Chapter Sixty One
Harry lost his balance in shock, and fell into the railing on the staircase. "NO!" screamed Alex from the bottom of his lungs. He leapt towards the inferno, but Seamus grabbed him around the waist and hauled him back, just as Merlin dived forwards.
A spectacular shower of magic exploded from his hands, putting up a barrier between them and the monster, even if for only a moment. "GO!" roared the small man, throwing up the same spell again. "I will try and hold back the Ifrit, you need to find Voldemort!"
Alex was being held up, and back, by Seamus still, his face wet with tears and his whole body shaking. "He's not dead, he can't be, let me go!"
The creature, an Ifrit Merlin had called it, growled so deep and menacing Harry felt the vibrations in his stomach. "Alex, I-"
The Ifrit tried to swipe at them, but it couldn't get far enough through the roaring wall of magic. "I can't-" Merlin gasped, sweat running down his face. "Hold it much longer. Harry must reach Voldemort before it is too late!"
Harry glanced at Draco and Hermione, who both nodded. "We need to move," Harry barked, feeling hideous for being so callous, but soft words and hugs were not going to get them through this. "Alex, you hear me? You follow me!"
He waited only for Alex to meet his eyes, before he tore back up the stairs, away from the burning flames and the scene of Godric's death. "Draco?" he called out, his feet pounding down the corridor. "Is there another way down?"
"The house is all out of place," Draco shouted back from behind, his breathing heavy. He needed to rest, Harry worried, he'd had a sword run through his gut, no matter how amazing Merlin's healing skills were. That would have to wait though, just like everything else.
Harry shook his head. "No time." He flung open the nearest window and aimed his wand out. "Glisseo!" A ramp shot out from the wall, leading from the window down to the grass a floor below. "Everyone out, move!"
A fireball flew up the steps, dispersing just a few meters away into the landing. Harry stood back and made Draco go first, followed by Hermione. Seamus all but pushed Alex out, the other's Watcher's face blank and not-seeing. "This is messed up," said Seamus to Harry as he swung his leg over. More fire belched up the stairs though, so all Harry could do was shake his head in agreement. Seamus slid down out into the snowy night, and Harry jumped out after him, closing the window behind him.
He hit the grass and rolled with an angry cry, and Seamus made the ramp vanish in a second. "Protego," snapped Draco, still visibly hurting but nonetheless able to throw up a shield charm around them. And for good reason.
Harry quickly got to his feet, looking around. There were people running everywhere, weapons and spells clashing in a terrifying melee of noise, light and blood. After the catacombs of Germany, he had hoped never to see anything like that ever again in his life, but there they were, trying to huddle into the shadow Malfoy Manor was casting.
"Oh no," said Hermione, and Draco put his arms around her.
"Godric's forces," said Seamus, taking in the scene with his jaw firmly set. "The Romans, Vikings and generally anyone not stitched together are with us, the rest are with Voldemort."
"Where did you leave Voldemort?" Hermione asked, her voice quavering.
Harry looked around but they were on the wrong side of the house, and the fighting people were getting dangerously close to them. "In the graveyard," he said. "by a weeping willow, but he might not still be there."
"It's the best place to start," said Draco, taking a deep breath, shaking out his limbs and holding his wand up in front of him.
The noise around them seemed to bring Alex back to his senses, and for the first time since Godric was murdered he moved of his own accord. He grabbed Harry t-shirt, and looked straight into his eyes.
"You can do this, " he breathed, his face shining in the moonlight. "I have every faith in you, so don't you doubt you can end this, once and for all."
Harry nodded, fear and dread cold in his belly. "For Godric," he said.
"For everyone," replied Alex.
Seamus suddenly cried out and fired out a spell from his wand. One of the Rhansyk had evidently spotted them and charged, but fortunately Seamus had stopped him in time. Unfortunately, several other Rhansyk had now spied their little cluster, and were already barrelling towards them.
Draco and Hermione moved to Seamus' side, shooting out a volley of magic to tear the Rhansyk down. Draco's slashing spell was good but only if he got a clean shot. Hermione and Seamus were sticking more with big, exploding sorts of curses. "We'll cover you," shouted Seamus as the three of them already began moving away from the house. "You need to make a run for it!"
A group of wizards and Romans had noticed their plight and were already heading over to help, wands and swords at the ready. Draco looked over his shoulder once, and gave Harry a nod, before surging forward into the throng.
Harry wanted to shout at them to stop, that they should stay together, but they had wasted enough time already. He grabbed Alex's arm and the two of them ran around the trees and statues, away from his friends. His stomach flipped, worried for their safety, but no one would be safe if he couldn't stop Voldemort.
"You need to hide," he told his Watcher as they stumbled to a halt behind a bush for a moment of peace.
"What?" said Alex, taking Harry in and blinking rapidly. "No, no, what are you talking about I can't leave you alone."
"This is my fight," insisted Harry. "You're not a wizard and you're not a soldier, you'll be a sitting duck."
Alex shook his head. "You need me, how else will you know if the Horcrux has been destroyed?"
Harry couldn't help but feel a flutter of gratitude in his chest. "I'll just take my chances," he said firmly.
But Alex was still shaking his head, old tears pooling in his eyes but he didn't seem to notice them now. "No, no," he said again. "It's my fault as much as yours this mess, I should have been able to fix it, to help you more-"
Harry took his shoulder and interrupted him. "Alex," he said. "You did all you could, I know that. And I'm not letting you kill yourself over guilt and grief."
"Kill myself?" Alex frowned, fixing Harry with a stare. "Whoever said anything about dying?" he asked, his right eyebrow twitching, a ghost of a smile at the edge of his lips. "I have no intention of doing something so stupid. Get me something I can swing."
Harry couldn't help the smile on his own face. "If you're sure?" Alex rubbed his fingers over his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Couldn't stop me if you tried," he said, and nodded.
Harry looked around, and grabbed a branch off of the nearest tree, ripping it off of the trunk. He stared at it, trying to think of the right transfiguration spell. "Stipesium," he said, hoping he was right, but he needn't have worried. The branch thickened and changed, become a rough and unpolished, but very solid looking cricket bat. Alex took it with a watery grin.
"Let's go knock some heads."
The two bound from behind the shrubbery, and Harry threw a shield charm up over them both, just for good measure. Now they had moved away from the house, he could see into the graveyard again, lit up not just by moonlight but also a variety of spells being fired. He tried to glance through the clashing bodies for Draco, Hermione or Seamus, but everything was far too chaotic. He forced himself to let them go from his mind, just for now, and raced ahead.
"Watch out!" Alex cried as a Rhansyk woman pounced, but even as he spoke he hefted the bat and connected so loudly with her head it let out a sound like thunder clapping. As she fell to the floor Harry hit her with a stunning spell as well just to be sure.
"Nice aim," he said as they weaved through the Malfoys' topiary garden.
Alex scoffed. "Any Englishman worth his salt should know how to handle a cricket bat," he said with the upmost sincerity.
The graveyard wasn't far ahead, but it seemed like miles to Harry with the volume of people between them and it. The Romans he and Draco had met back at the big red tent were doing fine against the regular Rhansyk, but they were no match for the Death Eaters, or any others with magical ability.
Harry tried to target them as best he could, replenishing his and Alex's protection charm probably more often than was necessary, and gracing any of the Muggle soldiers they ran past with the same favour. "He's that way!" one wizard in a green and pink robe shouted as they ran past, pointing Harry towards the weeping willow. Harry felt a thrill of hope, and even Alex looked encouraged as they sped on.
A blossom of light from the manor caught his attention, and Harry couldn't help but turn and look at what was left of the front of the building. The fire had spilled out onto the grass and gravelled path, the dark shadow of the Ifrit still visible, writhing in the flames. Harry felt his breath catch in his throat as people screamed and the house shook and worked loose windows and bricks, but there was a small figure also visible, wrestling with the fiery beast. Was Merlin still battling with the Ifrit, did he have it under control?
Another Rhansyk came running out of nowhere, catching both Harry and Alex off guard. He was dressed in rags wielding two rusty, curved blades that slashed at Harry's skin, one even managing to slice through his t-shirt, but Harry blasted him back, Draco's slashing spell working just fine from only a foot away.
"Is that where we're headed?" asked Alex dubiously.
Now they were closer, Harry could see there was a glow coming from near the weeping willow, and of jolt of fear shot through his guts. His feet sped up, dread giving him the energy he needed, Alex by his side without missing a step.
Just as they were getting close enough to see what was actually happening, they were ambushed by several Rhansyk. Death Eaters joined by a man stitched into his own suit and another in a white curly wig wielding a judge's gavel leapt from behind the gravestones bearing Harry's parents' names. Alex cracked one over the head with his bat before he even knew what had hit him, and Harry tried his best to tackle the rest. But there were a dozen deadly wizards all trying to take him down, and it was only a matter of seconds before one of them managed to successfully hit him back.
As Harry slammed into the headstone he spent the briefest moment realising the Death Eater had not used the killing curse, but had merely stunned him. Confused he rolled out of the path of a second spell, knowing whatever luck or circumstance that had spared him probably wouldn't last, and almost certainly would not protect Alex.
The Watcher had managed to club a number of their assailants by the looks of their bloody noses, but now one of them had him in a Cruciatus Curse and he was screaming on the floor. Harry dodged a jet of red light as it soared over his head, and fired his own curse at the man pinning Alex down on the ground.
"Over here!" yelled a voice, and Harry only just had time to look up to see the big Viking from the ship, Arnthor, come flying down from goodness only knew where to burry an axe in the same Death Eater's chest.
"Ha!" cried Alex shakily, managing to sit up as several more Vikings arrived to finish off the rest of the Rhansyk. He picked his bat up again and swiped it into the back of the last man's knees, knocking him down for Arnthor to decapitate.
Harry coughed as the stitched up bodies flaked apart in flaky clumps. "Cheers," he said wearily. "I take it your captain doesn't want to sell us anymore." His felt his face drop. "Or are you here to kidnap us again?"
"The warrior on the dragon offered us double our money," said Arnthor coldly, cleaning his sword on his cloak and looking around at the rest of the battle ploughing on around them. "And my friend Falkor is dead."
"Oh," said Harry. Helping Alex up to his feet, his hollow expression returned at the mention of Godric. "Sorry."
"He drinks finally in Valhalla with our brethren," Arnthor boomed. "I envy him in his glorious death." He gave out a cheer that the other Vikings joined in on, before they charged back into the battle.
"I think he's got the right idea," said Alex, managed half a smile.
"Come on," said Harry, dread in his stomach. The area around the glowing light, which by now he figured had to be the portal, was densely guarded by a couple dozen Rhansyk. Arnthor and his warriors were running right for them, but Harry still didn't see how he was going to get through.
"Let's circle around," he said to Alex. "Away from the house, maybe the Vikings will give us enough of a distraction to get closer."
Alex nodded, his handsome face creased with concern. "Does that look open to you?" he asked, jutting his chin towards the light.
"Just keep moving," said Harry evasively. They could deal with that if they ever reached it. But an unusual sound stopped them both from moving. It was a dog barking.
"Woofsy?" said Alex in confusion, and sure enough, within a few moments the little white puppy came charging out from the tree line, his fur looking greyish-cream against the whiteness of the falling snow. Alex dropped down to greet the dog, worry on his face. "What are you doing here, hey, shh!" The puppy was yelping and barking, hoping about, his head turned towards the sky. Harry was wary the noise would soon draw more Rhansyk towards them, but as his eyes swept the graveyard for foes he also found them glancing upwards, the same direction as Sir Woofsalot was looking.
"Is that a bird?" he asked.
Alex suddenly stood up like his spine had been electrocuted. "Where?" he demanded, and Harry pointed. There was definitely some sort of bird flying unsteadily through the wind that was propelling the snow from the clouds, coming closer and closer to them.
Alex spotted the creature, and his eyes widened as he gasped in a breath. "HERE!" he bellowed, waving his arms like a maniac. "Here, I'm over here!" He jumped up on a gravestone and wielded the cricket bat, snatching a nearby tree branch to help him get his balance. "Good pigeon, come he-"
The first spell blasted him ten feet off the headstone without warning, the second took out the bird before Harry could even turn quick enough.
"I don't wish to kill you," an unnervingly familiar voice said. "But that doesn't mean I won't enjoy hurting you."