Chapter 4

I only read it in the papers. Among the rioting the death-eaters managed to locate the part-veela sisters. Supremacists that they were, they decided to take extra time with them.

They were both tortured with crucio. Fleur's sister became near catatonic. As for Fleur herself, they took her away for extra attention.

Her body was recovered from the Thames days later.

I quickly adjusted my goggles in place and hauled twig across the sky to circle the campgrounds searching for the concentration of silver masks and black robes in the night. I wore goggles enchanted to brighten my vision to levels nearing daylight, but with the sheer amount of moving people and trees, finding the death-eaters was easier said than done.

I listened to the screams. Screams of fear. Screams of panic. There.

A scream of ragged, raw pain, and the one sound incongruent with all the others.

Laughter.

I leaned into the firebolt hard every second increasing the anxiety knotting my chest.

Even with the resets, I waited this long to come here. To save them. Even now, they were being tortured. There were so many things I could change, if I just had the power.

If I wasn't such a coward.

The deather eaters made a rough circle surrounding what I knew had to be the sisters on the ground. A few smaller groups waited in the four directions acting as spotters. A globe of spell light shot toward me even as I rolled to the side in shock.

I looked over my shoulder to see the Dark Mark forming in the sky. I didn't have much longer. They didn't have much longer.

I fished the rune-stone from my moleskin pouch. Rune-stone weapons had fallen out of use for two main reasons. Open war-far was banned with the Statute of Secrecy. Also, powering up a rune-set took too much preparation and left the caster too vulnerable.

The tight encirclement would make this more difficult. The stone itself was smeared in a camouflage solution. I let it drop and raced past it pulling up at the last moment, half-landing, half-crashing to the ground.

With a cry, at least one death eater noticed me, but with a touch of my wrist, I had already activated the first rune set. It was made up of a single spell - avis. The bird conjuring spell.

It was simple in premise, but not in scale. With a bang loud enough to make my ears ached a flock of birds exploded into the air and immediately started attacking the death eaters.

I knew I would be near the two sisters, so I set the birds to avoid a certain radius around the control device around my wrist which also just barely included two death eaters. "Hoopy," I snarled even as I darted forward.

In my left hand, I held a small cauldron in my right a blade. Going in this close, I didn't trust my wand work, over theirs. The death eaters simultaneously let out spells. One spell shot toward my foot while the other my head.

I stepped over the lower spell and threw up the cauldron. I once considered using a buckler, but spells were still able to seep through shields in contact with the body. Where the dark arts were concerned, it was enough to be fatal.

The spell struck the cauldron in the air, and I felt hot metal bite into my face and shoulder. I was already inside the wizard's guard.

Stabbing a man doesn't take strong motions or fancy movement. I simply stepped into the man's space as if I were going to embrace him. In just a moment I stabbed him five times.

His friend didn't mind friendly fire and sent more spells my way. Some caught the falling death eaters' body, but others made it through forcing me to duck to the ground.

I activated the second rune set.

The first rune-set was partially a distraction. The birds would cover the rescue while also distracting the other death eaters. Even with a protego, dozens of birds are hard to guard against when they can attack from any direction. However, in the end, they were just birds.

After the initial shock, the men would quickly dispatch them. I knew it wasn't enough. So, with the second rune-sets activation, each surviving bird exploded in a loud bang and flash of light.

Two simple spells, again, and mere theatrics. Similar items could be found in joke-shops. The most difficult part was tying the spells to each bird. Simple, but the timing was paramount. They were relying on their night vision. Even if they thought to bring their own googles, I had my eyes closed. They didn't

I leapt to my feet, flinging my wand from its wrist holder. The death eater in front of me sent spells flying blind almost hitting me out of sheer luck. A quick diffindo put him down.

I cast the spell again as fast as I could into the crowd of death eaters aiming for vitals.

"Why does master torment Hoopy so," my house-elf said appearing at my side. He already elf-apparated the girls to safety. I wanted to give him a ninja outfit, but that would be considered clothes. Instead, I settled for wrapping his head and body with black towels.

The ministry controlled apparition in and out of the campgrounds, though the death-eaters, of course, just happened to pass through. House-elves, on the other hand, could still apparate through the wards. After all, how else would they serve their masters?

With pops the death-eaters suddenly started to flee. "Aurors! Put down your wands!" I heard the cry go up.

"Damn, let's go," I said to Hoopy. The elf tried to apparate but with a shudder popped back into place.

"Hoopy cannot," he cried miserably. They must have tightened the wards after the attack.

My 24-hour invisibility cloak was singed in places but covered the whole elf. "Go Hoopy, and get back home," I said grabbing my firebolt where I left it thrown on the ground.

I activated the last rune-set - the core. It used whatever leftover magical power it had to create a vanilla explosion. Best case, I'd catch another death eater. Worst case, it helped cover my retreat. Aurors were already approaching my position.

A man with wild black hair and crimson robes appeared. James Freaking Potter. "Stop," he cried while simultaneously releasing a silent stupefy.

I shot up into the air zig-zagging spellfire as I fought to gain altitude. An impact knocked into my side almost unseating me from my broom. I cursed again.

Aurors were in the air as well, and one had just come careering into my side. I had enough time to see wild hair and a well-groomed beard. I had no doubt it was Sirius Freaking Black. Wonder Twin Powers activate.

I gave him a kick, using the momentum to barrel roll. I leaned flat into the broom as more spells flew over my shoulder. I headed for the forest.

I was fairly certain the ministry didn't have the coin to dish out for goggles like mine, so I would have an advantage flying through the trees.

To ensure my advantage I dug into my pouch and threw out Peruvian darkness powder. Dispersing it in the air probably actually made it less effective, but it bought me the seconds I needed.

I wove through trees on pure reflex at speeds I would never normally even consider trying. My pulse pounded in my ears.

I would have to lose them in the forest. Even if they apparated around, they wouldn't be able to cover the entire perimeter. As long as I got past the apparition wards, I could call Hoopy again.

That was my plan until a blur from above caught me square in the chest sending me tumbling to the ground.

I heard rushing air and saw tree branches. I tumbled and bounced. The last impact me left me on the ground wet and ice cold. I assumed it was blood. A moment later I realized I heard running water.

"Show me your hands," a man's voice said.

I fumbled for my hood as I struggled to stand. My goggles were half-on, disorienting me further as saw the night in one eye, and day in the other.

Through the day side, I saw my wand in the water right at my feet.

"Show me your hands," the voice said more harshly. I looked out the corner of my eye.

James Potter, of course. I guessed I shouldn't be surprised he managed to catch up considering his reputation on a broom.

I slowly started to lift my hands.

I heard the ragged breath of a dying man. I felt biting cold, more than the water that soaked my clothes. I wouldn't be surprised if my clothes began to ice over

Something grasped my leg.

A corpse-like hand held my ankle.

It jerked me underwater. Through the water.

"Stupefy!" I heard James voice yell in the distance.

Then I was somewhere else.

I floated in milky white space. A creature flew toward me. Corpse-like and covered in rags. I immediately thought dementor but thought it should be impossible.

The creature shrieked at me. It was the shriek of every horror movie combined into one single endless track.

It attacked me with ferocity clawing into my body. My body was no longer my own. It was lights pulsating. Gold, yellow, blue, with shots of red. The creature was like darkness, a blackness that absorbs all light.

Its claws tore into my body of light. I felt agony worse than Voldemort's crucio.

I fumbled, wrestling with the creature, but I felt like a child wrestling a grown man. I saw a snake appear in the lights of my arm, darting around like a panicked fish in an aquarium.

The creature snapped its head toward the snake, digging into my arm with new fury. I screamed in pain, twisting away, trying to escape even as it tore through my light body.

In front of my face floated a white light. A unicorn horn floated shining pure and unblemished. I grasped at it desperately, and I saw the ghost of my wand in my hand.

Willow, 12 inches, Unicorn hair.

New strength surged in my body. I spun toward the creature. It caught the snake wiggling in my arms by two fingers, trying to rip it from my body.

Grasping the unicorn horn, I stabbed it in the chest.

At that moment, we connected. I felt a tug of something. As it pulled from me, I pulled at it. Cold, chill ice seeped into my veins, but I pulled all the harder as the creature now cried in agony.

All the desperation. All the helpless. All the rage. All the fear. I channeled every reset. Every failure. With every moment of my life, I pulled the coldness from the creature.

As the icy chill seeped into my body, I began to weaken. I felt the familiar pull of a reset.