A Promise Kept - Chapter 59 - Escape From Malfoy Manor

Escape from Malfoy Manor

“Old habits, Black. We got used to fighting them a certain way, and we still haven’t changed it,” Moody said with a shrug.

Sirius nodded. It wasn’t as though they had much of an opportunity to change it.

The only time they’d confronted the Death Eaters thus far was when they’d met them in the Department of Mysteries. They had been all but absent since.”

It was the sudden trembling of the ground beneath his feet that stilled him momentarily, and he exchanged a look with the other gathered members of the Order.

“Harry!” Lily gasped as she snapped from her stupor, charging towards where the explosion had originated from.

Sirius followed along with the others, and as he did so, another explosion sounded, lighting up the night sky as a column of fire tore through the now visible manor in the distance.

“Apparate!” Alastor urged.

Sirius did so, appearing on the lawn belonging to Lucius Malfoy, waving his wand to clear the cloud of forming smoke.

Somewhere within the building, he could hear frantic shouting, the sounds of spellfire, and even the thudding of dozens of pairs of boots, but it was those already spilling outside that caught his attention, and he levelled his wand towards a group of them.

The curses flew from his wand, and he managed to strike three down before his presence was noticed, and quickly, he found himself caught in the middle of a chaotic rebuttal.

Staying light on his feet, he dodged and shielded as best he can, firing off his own offense to prevent them from being able to pin him down, but already, he was outnumbered.

Even so, Sirius wasn’t going to let them get the better of him.

Sweeping his wand across his body, he unleashed a gout of blackened flames towards his attackers, giving him just enough time to apparate to a better position, where he continued with his attack, felling two more with a pair of rupturing curses before moving to yet another position.

For him, it was his best approach to fighting so many, and with the smoke filling the grounds once more, he could not see where any other members of the Order were.

Sirius knew he needed to find them. As much success as he was currently having, it would not last whilst he fought alone against such odds, which would only continue to increase with the more Death Eaters that joined the fray, not to mention Voldemort, who was oddly absent, for now.

(Break)

“As much as I appreciate you coming for us, Potter, what the bloody hell are we going to do?” one of the men who’d been kept prisoner here demand to know.

“Well, shutting up would be a good start,” Harry grumbled as he summoned the boxes of wands, unlocking it with only a little difficulty before handing it to Sabine. “Come on, find your wands. I’ll hold them back as best I can.”

Already, he could hear a cacophony of spells smashing into the falling debris he’d used to block the doorway, and it would only take a few moments for those to be removed.

More concerning, however, was the gaping hole he’d blasted through all four levels of the Malfoy home, where he could now see the night sky above him.

Had he been prepared for so many, or even this approach, brooms would’ve been most useful, but equally risky he realised as a head appeared over the edge on the second floor.

Hurling a rather unpleasant vomiting jinx towards the onlooker, Harry pondered how he would get so many of them out of here, stepping out of the way of the results of his spell having hit home.

“Stairs,” he murmured. “Do you all have your wands?”

“Yes!” Sabine answered, and Harry began waving his own, gathering enough of the surrounding debris, warping and twisting them to resemble a spiral staircase to fill the gap above them.

“Behind me. We will get off on the second floor!” he instructed.

“Why the second floor?”

“Because the first will be full of them,” Harry answered, frowning as he heard the sounds of fighting in the distance.

The Order had evidently arrived and would be outnumbered quickly.

“Let’s go!”

Climbing the first of the steps, Harry readied himself, blocking a curse that hurtled towards him as he peered out of the gap on the first floor, and returning fire, banishing the attacker into a group forming in the corridor behind them.

“THEY’RE ESCAPING!”

By now, Harry was already continuing his ascent with Sabine closely behind him, and soon enough, the sound of further spells from Death Eaters and prisoners alike resumed as the latter followed him out of the basement.

Fighting their way out was the only course of action, and in the situation they found themselves in, there was only so much Harry could do.

No pair of hands would be left unbloodied, and tonight, that would be the cost of their freedom.

Harry could not do it all alone, after all, and as he stepped out onto the second floor of Malfoy Manor, he breathed a sigh of relief that there were not dozens of Voldemort’s followers waiting for them immediately.

That would change soon enough, and he readied himself for that eventuality as the others arrived behind him.

“Is everyone here?”

“Yes, but Smith is hurt,” another young man answered. “A cutting curse, I think.”

“I’m alright, let’s just get the bloody hell out of here!”

Harry nodded knowing it wasn’t wise to linger. The sooner they were able to escape, the better for all of them, and yet, he knew that all of them being able to do so was nigh on impossible.

He could not protect all of them, after all, not with what undoubtedly waited for them outside the walls of the manor.

“This way,” he urged, hurrying forward with his wand poised to strike down anything that moved ahead of them, only to balk as a sudden feeling of imminent danger washed over him.

“GET DOWN!”

The wall to his left exploded outwards, showering him in stone and dust, and Harry immediately sprung to his feet, retaliating with a few choice curses ranging from bludgeoning curses to some of the more unpleasant ones that would tear the tongue from the victim’s head.

A bloodcurdling scream told him one had hit home, but he was forced to duck once more as a response was sent his way.

“MOVE!” he shouted, pulling Sabine along with him.

Remaining where they were would only result in them being killed, the narrow corridor offering no protection.

“Keep going,” he urged, coming to a halt around halfway down, allowing the others to pass him by before levelling his wand towards the direction they’d come from.

Once more delving into his transfiguration, he created a pair of enormous bears from the remains of the wall and sent them to intercept any that would be pursuing them.

It would perhaps only buy them a few valuable seconds, but they needed every last one of them.

With his work complete, he charged forward, encouraging the stragglers forward, already certain they’d lost a few of them along the way, until he reached Sabine once more.

“Where next?” she asked.

“We don’t have many options,” Harry answered. “Our best bet is through the wall, outside, and get as far away from here as possible, but not until I’ve found my mother and Sirius. They’re out there, somewhere,” he added, nodding towards the direction he could hear the fighting in the distance.

Sabine nodded.

“POTTER!”

He managed to bat the incoming spell to the side and diverted the next so that it collided with the wall instead of his face.

The stone began to bubble and hiss, and the slag began dripping to the floor.

Whoever it was attempting to curse him certainly wasn’t pulling their punches, and it was a scream from Sabine that alerted him to another group closing in from behind.

She managed to block the flurry of curses sent towards them, but once more, they were pinned down.

With a shake of his head, Harry aimed his wand at the melting stone, his own spell resulting in a screeching sound as it passed through, leaving a gaping hole.

“Go! Use a cushioning charm to break your fall,” he urged, all but shoving the others through the gap he’d created.

Fortunately, it was not such a height to fall from that they would cause any lasting injuries if they failed to react in time, but it was a much better prospect than facing what was coming for them up here.

By now, there was around a dozen or so Death Eaters on either side of the corridor, and before all of the prisoners managed to squeeze through the hole, Harry already knew they wouldn’t all make it.

“Bollocks,” he grumbled, blasting another hole through the opposite wall. “This way!”

It would take the rest of them deeper into the manor, but at least out of immediate danger.

Ushering them through the new gap, he was the last inside the adjoining room, adding a few curses for good measure to buy them just a little more time.

It was a bedroom of sorts they found themselves in, one that was in use, but thankfully empty.

“That’s not a real window,” he warned as Susan Bones attempted to unlock the latch of one on the far side of the room. “It’s just an enchantment.”

“Of course it isn’t,” the redhead huffed irritably. “What now?”

Harry frowned at the question, and the pressure on him only increased as the groups of Death Eaters reached the outside of the room.

“Well, going through the door is not a good idea,” he snorted, “and going down from here…chances are it is full of them. So…”

“We go up,” Sabine interjected, pointing her wand towards the ceiling.

“Up and out,” Harry agreed as she blasted yet another gaping hole in the building.

Repairing the manor would be an expensive undertaking, if Lucius somehow managed to survive the night.

If Harry had his way, he would run into the man before all was said and done here.

(Break)

She mindlessly read through yet another report that had been left on her desk, not really taking in what had been written, only enough to see that three other disappearances had occurred within the last week.

For Amelia Bones, they meant next to nothing more than three further names to add to the others that were gone, just like her niece.

She spent most of her time in her office now.

Returning home only felt as though she’d failed once more to find Susan, and seeing the young woman’s belongings, the framed photographs, and the questioning from the elves only made it all that much worse.

Of course, she should be at Hogwarts now attending her final year, but instead, she was being held against her will, used as a means to control Amelia and her efforts against Voldemort.

She wanted her back.

More than anything else, she wanted her niece home, and safe, just as Susan’s mother and father would.

She wanted to strike them down, each and every one of them responsible for what had been don, and yet, Amelia knew that if she dared step a toe out of line, it would be Susan who’d pay the price.

They would kill her if they felt it necessary.

Having lived through the last war, witnessed the atrocities of the Dark Lord and his followers, Amelia did not doubt they would not think twice about killing Susan.

It was that prevailing thought that continually stilled her, that prevented her from reacting against what was happening out there, and worse yet, she equally knew that if she was to step down from her position, Susan would be killed out of mere convenience.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly as she looked towards the clock, unable to remember the last time she’d rested or slept, let alone peacefully.

Maybe it had only been days, or it could even be weeks. She simply didn’t know, but as someone began frantically hammering on the door to her office, she felt just a little more alert despite the exhaustion.

“What is it?” she snapped.

Gawain Robards entered; his demeanour reserved but his eyes wide with concern.

These past days, their once thriving, working relationship had become nothing short of strained as the two of them butted heads over Amelia’s refusal to jeopardise Susan’s life by acting against whatever the Dark Lord was doing.

Already, she knew she’d lost the loyalty her Aurors, and even Robards, whom she’d worked with for more than a decade, no longer held any respect for her.

“Significant magical disruptions are being reported in Wiltshire, Madam Bones,” he informed her. “Duggan and Mills say that a large-scale fight is happening in the area of Lucius Malfoy’s home.”

Amelia frowned.

She could not fathom what was happening there.

Malfoy Manor was one of the most protected houses in the entire country, so it was unlikely that a fight was happening.

“Bones?” Robards pressed sharply. “Did you hear what I said?”

“Of course I heard you, Gawain!” she snapped irritably. “Have we received an official report?”

“Well, no, but the detectors are going haywire, and both Duggan and Mills say that they are witnessing violence. The house has been significantly damaged, and there are already several casualties.”

She had wondered if that was where Susan had been taken.

Lucius had not been seen since Cornelius had been murdered, and she did not doubt that he had a hand in the act.

Draco.

He’d been the one responsible for Susan’s abduction, well, that was what Black believed, and Amelia had no reason to doubt the man.

“BONES!” Robards shouted angrily. “Are we just going to fucking sit here and do nothing?”

Truthfully, Amelia didn’t know what to do, and before she could answer, Robards slammed his hand on the top of her desk.

“People are out there dying. Every day, more and more of them, and we are here sitting on our fucking thumbs. I’m sorry, but I will not do that anymore. You might be unwilling to help because of your niece, but what about everyone else? Do they deserve to suffer because you are too scared to do what is right? I’m going to Malfoy Manor, and I will take every last Auror that I can muster. Fire me if you like. I’d rather that than whatever this has become.”

He stormed from the room, and Amelia did nothing to stop him.

Instead, she picked up the photo of her niece that she’d placed face down on her desk and smiled sadly.

If she was right in her thinking, if Susan was indeed at Malfoy Manor, it appeared that now was the one and only chance she might be granted to get the girl back alive.

With that in mind, she released a deep breath to steel herself, and drew her wand in preparation before apparating away, just far enough that she could get a grasp of the situation but filled with anew determination to do what was right.

Susan would expect nothing less of her, and nor would Amelia expect it of herself.

(Break)

Something wasn’t right.

He couldn’t be certain what it was, but he could feel a disturbance within him, a warning of sorts. It was unsettling, and a she continued to watch the Aurors and Magical Catastrophes Team continue their work, the Dark Lord frowned to himself.

What could it be?

What could possibly be happening that had filled him with such a sudden unease?

Lord Voldemort didn’t know, but as another pair of Aurors arrived, and the entire team in Oldham quickly took their leave, he knew that something was amiss, that something rather significant was happening.

He turned sharply as he became aware of the arrival of another, and frowned as the pale Scabior began stammering.

“M-my lord, the manor, it is under attack!”

That was all he needed to hear before he too vanished, any joy he’d experienced from seeing the devastation caused by the giants all but evaporating as his attention shifted elsewhere.

How had Malfoy Manor been compromised?

That was one of many questions running through his mind, but he quickly realised that none mattered.

Arriving a hundred metres or so from the sanctuary of his Death Eaters, he saw the damage already done for himself, and knowing he needed to salvage something; the prisoners, his most loyal followers, and even Nagini, whom he’d left here, he stalked towards the chaos with his wand in hand, ready to strike down his enemies.

(Break)

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d hidden underneath his bed. Perhaps it had been when he was a scared child, and his mother would find him there after having a bad dream.

Draco Malfoy had never envisioned he would be doing much the same when he was a man grown.

It had been the shaking of the house that had woken him, and the shouting, screaming and spellfire that followed that saw him seeking refuge.

At first, he had wondered if it was the Death Eaters falling out with one another. It happened enough, after all, and barely a few days went by that his Aunt Bella didn’t lose her temper over something.

He shuddered at the thought of the woman.

His mother had warned him that she’d always been rather unhinged, and Draco had seen it for himself. Her stint in Azkaban had certainly done her no favours.

“Mother,” he whispered worriedly.

Dragging himself from underneath his bed, he scrambled to find his wand, which had fallen behind his bedside table. Retrieving it, he cautiously made his way to do the door, pausing as another scream sounded much closer than the others.

It took a moment to steel his resolve to open it, and when he did so, he gasped at the sight that greeted him.

Half of the manor seemed to have been destroyed, and Draco realised that this was not merely a falling out.

Wondering what was happening, and knowing he couldn’t just stand here gawping, he hurried in the direction of his parent’s bedroom, only to come to a halt before he reached it at the sight of a small group of people passing through, most of whom he recognised.

Before he could offer any protest, it was the Van Droombeeld girl who pointed his wand at him, and a searing pain spread across his face, despite turning to avoid the curse.

Draco’s vision swam in and out of focus, and all he felt was the same, unrelenting burning of his flesh as he desperately tried to crawl away.

Fortunately, the girl, nor any other she had been with, pursued him, and Draco Malfoy was left to claw his way to something resembling safety, though he found none and quickly fatigued from his efforts.

What curse he’d been hit with, he did not know, but he could feel his own skin melting from his face, and just as he began to believe he was truly alone, he felt the presence of another nearby.

Bracing himself for yet another curse to collide with him, he closed his only functional eye, only to hear a gasp of shock.

“Draco?” a panicked voice whispered.

Daring to glance, he saw his dishevelled mother leaning over him, her hair in disarray, her pyjamas singed, and her expression one of horror.

“Mother?” he croaked.

“Oh, my sweet boy,” the woman sobbed. “What have they done to you?”

What had they done?

Draco remained ignorant of it, something he was pleased with for the time being, but as his mother began hurriedly applying a salve to his face, the pain became overwhelming and the darkness mercifully took him, ridding him of the agony, though not the pressing question of what it was he had endured.

(Break)

There was no denying that the odds were against them.

Already, Lily had seen the remains of Elphias, having almost tripped over them whilst fending off Macnair and the Carrow twins, along with any other that decided to throw themselves into the mix of violence and chaos she found herself a part of.

Somewhere nearby, Sirius, Fred, and George were fighting the Lestrange brothers, and a slew of other masked figures. Tonks had her hands full with Bellatrix, Moody and Shacklebolt were being held back by Antonin Dolohov and a group he was leading, and as for the rest of the Order, Lily did not know.

They had been separated in the ensuing battle, and her mind was on two things; not being killed, and just where her son was.

There had been a number of explosions within the nearby building, which was slowly but surely crumbling away from the inside out.

For Lily, that meant that Harry was still in there somewhere, fighting his way out.

Even so, the odds were stacked so heavily against them that if something didn’t change soon, the members of the Order would soon be overrun. The Death Eaters, despite their initial panic, seemed to be rallying together, and just as the others undoubtedly were by now, Lily was fighting for her life.

Taking advantage of a lazy curse sent towards her from Alecto Carrow, she struck back, her small spell blowing a hole through the woman’s mask, exiting through the back of her skull.

She fell almost in slow motion, accompanied by the guttural roar of her brother.

“ALECTO!”

Amycus’s rage was palpable, and that too made him just as clumsy as his sibling’s final offering.

He screamed in fury as he sent a plethora of spells towards her, forcing some of his own to shield as Lily deflected them back towards the Death Eaters.

Once more taking advantage of what little there was to, she stepped out of the path of another offering and shifted her attention towards a small cluster of masked men and women.

Firing a charm towards their feet, she nodded as they began to sink into the ground, their struggling only making it more troublesome for them, but even though they were somewhat subdued, Lily still had her hands full with Macnair and the grieving Amycus Carrow, who had completely taken leave of his senses as he continued hurling spell after spell in fury.

Even so, she was able to hold her own against the two of them, and as another explosion blew an enormous hole outwards of the third floor of the manor, she took it as another positive sign that Harry was faring as well as could be hoped.

The same, however, could not be said for those on the outside.

The numbers against them seemed to only increase, but there were others amongst them, people Lily did not recognise who were fighting the Death Eaters.

Had they been the prisoners here?

If that was so, where was Harry?

Before she could find a way of asking one of the newcomers, Lily felt the distinct presence of another, one she would never forget for the rest of her life.

Voldemort had finally arrived.

Doing her utmost to fend off the continued attacks from Macnair and the last of the Carrows, she could not ignore that the man was drawing closer to her, his magic washing over the entirety of the grounds, and undoubtedly within the manor itself like a suffocating blanket, his anger palpable and overwhelming all else.

It was only a moment later she spotted him seemingly gliding towards her on a smoky cloud of the vilest of magicks he could command.

His eerily red eyes were burning into her own, and Lily readied herself for the inevitable fight for her life, only to balk as the cries of dozens of others echoed from all directions.

The Dark Lord too was distracted by the sudden influx of red robed Aurors who were tearing through the grounds of Malfoy Manor, but it was the redhead Amelia Bones leading them he chose to focus on, unleashing an offering of spells with blinding speed that was matched by the famed Auror, and Lily’s own focus shifted once more on both surviving what was unfolding around her, and finding her son.

In a matter of only moments, what was intended to be a rescue mission completed clandestinely had become quite the battle between Voldemort and his forces, and the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix.

(Break)

It had felt most satisfying cursing Draco.

Sabine would not usually delve into such magic, but if there was anyone that deserved the permanent scarring, it was the boy responsible for the imprisonment of his classmates.

Besides, had she not done it, it was likely that Harry would simply have cut him down, just as he had several others that had attempted to stop them.

In the moment, her mind was only on escaping the hell she’d been forced to endure. For now, what came after didn’t matter. She needed to be certain there would be that time to come to terms with all she’d been through, including what was transpiring now.

She came to a halt behind Harry, who had suddenly stopped, his eyes almost glowing as they narrowed.

“He’s here,” he murmured darkly, pointing his wand towards a wall a little over a dozen feet away.

With only a flick of the pale wand he carried, it exploded outwards, and he led them towards the hole.

“Get out of here, as far as you can. I will find you when this is done.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” Sabine protested. “Harry, please…”

“Then find somewhere safe to hide. You cannot be anywhere near me for this.”

He threw himself through the hole, and Sabine watched as he ascended towards the sky, seemingly vanishing into the clouds above.

What intended to do was clear to her, and if Voldemort was indeed here as Harry believed, things would only become much worse in the coming moments.

“We’d best get a move on,” she urged the rest of the group, “and stick together. We have a better chance of getting out of this if we do.”

They nodded their agreement, and Sabine cast a cushioning charm on herself, checking there was nothing dangerous below before plunging towards the ground where she waited for the others to join her.

“We should head for the trees.”

“No, I need to find my aunt,” Susan Bones replied. “I need her to see that I’m okay. She’s here somewhere. I know she is.”

Without waiting for a reply, she ran towards the sounds of fighting with her wand drawn, along with Hannah Abbott and a few others that had been locked away by the Dark Lord.

For Sabine, she would do as Harry had bid her.

He had taken the trouble to rescue her at great risk to himself. How that came to be, she did not know, but she would not repay all he’d done for her to risk it all being for nothing.

It wasn’t quite a year since she’d seen him last, but he’d changed so much, and yet, there was still something of that same boy she’d spent the first years of her schooling flirting with and growing close to.

She’d missed him, and as she made her way towards the safety of the trees a short distance away, she wondered what had happened to lead to this, to Harry coming for her and the others so readily, and all else that had happened between now and the last time they’d spoken.

(Break)

The Aurors had arrived in the nick of time.

Sirius had not missed the approaching Dark Lord, nor that the members of the Order were already so outnumbered that it had been all but impossible to gain any advantage.

He’d seen the corpse of Elphias Doge, seen that both Moody and Tonks were badly injured, but still alive, well, he hoped.

Kingsley had taken over duelling Bellatrix, and was holding his own against his deranged cousin, and now, he found himself alone with no idea where the rest of the Order was.

He was certain Rabastan Lestrange was dead, and maybe even Rodolphus. The man was at least badly wounded, but he too had endured his own mishap.

There was no doubt that his left arm was broken along with a few ribs, but he fought on as best he could, giving a wide berth to Amelia Bones and Voldemort, who were determined to tear each other limb from limb.

Where Harry was, Sirius did not know.

Everything had become even more chaotic in these last moments, and as he found himself engaged by another of the Death Eaters, he immediately recognised who it was.

He’d come to know the man well enough when they’d been students at Hogwarts, and had crossed wands more times than he could count.

“Decided to show yourself, Snivellus?” he goaded.

Snape was a dangerous foe, among the very best of the Death Eaters, but when riled, he would make mistakes, and no one knew how to irk the man better than Sirius Black.

He said nothing in response, choosing to let his wandwork do the talking, and Sirius avoided the familiar curse aimed towards him, which he blocked, much t the surprise of Snape.

It was one of many of the man’s own creation, one he’d attempted to use against James during their fifth year at Hogwarts.

It had not ended well for Snape, who’d spent three days in the Hospital Wing having his feet healed from the rhino James had transfigured to run over them.

“Come on, Snape, you can do better than that,” Sirius chuckled.

“CRUCIO!”

He barely managed to avoid the Unforgiveable, and any semblance of amusement he’d felt vanished in a heartbeat.

He’d never experienced the torture curse for himself.

His mother would have undoubtedly loved to have practiced it on him, but it was one of few indignities Sirius had not been subjected to. Still, he realised now that this was not one of their schoolyard disagreements, and he returned in kind with a spell of his own, forcing Snape on the backfoot as he struggled to defend himself against the Black family magic.

He may be one of the most prolific practitioners of the Dark Arts, but not even Severus Snape was prepared for such to be used against him.

The onslaught did not stop, and eventually his foe was forced to shield himself behind a shield Sirius had only ever seen Albus use.

It was incredibly difficult to break through.

Gathering himself, Snape began pacing back and forth within it, pausing after a moment to stare at him.

“Did you enjoy your gift?” he asked.

“My gift?”

Sirius could almost feel the man’s grin beneath his mask.

“Lupin. Oh, you didn’t know I was there. I suppose you don’t know that it was me that ensured Greyback discovered him. He did not die well. I remember his screams fondly.”

Sirius was certain his jaw would break with how tense it had become, and he raised his wand, his nostrils flaring as he gave into the rage coursing through his veins.

The roar he unleashed was guttural, and the magic that left his wand somehow darker than the night sky above them.

It crashed into Snape’s shield before tearing into it, much like a pack of wolves shredding its prey.

There had been no incantation, no real intention, but his magic reacted to his emotions, and Sirius could almost smell the fear of the man it was aimed towards.

Snape scrambled desperately, and as his shield finally gave way, he was sent sprawling across the lawn of Malfoy Manor, yelping as the next spell collided with his leg.

Before Sirius could follow up, however, the man vanished, and he cursed in protest, looking for another he could direct his anger towards, only to still as he caught sight of the grounded Amelia Bones.

The Dark Lord was looming over the now wandless woman, poised to strike her down, but just as Sirius was, Voldemort became distracted by a piercing screeching that filled the air.

“Where is that coming from?” a bloodied Lily asked as she reached him.

She too was wearing the results of the fighting, but most of it was not her own.

“I don’t know,” Sirius murmured, the fatigue of his efforts and anger setting in.

There would be time to digest what he’d learned, and consider what he’d do next, but Snape was no longer here, had undoubtedly fled to somewhere to lick his wounds.

Sirius would catch up with him if it was the last thing he did, but for now, he watched as almost those fighting stilled as the screeching became louder.

His eyes widened as something landed on the ground between Voldemort and Amelia Bones, and he watched as Harry stood at his full height, only a few feet away from the Dark Lord.

“Oh, shit,” Sirius muttered, barely noticing Lily’s grip tightening around his arm. “This isn’t good.”

(Break)

He expected that his own gaze was filled with more hatred than that of Tom Riddle’s as the man glared at him, irritated by Harry’s interruption.

He liked knowing it took so little effort to get under the man’s skin, that he was the bane of his life, and a smirk tugged at his lips.

“Hello, Tom,” he greeted the Dark Lord. “Do you like what I’ve done with the place?”

His eyes narrowed in disdain, and Harry readied himself, but chuckled as Voldemort hesitated.

“You don’t know what to do, do you?” he asked almost amusedly, though he felt anything but the joviality in his tone.

Harry’s rage was still palpable, his blood boiling in his veins at what had happened to Sabine at the hands of the man standing before him, and he wanted nothing more than to make him suffer, to kill him for what he’d done.

He would too.

Even if it was with his own dying breath, he would see that Tom Riddle suffered for his transgressions against Harry.

“Is this where it ends, Harry Potter?” he asked quietly. “Is this where I kill you?”

Harry shrugged in response.

“Maybe, but I would hold on if I were you. I have a gift for you, well, a few, actually. Would you like them?”

Voldemort frowned as Harry removed the head of Barty Crouch and threw it at his feet.

The Dark Lord looked at it impassively for a moment before his gaze returned to Harry’s.

“You shouldn’t have, Harry. I already have many just like it.”

“I figured as much,” Harry sighed, “that’s why I brought another. Oh, and Tom, before it arrives, I would urge you to check on your giants.”

Voldemort frowned once more, but Harry didn’t miss the widening of his eyes as a roar so loud sounded that it made all stop and stare in disbelief as the enormous dragon flew over Malfoy Manor and aimed a stream of fire to the already destroyed house.

“Good boy, Norbert,” Harry praised as the Death Eaters began to scatter, leaving Voldemort alone with him, the members of the Order still able to stand, and scores of Aurors that were finally taking the fight to him and his forces.

The Dark Lord chuckled humourlessly as he watched Norbert laying waste to the manor.

“You truly are full of surprises, Harry,” he said thoughtfully. “Until we meet again.”

Harry raised his wand to prevent the man from leaving, but Tom Riddle was gone in a burst of black smoke, not willing to face such odds alone.

He’d expected nothing less.

Harry had achieved what he’d set out to do and so much more during his short stint here, and as the others began scrambling to send for healers, douse the fire created by the Norwegian Ridgeback, and restore order, Harry headed towards the trees, offering his mother and Sirius a reassuring nod to let them know he was well.

Sabine all but threw herself into his arms and began to sob, and already, he could see that Susan was reuniting with her Aunt.

The others would be given that very same gift soon enough, but to Harry, everything else could wait.

His focus was on the girl he held in his arms, and returning her to her family, even if they didn’t deserve her.

“You’ll be alright,” he murmured.

Sabine nodded against his chest, and Harry finally released a deep breath of relief, offering an appreciative nod to the dragon as he landed just a short distance away.

“You did well, Norbert,” he said gratefully. “Go on, best get home before we get into more trouble than we’re already in.”

The large dragon chuffed and took to the sky once more to begin the long flight ahead of him.

In truth, Harry was surprised by Norbert’s willingness to assist him, and he made a mental note to himself to find a suitable reward for him.

“You have a pet dragon,” Sabine murmured. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Harry shook his head.

“Norbert is not a pet,” he chuckled. “He’s something of a companion. He lives on the ranch back in Texas.”

He could feel the girl roll her eyes at him.

“Well, you try telling it to them,” she suggested, nodding towards the Aurors, many of whom were looking in his direction.

“On that note, we should probably leave too before they decide to arrest me.”

Sabine nodded, and Harry apparated them away from Malfoy Manor.

All had not gone as smoothly as he’d hoped, and there would be much to do in the coming hours and days to follow, but he’d done what he’d set out to, and though it had been far from perfect, he had no regrets about coming here this night.