lacerations on Sprout's arms and legs were instant and effective, but as she tried to keep her squeals and screams to a minimum, her eyes fell on Montague. She knew she had to protect the boy, and therefore, pulled herself together. The lacerations could be healed quickly enough.
"Diffindo!" she shouted at the Death Eater, before she waddled towards Montague. Determined to not have him hurt anymore, she decided to cast the Ebublio Jinx on him, to protect him from any other jinxes aimed at him. "Eubublio," she whispered, making sure to cast a strong enough bubble.
The spell connected with Selwyn’s leg right on top of the other spell, soon looking like like he been attacked by a bomb. A howl of pain erupted from the man, who’d fallen to the ground, unable to do anything or think anything or heal himself, just pain. If he’d been in a more coherent state, Selwyn would’ve wanted to know where Professor Sprout had even come from, but the only thing on his mind as he faded into unconsciousness was I did my best, my Lord. Forgive me.
MATTHEW AVERY vs. MEREDITH DAVIES
All things considered, Matthew was feeling good. Potter was dead, there were more of the other side dead than there were of his, and he had barely a scratch on him. He’d also had plenty of time to practice his Cruciatus curse, as well as work on the one his father had been working with him on for years. Spotting a familiar face behind a tree, he broke into a grin and decided that he needed a little more practice before it was perfect, and aimed his wand at her - “Ignis Pellis!”
Meredith gripped her wand tighter, hearing Avery's voice -- but not fast enough to counter the spell. And then her wand hand began to blister. She looked down, barely able to see in the dark -- no wound. Yet the harder she gripped the more it burned; she dropped her wand to the ground.
The curse spread, burning where her bra straps dug into her skin, where her shirt rest against her shoulders, back, stomach.
She bit her tongue and snatched her wand off the ground again. "Carpus Mortis."
Matthew wasn’t quick enough to dodge her spell and his wrists flew together, pinning them and making it difficult to move. “Bitch,” he shot out, and then tried to cast a Crucio but was ineffective because of his limited range of motion. So he went with something simpler that they’d practiced in Dark Arts, not as painful, but still effective - a stinging hex. “Aculeuo!”
Meredith tried to throw up a shield charm, but it was weak and clumsy. The stinging hex sliced right through it, hitting her directly in the chest. She stumbled back, doing her best to ignore the tears pricking in her eyes.
She wasn't going to cry because of Matthew Fuckwit Avery. "Langlock!" She shouted back. If he was going to attempt unforgivables, she was betting on him being shite at doing them silently. At least that would prevent someone else from getting hit unexpectedly with a Cruciatus Curse.
She raised her wand to knock him out with a stunning spell when… she had a better idea. Approaching him, Meredith curled her hand into a fist and landed a punch right into his dumb, annoying, purist face. "That's for the shit you said about Derek."
Matthew hated resorting to fists - that wasn’t how proper wizards fought, which was made all the more clear by the fact that Meredith was adopting it as a strategy. But with no ability to talk and his hands stuck together he had little choice, ducking and swinging his leg around to topple her off balance, and then once she was down pressing his foot down on her wand hand so she couldn’t use it. His tongue was still stuck to the roof of his mouth, but the hate in his eyes bore holes in her as he worked to counter the charm affecting his wrists.
Once his wrists were free he considered his options as his foot ground down against her hand. She was right that his unforgivable were weak as nonverbals, but he still had a few things up his sleeve, starting with the Bat-Bogey Hex, which might distract her enough to give him time to figure out how to get his voice back.
Meredith squirmed under his grip; his knee pressed into her chest right where the stinging hex had hit her. His earlier curse still hadn't yet worn off - everywhere that he touched her felt like her skin was on fire.
But she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of screaming. Of knowing he was causing her pain. She managed to wriggle her other arm free enough to try to push him back. "Finite incantum!" she managed, gripping onto her wand despite how much it hurt.
But the pain didn't stop. Just the bat bogeys.
She had also ended his tongue-locking jinx, though, and he grinned a slow smile as he realized he could speak again. “Inalgasco Pellis!” he shot out, countering his Fire Skin spell with a Frozen Skin one. And then, after a moment of that, added a “Crucio” in for good measure, now that he could.
Her wand rolled away as she writhed in pain, still locked to the ground under the pressure of his knee on her chest and his shoe pressing into her wand hand.
This time, it didn't matter what Meredith wanted to prove to him. This time she screamed.
Matthew's grin just grew wider, loving the kind of power over people the Unforgivables gave him. He stood up, but before she could recover he sent off a quick “Incarcerous!” and as the thick ropes wound their way around her body he switched back to the Fire Skin Spell. “I can honestly say this has been a pleasure,” he told Meredith. “But I've really got to go, don't let yourself get too wound up, okay?”
As he retreated, all she could feel was her skin - all of it - on fire. Every struggle made the burns worse. Every attempt to reach for her wand, now fallen out of reach, chaffed the tightly bound ropes against her body. So she closed her eyes and gave in; everything went black. She'd passed out.
GREGORY GOYLE vs. SYBILL TRELAWNEY & CHO CHANG
Cho was a mess of emotions but then again, when had she ever not been? She had always been a girl that felt too much all at once. Often times she let it overwhelm her but now she let it fuel her. “Protego Horribilis!” Cho shouted, stepping in front of Professor Trelawney to better cover the both of them from whatever Dark curse Goyle sent at them. A gouging spell aimed at his feet for him to fall back followed soon after once she dropped her shield charm.
Gregory stumbled back, as pain shot into his foot. He had not moved entirely quick enough and hadn’t expected her to go for his feet. Gregory shouted in pain as he tried to move from one foot to the other trying to stand strong and proud, or as proud as he felt. “Caecusio!” He sent the blinding curse in their direction tentatively placing weight on his throbbing foot.
“Look out,” Professor Trelawney shouted toward her dueling partner. Her shield charm was hasty, but it worked well enough to prevent the spell from reaching either of them. “Cascata!” she shouted in the direction of her student once she was sure Cho was unharmed.
The shout of another spell prompted Greg to throw up a shielding charm, one that just did enough to stop shards of things exploding in his direction. He looked wide eyed and stunned that a Professor had actually done that. For a brief moment still seeing them as a professor. “Aculeuo!” he threw a spell in their direction as his shield charm dropped and he felt his good leg beginning to weaken.
Cho momentarily gripped her arm where she had caught the stinging hex but quickly recovered. “Niptor Lapsus!” she put as much power as she could behind the vertigo spell, aiming to keep Goyle unsteady on his feet.
Greg was not so quick on the shield charm this time, and was hit with the spell. Barely able to stand as it was he stumbled more, and felt like everything was utterly spinning. Trying to focus himself he threw a blasting curse in their direction, followed quickly by a Purulentus Conjunctivitis. He couldn’t aim but trying to steady himself was his main focus but he was sending curses anyway hoping something would strike.
The sound of the blasting curse masked the sound of her lower leg snapping, so when Professor Trelawney fell she was initially unaware that she had been injured thanks to the adrenaline already coursing through her body. Oblivious, she tried to stand, but screamed in pain when she applied pressure to her leg, eventually losing balance. As she fell to the ground, the side of her head hit off a rock that was jutting out from the ground. Her pain was instantly filled with pain as the world around her became garbled, almost like she was under water. For the time being, she wouldn’t be casting anymore spells.
Damn it, she was too slow with her shielding charm. "Stay down!" Cho shouted, once again stepping in front of Professor Trelawney to deflect whatever of the onslaught of spells Goyle fired that actually came near them. A severing charm caught her in the shoulder but she managed to deflect an entrail-expelling curse before sending out a conjunctivitis curse.
Greg thought for a moment he might be doing okay, he could recover from this. Though the conjunctivitis curse hit him cause pain in his eyes making him yell out in agony. He stumbled forward and fell to the ground. The world was spinning, his eyes hurt, and he couldn’t put weight on one leg.
Greg flopped on his back tossed his wand away. “Just make it stop spinning.” He yelled, with his hands over his eyes. Maybe he should have hid through all this because how would this make his father proud?
A stunning spell was on the tip of her tongue to follow up on her curse when Goyle threw himself onto the ground. “Accio!” Cho shouted, snatching Goyle's wand out of the air as it came soaring towards her and crouched next to Professor Trelawney. He had done enough damage in this encounter, she didn't want him to have the option of doing any more.
ALEXANDER ROWLE vs. ADELAIDE MONTGOMERY & KATIE BELL
“Adelaide, move!” Katie yelled over the sound of some explosion not too far off, and fired off a Confringo! at whatever Death Eater wanna-be had engaged them in the first place, while trying to get out of the open space they currently occupied.
Adelaide began to follow the order Katie had given her, ducking from a wayward spell that flew from another direction. All night she had been wondering what she was doing here and the question hadn't gone away. Still, as she took a step back in hopes of finding some sort of cover eventually, she shouted, "Nitor Lapsus!" at the Death Eater to try and buy them some time.
Shield charms were flying left and right from his wand, which wasn’t his usual dueling styling. But the last thing Alexander needed was to be taken out by some amateurs in what was supposed to be his moment of glory. His charms couldn’t protect him from everything though and eventually some debris from the blasting charm managed to hit him just below his left eye. Hissing in pain, he aimed a Dislocating Charm at the nearest girl.
Katie cried out in pain when the charm hit her in the shoulder, her wand arm, but reached over with her left to send an “Atelectae!” over at the boy, except she knew it wasn’t as strong as it should’ve been, not with how much her shoulder hurt, and how much less precision using her non-dominant hand caused. She didn’t waste time, and moved to joined Adelaide in their search for shelter. “Conjure - conjure a shield,” she wheezed, holding her arm closely to her body.
Adelaide would have cringed at Katie's injury, but didn't really have time for even that. Instead, she just did as she was told, casting an advanced Shield Charm and hoping for the best. She wanted to ask Katie if she was all right, but if she didn't have time for a cringe, she didn't have time to check on her welfare. She was standing and Adelaide figured that was a good indication for now.
It wasn’t strong, but it was enough to do enough damage. The moment it hit Alexander began to gasp for air as one of his lungs rapidly deflated. Stumbling, he raised his wand just in time to see the Shield Charm cast, which made him frown before he let out a cough. “Cowards!” he wheezed as the hypocrisy of his statement was lost to him. “Come out and fight!”
With the moment her spell had given them, Katie breathed in deeply and tried to collect her thoughts. There wasn’t time to put her shoulder into a splint; they’d have to fix that after they finished with this kid.She glanced at Adelaide, who looked terrified at best. “You okay?” And then in the direction Alexander’s wand arm, Katie cast a Revulsion Jinx, in hopes of knocking it out of his grasp.
"Yeah," Adelaide said, nodding once as she held her wand firm, trying to keep her shield up. She wasn't fine at all, but this probably wasn't the time for philosophical truths. As long as she was standing, she figured that was fine enough for now.
A growl came deep from within him before he launched into his assault to lower their protection. Spell after spell he threw shield and after what seemed to be an eternity, Alexander finally managed to make it fall. Wasting no time, he casted a charm at the one nearest to him. “Debilitas Morso!”
“NO,” Katie roared; and threw herself in front of Adelaide when the Death Eater finally broke through their shield. She fell to the ground, woozy, headache-y; everything seemed out of focus and she wasn’t sure where she was at the moment. “I need to - I need to lie down,” she told no one in particular, and rested her head against the cool stone, closing her eyes.
Adelaide had no time to even cry out before Katie was hit by the spell that had been intended for her and was suddenly falling to the ground. Though her wand was still raised and the shield was gone, she gasped, "Katie!" Reaching out, she could tell that she was still alive, but wasn't paying nearly enough attention to her assailant as she should have.
With one of his lungs out of commission, Alexander was starting to keep lightheaded, but his adrenaline kept him pushing for more. He had to keep going as stopping didn’t seem like an option for him at this point. Raising his wand again, he took a moment and did his best to aim it at Adelaide before releasing the spell he hoped would get the job done. “Bombarda.”
The spell only partially hit Adelaide, but it was enough for her to fly back, away from Katie and against the wall behind them that they had been trying to use for cover. She let out a soft oof, but it didn't really describe the sudden pain she felt. Her shoulder had taken the brunt of the force, her body squeezed between the pressure from the spell and the wall itself. But she quickly realized that she didn't have time to assess what might be wrong with her or what could now be broken; a crack had formed between the brickwork and the wall was suddenly teetering precariously.
Adelaide moved quickly, crying out as a sharp jolt of pain went through her as she dropped to the ground, her good arm wrapping around Katie's upper body so she could quickly pull her away from the falling wall, their assailant, and hopefully to medical attention.
As the wall fell, a piece of stone flew loose and and smacked Alexander right below his right eye. He could hear the fragile bone beneath the skin snap, which made him scream in both pain and frustration. Things were definitely not going according to plan.
Quentin Williamson's long hair was tied back, his Ministry robes only slightly torn at the sleeve, and while he was technically sweating profusely from his pits, he was walking around like he hadn't been bothered. Easy-going strides masking his alert, tense shoulders.
At his side was Yasmin Crawford, some twee Ministry witch from the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in a pair of black work robes with shockingly pink lace trim along the sleeves. Who in the fuck wore that into battle, he'd wondered upon first sighting her. She was short in stature, with wide-eyes and a habit of shrieking every time a killing curse sailed over her head.
Williamson was not impressed with this partnership, to say the least.
"Oh great," he muttered. "More of these pieces of shit."
Gibbon turned his greyed, semi-decayed neck towards the smell of fresh Ministry meat and grinned. Or grimaced. It didn't matter which, he was a reanimated corpse with one mission in mind. Tear these walking, talking creatures into bits. Booomff. The earth beside him blew into the air, showering Gibbon with dirt. He looked down, now missing a leg. And pressed on towards Crawford.
The same explosion that destroyed Gibbon’s leg thrust Adelaide Perks’ shoulder and arm out of their socket and almost to a point where they were hanging from her upper back. Alive, she’d have protested this loudly with the kind of scolding voice that only a wealthy grandmother could manage. Dead, she pressed towards her attacker, glazed eyes fixed unseeing at the living pair before her.
"QUENTIIIIIN!" Crawford shrieked, pale face growing whiter -- somehow. Gibbon had hopped over towards her, and was spreading his grey fingers around her clothing, tearing at her robes, pulling at the pink lace trim. "HELP!"
"Are you not a witch?" Williamson demanded, brow furrowed. "Incen--" and that's when another inferi jumped him.
Crawford escaped her zombie attacker by letting him have the remnants of her sleeve, and grabbed her wand. Shakily, staring down the former Ms. Perks and Mr. Gibbon with all the bravery she could muster, she raised her wand and squeaked out a terrified, "Incarcerous!"
Miraculously, her wand responded, and thick ropes coiled around the inferi, tightening like a pair of boa constrictors, holding their limbs in place. One by one they landed with a thud against the earth, like fell trees.
"Well, I never," Williamson began, dusting himself down and picking off a reanimated finger from his robes -- it appeared to have pulled off Gibbon mid-struggle. Not that the corpse could feel its loss. He winked at his partner. "Not half-bad."
Crawford was too paralysed from fear to move or speak, still holding her wand at the inferi and staring. She was not trained for this. Okay, sure, she was trained for controlling and regulating magical creatures but inferi were not on her typical to do list.
Transfixed by the blue, ghostly eyes of Adelaide Perks, she didn't even notice Williamson resting a paw softly on her shoulder sympathetically.
"Incendio." He flicked his wand at each of the squirming inferi, returning to his standard unruffled demeanor.
Crawford watched as the skin of these poor animated corpses set alight. Their didn't even scream. Just stared with their ghostly blue eyes, right at her, from within the flames. She blinked, surprised to find her eyes filled with tears, and coughed from the scent of burning flesh as it filled her nostrils; she wanted desperately to look away. Yet, she stood unmoving, transfixed by the unnatural horror before her.
So Williamson took over, pushing her onwards. "C'mon, Crawfie, your work don't end here."
ACROMANTULAS vs. NOAH STEBBINS & LINDSEY CARMICHAEL
“Arania Exumai!” The spell hit the giant arachnid in one of its eyes before sending it reeling backwards. Legs flailing, the creature soared through the air before disappearing behind a file of rubble. Noah let out a sigh of relief as some debris flew upward into the air signally a large crash landing had happened. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep at least that creature at bay. “I really hate spiders...”
“Cascata!” Explosions rained down on a group of smaller spiders making their way towards them. Lindsey made a face at Noah’s words and as her spell hit the spiders, injuring a few enough that they scurried away and scaring away the rest. She had never really minded spiders. She left them alone as long as they didn’t get in her hair but Lindsay had never dealt with spiders this big and there was the added fact that they were trying to kill her and Noah.
“Aw, I was just about to suggest that we keep one.” She let out a low whine, turning to face Noah with a small pout before sounds of scuttling filled her ears. She turned back in time to catch a leaping spider in mid-air with a severing hex. It fell to the ground near her with a loud thump, legs twitching before stilling, only one mandible and some of it’s head remaining.
His return frown was brief thanks to the sudden appearance of another spider. “Oh, yeah. That sounds like a good idea,” Noah said as a small fireball was sent toward a lingering smaller spider, which easily went up in flames. “We can keep it in a spare bedroom. Buy it a lovely duvet set to match the wall paint.”
Despite their current situation, Lindsey could help but to laugh at what Noah said. “We can name it Skitter,” she impeded the process of a small group and sent them away with an explosion. “Skit for short. Oh or Gnaw!” Again she turned to Noah, eyes shining with humour, about to suggest a ridiculous name like Fluffy before a spider she didn’t hear coming tackled her to the ground.
Noah’s eyes went wide as he saw the attacking spider, but it moved to swiftly for him to utter a warning. As the creature knocked Lindsey to the ground, he didn’t hesitate to move toward it with his wand out in an offensive manner. A blasting curse followed a moment later and when it struck the acromantula’s thorax, the creature promptly exploded sending chunks of spider in every direction.
“Lindsey!” He didn’t even notice the piece of leg stuck in his hair as he crouched down to check on her.
Her wand was all but forgotten as she pushed away at the pincers trying to get at her face. One of it’s legs pinning her to the ground painfully and she brought up her arm to cover her face as she tried to push against the spider with one hand. Immediately it closed its mandibles around her forearm. She screamed with rage and then pain as she felt something in her arm snap before all that remained was its head that she quickly did away with.
Noah was by her side, presence reassuring but she was still livid and in pain. “Fuck you, you fucking spider bitch.” She cradled her right forearm to her body. “I want them all dead.”
“Okay. Yes. Agreed. But are you all right?” Noah asked as he brushed a piece of goop off her forehead.
“Yes.” she answered automatically, despite the blood running through her fingers as she clamped down on the gash on her right arm. “No, I think my dumb arm is broken.” With a little bit of difficulty, Lindsey dropped her wand from her right hand and wiped the blood off her left hand on her robes to pick it back up. Determined to keep dueling.
“We could probably take -- “ He paused a moment to launched another fireball at a smaller spider that thought it could sneak up on them. “If you think you can keep going, we’ll keep going.”
“Ferula.” Lindsey muttered, tapping her arm with her wand then blasting away encroaching spiders. “Oh, I can definitely keep going!” Blood seeped through the bandages she conjured, she knew little healing magic, but enough to keep going. She shot a fireball as she rose to her feet and then fired off a barrage of slashing hexes. “I’m not letting eight legged abominations get the better of me!”
As she rose, Noah gave a nervous smile as he stood once again. “Guess we’ll have to reconsider that duvet cover,” he quipped before turning his attention and charm skills back to the spiders.
INFERI & HAG vs. STERLING DAWLISH
Sterling knew perhaps more about phobias than any sixteen year old likely had a right to know. For instance, he knew that they were excessive reactions to fear, and that they could be quite irrational at times. He knew there were several hundred distinct types of phobias. He also knew a lot of people, creatures, and beings seemed to share several different phobias. A lot had a completely rational (in his opinion) fear of the dark or of falling or of thunder and lightning. They also had a rather legitimate fear of fire. And Sterling had absolutely no qualms about taking advantage of that particular phobia.
For the most part, this plan had consisted of using fire as a means to keep anything and anyone wanting to attack at a safe distance. Mostly in the form of fireballs, which he currently aimed at a small group of Inferi. He doubted a physical confrontation with even one of them would end very well for himself, so he tried to keep a good sized ring of fire around him thanks to a spell he'd either read about in a book or had picked up in class -- whichever, though he couldn't recall just then. But it didn't really matter at the moment.
The problem with the Inferi, of course, was that they weren't technically alive so they couldn't technically die. And Sterling certainly did not have the skill or the time to try to dismantle the Dark Magic that went into making one, let alone several. One saving grace to that might have been the light of day, and he worked to press that advantage by setting two Inferi on fire. Even if they couldn't die, they could still burn.
One of the holes in his plan? A passing giant that, while not bothering with him thanks to the fire, still shook the ground enough with its footfalls and penchant for throwing large objects. While he, thankfully, hadn't been crushed, Sterling did find himself thrown off his feet with the wind knocked out of him thanks to the combination of the earth-shaking footsteps of the giant and the tree limb it had thrown. All but the fire of the walking Inferi torches winked out as the young wizard gasped for air, silently praying he hadn't broken a rib and subsequently punctured a lung or something else equally unappealing (though he was pretty sure, if one wasn't broken, at least a few of his ribs were bruised).
As fast as he could (which was slower than it ought to have been as his chest and sides ached, his lungs straining a bit with the effort to breathe), Sterling rolled over and got his feet under him. Pushing himself up, he caught a glimpse of an Acromantula tackling a familiar figure (Lindsey Carmichael, he thought). Before he could do little more than grab his wand as he stood, however, something very solid slammed into his back, yet again knocking him to the ground.
Twisting to once again get his feet under him, Sterling saw the face of a particularly ugly hag far too close to his own face for his liking. He had no desire to be her breakfast this morning. He scrambled backward as she lunged at him, a silver knife darting out of her dirty robes, catching him on the arm. A shout of pain escaped his lips, followed instinctively by "Confringo," his wand aimed at the hag's face. A second later, he turned and quickly got to his feet, hurrying to get away from the hag and whatever may or may not be left of her.
VARIOUS CREATURES vs. SAMARA FAWCETT
This was it. This was how she was going to die. Sam knew that death was a possibility as soon as she set foot back at Hogwarts; after all, she’d seen several bodies strewn about the grounds. She didn’t know who they were (mostly because she’d tried not to look too closely, in case they were people she knew) or which side they were on, but that wasn’t really the point. They were still lives that had been lost.
And now that she was face-to-face (or, face-to-snout, rather) with probable death herself, she could hardly believe this was how she was going to go out. She would have given anything to see her parents, siblings, and friends one last time.
She had been holding her own surprisingly well up until this point. However, she was on the outskirts of the fighting rather than smack dab in the middle of it, so that probably accounted for most of her luck so far. She and a few other students had managed to fend off a small horde of Acromantulas with some well placed Arania Exumais, which she didn’t feel the least bit bad about. She hated spiders.
And right now, aside from Professor Lupin, she also hated werewolves. The furry beast slowly advancing toward her bared his teeth and let out a low, growling laugh, apparently taking his time, knowing that Sam currently had nowhere to run. Breathing heavily, she raised her wand just as the werewolf lunged forward.
Before she could utter a spell, or anything at all, the hairy creature was suddenly knocked aside. A giant lumbering past, swinging what looked like a hoop from the Quidditch Pitch, had unknowingly just saved her; or at least granted her some extra time. Seizing the moment, Sam quickly cast a Petrificus Totalus on the werewolf. A simple spell, perhaps, but it was effective in rendering him motionless for the time being. She followed that up with a Confringo, aimed at a half-crumbled wall next to the werewolf. As the wall exploded, Sam stumbled backward, holding her arms over her head to protect herself from the raining rubble. Shards of stone cut into her arms and she knew she’d have some wicked bruising later. The wall itself had done what Sam hoped it would; it had landed on the werewolf. Whether he was dead or just severely injured remained to be seen.
Unfortunately, Sam wasn’t in the clear yet. Having not been paying close attention to what was behind her, she failed to notice a patch of Devil’s Snare hidden in a dark corner. A vine slithered out and wrapped around her ankle, knocking her off-balance in such a way that she had no time to catch herself. Falling at an awkward angle, with her legs twisted under her, Sam felt something in her leg snap as she landed. She let out a loud cry of pain, desperately trying to remember how to fight off the plant. Sun. It hated sunlight. Though she was feeling nauseous and woozy from the pain, she managed to find it in her to cast one final spell to force the plant to let go of her.
As her vision blurred in front of her, Sam could vaguely make out one or two people approaching her. They hoisted her up and started to drag her off before she passed out.
CORBAN YAXLEY vs. LEE JORDAN, GEORGE WEASLEY, & OLIVER RIVERS
"Come on, George!" Lee exclaimed, racing through the grounds with his friend in tow, making sure to dodge any stray spells and hexes that came their way. Spotting a Death Eater not far away, who had been heading towards a student, Lee pointed his wand at the masked moron, and shouted, "Lacarnum Inflamarae!"
Yaxley was lucky enough to escape the ball of fire, but as it hit the spot of grass right next to him, the fireball escalated quickly and spread around. He hissed at it, trying to get his robe out of the way, before his aim was on the two men headed his way. "Crucio!" he shouted lazily at the one closest to him — a Weasley, if he wasn't mistaken.
George felt like a robot going through the motions of battle. You know, the robots his father had always told him about. His wand flicked, blocking stray jinxes here and there, but he was not prepared for an outright Unforgivable.
George dropped to the ground, screaming at the burning pain he felt all over his body.
When he rose again, bracing himself for a fight, he felt much like an empty shell once more.
“Confringo,” he muttered, quietly.
The spell didn't have quite an effect as it might have at another point, but Yaxley felt the effects as he was thrown off balance momentarily. He barked with laughter, louder than what might have been appropriate for the moment and shouted, "Exintera!"
Lee quickly put up a Shield Charm between George and the Death Eater, causing the spell to bounce off and hit Yaxley once more. And not long after, the contents of Yaxley's entrails were expelling outwards.
George stood still and stared at the Death Eater’s intestines. “Gross,” was his only comment.
"Gross, indeed," Lee agreed, shaking his head.
But as weak as Yaxley as in that moment, he turned to the Weasley boy once again, before shouting out a few Crucios for good measure. Not wanting to prolong any of this, or give these boys any more reason to be fighting, he threw a few Avada Kedavras, ducking just in time to avoid the debris that flew when the Killing Curses hit various objects nearby.
How Yaxley managed to send off a hot amount of brutal curses with his insides hanging out, George did not know. Had he not dropped once more to the floor as he was hit by another Crucio, both in pain and surprise, he would’ve pondered this a bit more. As the debris flew all around him, a sharp piece of wood pierced through his side. In the entirety of the moment, George did not feel this shard as much as he felt the curse.
It was true that Yaxley was weaker; the Cruciatus Curse wore off just as quickly as it had arrived. George rose and with a dead look in his and pointed his wand at Yaxley. “Stupefy.” Now the man could lay there and die quietly.
Stunned and not being able to move, Yaxley fell to the floor, without an opportunity to go after his enemies again.
Lee winked at George, but he spotted a younger boy near him, as he shouted, "You alright there, mate?"
Oliver had been trying to stay out of sight and, more importantly, out of the way of Death Eaters and stray curses, wand raised and ready to help if need be but hopeful that it wouldn’t come to that. But the stray killing curses had hit the tree he’d been crouched behind, splintering it into his body. “I’m okay,” he wheezed, pulling out one large shard of wood then realising what a bad idea that was at the blood started to flow. “Here to help,” he added as he staunched the blood with his hand, looking over at the immobile Death Eater. “But, I, uh, guess you have that covered.”
"We do," Lee responded, throwing Yaxley another look. "But come on, we should go —"
He paused in his words, as his attention caught something else in the distance. The sight of Molly Weasley against Bellatrix Lestrange on one side, and McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley against Voldemort on the other.