"Are you sure that no one is going to give us a second-glance?" Lavender demanded in a fierce whisper and she, Neville, and Parvati walked through the halls of St. Mungo's to the ward that the Longbottoms resided in.
Parvati rolled her eyes. "Why would they? That receptionist lady was surprised that we even bothered to check in! Crappy security if you ask me."
"Well, who visits their poor dying relatives late on a weekend?" Lavender demanded. "Someone will realize that we're Hogwarts students and then we'll get caught for sneaking out of the castle."
"People like us." Neville answered for Parvati. "And my parents are not dying for your information." He was too excited to take consequence of Lavender's comments however. Snape had reassured them before they left that he did not think that Voldemort even considered the Longbottoms a threat. That would simplify things.
The three teens quickly arrived at the appropriate ward and both Parvati and Lavender elected to wait outside the door while Neville had some time with his parents. They did not really want to interfere. Neville was relieved because he feared that strange people might hinder his efforts.
He quickly entered the ward, careful not to disturb any of the patients that might be sleeping. Fortunately for him, Lockhart, who was still a resident, was conked out. To his delight, his parents seemed to be playing some sort of card game at a table. Unfortunately, the game didn't look particularly active, more like a play that had been performed one too many times.
Gingerly, Neville approached them. "Mom, Dad? Can you hear me?" There was no response, though the monotonous card game seemed to slow a bit, almost as if something was distracting the mentally incompetent couple.
Further attempts to get their attention with his voice failed so he finally gave up and approached them. Neville tapped his mother on the should and she still failed to respond. He got the same result with his father. He sighed and pulled a chair to the table and sat at it, forcing the couple to at least see him somehow.
As soon as he sat down, they looked at him, somehow sensing the intrusion upon their game. Neville knew very well that this was of course normal behavior. Most patients like this would not respond to the same stimulus, but the couple had been Aurors. It was hardwired into them to at least acknowledge any sort of movement around them.
"Mom, Dad, it's me. Your son." Neville said, his voice shaking despite his best attempts to hide his anguish.
There was no response from Frank, but Alice's sapphire blue eyes seemed to gain an 'awareness' for a short moment. It faded away quickly however. Despite the disappointment, Neville could help but feel that progress had definitely been made.
A second-attempt at trying to talk to Frank and Alice was ruined when the door to the ward flew open with a loud bang admitting a very distraught Parvati whose wand was drawn. "Neville! We have company!"
Hermione wrote the last word on her history essay with a flourish and smiled. The last of her homework was officially finished and she would have the rest of the weekend to relax with herself and Ron. She looked across the table at Ron who was playing with a Quidditch model as he planned for the next game.
She was just about to ask him about his game plans when the portrait hole opened to admit Professor McGonagall who looked to be in a panicked state. "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, please report to Professor Dumbledore's office immediately. Bring your cloaks and a wand." The aged professor then left.
Without wasting a single moment, both Ron and Hermione leapt up and ran to their separate dormitories to retrieve their cloaks before running with each other down to the Headmaster's office. When they arrived they found several Order members gathered., Professor Dumbledore had just began to address them all when they arrived.
"Death Eaters are attacking St. Mungos as we speak. I don't think I need to describe the potential casualties that could occur. A team needs to be immediately assembled to assist the Ministry in putting the attackers down."
"We can go!" Ron volunteered as Hermione nodded fiercely. "It's not as if we can stay behind to help with any casualties or to deal with Ministry officials."
Several other Order members volunteered and then Dumbledore assigned other to stay behind in his office to keep latecomers appraised as to the current situation. "Send Moody and anyone else with fighting skills to St. Mungos when they arrive." he directed as he made a Portkey to take them all to the front entrance of the hospital.
"What kind of company?" Neville asked as he quickly drew his wand and stood up from his parent's card table.
Parvati looked behind her before answering. "Death Eaters. I don't know how many. Lavender and I managed to stun a scout that came up to this floor. From the racket downstairs, I would estimate that there are quite a few."
Neville bit his tongue to keep from uttering a curse. How could the Death Eaters be so mean as to decide to attack a load of helpless wizards and witches in a hospital? There were probably children too. Goose bumps popped up all over his skin as he realized that the Death Eaters were probably here for his parents.
"They'll be coming up to this floor eventually." Neville announced as he stepped outside into the hall with Parvati to join Lavender who was looking up and down the hall with a panicked look on her face. "You two can take the Portkey back to Hogwarts, I'll stay to help defend."
Parvati stiffened for a moment and then shared a glance with Lavender before speaking. "We're staying with you, Neville. We want to help defend the hospital and your parents just as much as you do."
"If that's what you want." Neville said with a little hesitation. He took a look down the hall. "Which way would the Death Eaters come to access this floor? Can they get up from both ways?"
"I don't think so." Lavender said slowly as she gestured toward the mostly empty hallway. "I don't think that they can get up here from that way."
Neville smiled. "That's a small relief." He then turned the opposite way and briskly walked toward the staircase. Parvati and Lavender promptly made to follow him, but as soon as they got close to the staircase, a Death Eater came rushing up. "Stupefy!" cried Neville.
The Death Eater taken by surprise didn't even get his own curse shot off before he fell. "Round one for the good guys!" Parvati crowed.
"Very funny." Neville said dryly as they clambered down the staircase. They didn't meet any other Death Eaters until they reached the next floor down. "Don't let yourselves get too distracted while fighting."
The Portkey activated and Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and several other Order members found themselves on the main floor of St. Mungos in the middle of a massive skirmish between Death Eaters and the small hospital staff.
"Stunners at will." Dumbledore commanded. "Try to take as many of them alive as possible. Make sure that their fellow Death Eaters aren't able to revive them though."
Without waiting another moment, Ron and Hermione jumped into the fight, fiercely shooting off stunners and other hexes at every Death Eater that could be seen. Hermione noticed that the Death Eaters seemed to be falling a little too easily to the forces at hand. She shrugged this off as she zapped another masked and cloaked figure into oblivion.
In just a few moments, everybody wearing black with white masks was down and Ron was madly laughing at their fallen opponents. It was then, that Hermione noticed three people that should not have been there. "Neville? Parvati? Lavender?" she questioned loudly.
This drew the attention of Professor Dumbledore who quickly spotted the three Hogwarts students as well. "Mr. Longbottom, I must ask what you and your two friends are doing here."
"Just thought that we could lend a helping hand." Parvati said, smiling rather nervously.
"I don't remember you coming with us." Ron said fiercely.
Dumbledore motioned for silence with his hand as he studied the Neville and the two girls intently. "You were here before the attack begun, weren't you? I assume that you heard about your parent's improved condition and decided to visit them."
"So what if I did?" Neville asked, knowing full well what Dumbledore would say, but still feeling belligerent nevertheless.
"You are in violation of several school rules!" Dumbledore said coldly. "You could have been injured or even killed. Make no mistake, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Patil, and Miss Brown- you are all in serious trouble for leaving the school grounds like this. As soon…"
The sentence was left uncompleted as an extremely loud explosion rocked the foundations of the hospital. Despite the fact that all the Death Eaters seemed to be down, someone was still firing curses at something. Everyone except Dumbledore froze, waiting for it to happen again.
The aged professor swiftly made his way to one of the fallen figures and ripped a mask off to reveal a featureless blob for a face. "Dummies!" Dumbledore exclaimed angrily. "The hospital is still under attack! These were only decoys!"
Everyone started to get ready for another round, but Neville, Parvati, and Lavender were interrupted by Dumbledore. "You three will be returning to Hogwarts immediately. As soon as you get back we'll deal with your delinquency." He then shoved a foot long stick into their hands. "This is a one-time emergency portkey. Say the name of the place you want to go and it will take you there. Now go back to Hogwarts and wait for me in my office."
"Do you really think that you can face this attack with your forces alone? I doubt that the Ministry will do anything in time." Neville asked defiantly.
Professor Dumbledore refused to answer, but the looks that the Order members were shooting each other was evidence enough of their lack of capability to face a full fledged Death Eater attack. Another explosion punctuated Neville's conclusion.
"That is none of your concern. You are not qualified to fight in a situation like this. Now go!" Dumbledore said to Neville.
Neville grinned cheekily. "I'll go." He then made sure that Parvati and Lavender had a firm grip on the Portkey. Seeing that this was the case, he said the name of his destination quietly. "Nair'icaix."
Feeling himself being shaken, Harry woke up to find a very anxious looking Tess peering into his bleary eyes. "Milord! There's a Death Eater attack in progress."
Harry sat up and glanced at a nearby clock. It told him that he had only been asleep for a very short while. He looked around and saw Neville, Parvati, and Lavender standing behind Tess. "What is happening?" he asked them, dreading the answer.
"We went to visit my parents at St. Mungos and a whole lot of Death Eaters started attacking." Neville explained. He then went on to recount all that had happened up to the point when he and the girls Portkeyed away.
"You'll have to get back to Hogwarts to avoid any further trouble." Harry decided as he quickly thought up several potential solutions. "I would let you fight, but I do believe that I have the resources to deal with this and you're already in enough trouble." He quickly reached over and gently prodded Bellatrix who was close to waking up.
She woke up and took in the scene silently before speaking. "Let me guess, St. Mungos."
"How did you know?" Harry asked with a frown.
"Lucky guess." Bellatrix yawned.
Deciding not to press the matter any further, Harry turned back to Neville. "Once you get back to Hogwarts, do whatever you can to make sure you don't get expelled immediately. I'll try to get there before anything serious happens."
"Would they expel us?" Parvati asked, looking shocked.
"Probably." Harry answered. "Neville, what would you like me to do about your parents? Would you like me to try and move them here? That might be the safest option."
There was a short silence before Neville answered. "I'll trust you to do what you think is best."
"Good, I'll try not to disappoint you." Harry replied. He hopped out of bed and grabbed his wand. "Here, I'll reset your one-time Portkey. Dumbledore won't even have to know that you made a slight detour on the way here."
Lavender handed him the stick and Harry promptly recast the spell that had been on the stick before. "That should do it." he said as he handed it back to them. "Don't tell anyone about our meeting until I tell you that it's okay."
"Will do." Neville said. "You aren't unhappy about this, are you?"
"Why would I be?" Harry inquired. "It's not your fault."
Neville nodded happily. "I'll let you do what you have to then." He then activated the Portkey, leaving he, Bella, and Tess alone in the room.
"There's bound to be quite a few casualties." Harry stated as he quickly made his way over to his wardrobe and began to dress, choosing a set of black robes with silver embroidery on the arms and collar. "I'll go to St. Mungos and get Hiscophney and his team to come with me. You two prepare to take on casualties and patients from the hospital. I don't know if the hospital will still be standing when all is said and done."
"We don't have very many doctors on hand." Bellatrix pointed out.
Choosing to wait for a moment to respond to Bellatrix's comment, Harry activated his link with Xerina through the ring. A short conversation later, he had the guarantee that several doctors would be on their way to Nair'icaix immediately. "Xerina is sending some." Harry said.
Bellatrix nodded happily and then joined Harry to help him strap on his breastplate and then cloak while he arranged for reinforcements with Count Hiscophney through the ring connection. "You'll have one advantage at least," Bellatrix said, "you own the controlling shares of stock for St. Mungos. You can just take charge on grounds that it's your property.
"I imagine that it will come in handy." Harry said as he quickly checked to make sure that both his wands were ready. "Nailoff!"
The captain of his bodyguard entered the room very quickly. Harry attributed it to the fact that he had probably been waiting for a summons. "Yes, my lord?"
"Assemble some of your men. We're going to break a Death Eater raid." Harry commanded.
"I've already assembled a squad, sir." Nailoff replied with a grin. Several men then entered the room and took their places behind the captain. "We're ready when you are."
"Good." Harry said.
Bellatrix hugged Harry and pecked him on the lips. "Try to avoid injury." she told him softly. "Portkey all the casualties to the main entrance hall. We'll figure out what to do with them from there."
Harry smiled at her and then pulled his Black Ash wand from its holster. The bodyguards followed suit, and they quickly Apparated to the battle. Hopefully, the Count of Trazkaban had been successful in getting his men to the correct rendezvous location.
Section break.
"Drop your wands." Lucius Malfoy commanded as he grinned at the surrounded Order members. He had chosen to remove his mask while all the other Death Eaters holding their wands on the prisoners kept them on. "Resistance is futile, the Ministry will most certainly not come thanks to my arrangements, and you can only die if you fight."
Hermione was very confused. If this had been a simple raid, then the Death Eaters would have retreated at the first sign of resistance. Voldemort certainly wanted raids, but he didn't want Death Eaters to die unless he was after something. Several Death Eaters had died during the fighting. "What do you want here?" she demanded.
"Take a wild guess." Lucius laughed. "I bet that Dumbledore has a pretty good idea."
"You won't get away with this." Dumbledore advised. "Besides, is it worth it to have so many crimes over your head just for the blood of two ex-Aurors who couldn't harm you if they tried?"
Lucius shook his head disbelievingly. "Do you really think that they couldn't harm us? There are powers rising that could very well heal the Longbottoms. But you're too blind to realize that, aren't you? You were certainly blind enough to send Potter to Azkaban, weren't you? I bet he could have healed the Longbottoms."
"Could and would are not the same, Malfoy." Dumbledore stated.
The rich pure-blood Death Eater began to laugh sardonically. "You just don't get it, do you? You must be the stupidest person I've ever met. It doesn't matter though, the Longbottoms will die tonight."
"I don't really think so." came a cold voice. "Nitracit incendio maximus!"
Everyone turned toward the location in which the voice had come from just in time to see a gigantic ball of blue fire zoom toward the Death Eaters and explode at their feet, causing robes to catch on fire. Abruptly, several figures Apparated into the room, some with small pops, others with loud bangs.
However, this show did not distract everyone from the person who had cast the fire curse. Ron was one of these and was also the first to recognize the person. He yelled out incredulously, grabbing everyone's attention. "Harry?"