The Last Fight

“What? Where?” My eyes had a terrible time adjusting to the light from the Patronus. Cedric was trying to sit up next to me, hand shielding his eyes.

“Death Eaters are in West Country with giants. We need you there now.” The Patronus dissipated, and it took us a moment before we scrambled out of bed to find our clothes. I nearly put my pants on backwards, realizing my mistake when they were halfway up my thighs, and threw on the nearest shirt I could find (which turned out to be Cedric’s). I grabbed my wand and Cedric grabbed me, turning on the spot.

The sensation of being squeezed by darkness ended was interrupted by hurricane force winds. Cedric turned again and we found ourselves a ways away, and a giant foot stepped down where we had been. We started running towards the battle where we could see other members of the Order trying to get control of the giant. The wind whipped rain in our faces, stinging our flesh, and I could already feel my lungs tighten in my chest from the cold and running. ‘Now is not the time to have an asthma attack, body!’

“Hey, look who showed up!”

We made it to where Ophilia and Sarlanda were holding their ground, trying to push the giant away from the Muggle beach houses. They were hurling ice spells at it, transforming the water in the air into deadly icicles, but it didn’t seem to be doing much.

“Anytime!” I shouted back, throwing my own spells. Cedric and Sarlanda were circling around to its front, leaving me with Ophilia. A flickering light inside the nearest house caught my eye. Someone had to be inside.

“Distract the giant!” I hollered at Ophilia, and I sprinted through the storm towards the house, already soaked to the bone. ‘Death Eaters must have cast one strong Atmospheric Charm,’ I thought, running up to the door and trying the handle. Locked. “Reducto!” I yelled, blowing apart the door and half the frame. My shaking hands were not helping my spellcasting. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to be blasting someone’s arm off.

There was a crashing noise, and I saw a flash of light just in time enough to deflect the first curse before I threw myself on the ground to avoid the others. Wind whistled through the holes in the wall, and I crawled on my forearms through the debris, moving large pieces of wood out of my way with flicks of my wand.

“Hello?” I asked, yelling as loud as I could. I had to duck again as a hex came dangerously close to the top of my head. “HELLO?”

“HELP!” a woman screamed and I headed for the voice. I deflected some more flying debris with a Shield Charm and crawled into a bedroom. There was a family of four huddled next to the bed, the two young children in tears. They all gave a good start when they saw me.

“Don’t worry! I’m here to help you! We need to get out!” I yelled, trying to urge them from the room. They needed to get out before—

CRASH

The window exploded open, and I hit the ground to avoid flying glass. There was a lot of screaming and howling wind, and I threw a Stunning Spell up to meet the curse that was coming directly at me. I scrambled to my feet and saw a Death Eater, one of the Lestrange brothers, I think, opposite me across the room.

“Potter,” he spat, and started throwing spells at me that I furiously deflected. My chest was far too tight, my breathing shallow, but now was not the time to worry about my own wellbeing.

“Out!” I yelled at the Muggle family. “Get out now!”

Lestrange’s curse blew the bed apart, and the Muggles finally scrambled to their feet. I leapt between the two parties and cast the biggest Shield Charm I could manage. I swept the Muggles out of the room with a Locomotor Charm just in time to avoid more flying glass. My shield managed to catch most of it, but I still felt a few pieces wiz past my face, slicing it open.

Barrages of spells were exchanged, and I could hardly keep track of which spell belonged to whom. “Flipendo!” I yelled, and I finally caught Lestrange off guard, blasting him back outside into the storm. I took off, trying to find the Muggles in their demolished home. There was a gaping hole in the wall where rain and debris were being swept inside, but I couldn’t see much through it. As I entered the living room, a crack of lightning lit up the sky and I saw the bottom of a fleshy, filthy giant foot heading for the house. My heart momentarily stopped. Another few seconds, and the giant would literally be on top of us. I started weaving my way through the house and finally found the Muggles, near their front door but, understandably, too afraid to go outside into the storm.

“We have to go!” I yelled, advancing on them, hoping to shoo them out the door and to a safer place. The father stood in front of his family, a man in his probably late thirties, visibly shaking but still putting on a brave front.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I’m here to save you,” I responded. There was a popping noise, and I shoved the Muggle man out of the way as a curse flew right past our heads. Lestrange was at it again. “Now let’s get out of here!” We rushed out of the door, and I cast another Shield Charm around us before we started running into the gale. Not moments after the mother holding her smallest child cleared the front door, the giant’s foot came down and smashed the house to pieces. We were all sent flying face-first into the soaking grass. I gasped for air, and had to tap my throat and think, ‘Anapeo!’ in order to breathe again. ‘Come on Potter, you’re better than this!’

Invisible daggers dug their way into my back, my sides, my everything. I screamed, my voice more piercing than the rain, and I knew that it had to be Lestrange. I heard him cackling as he released the curse, clearly enjoying playing with his food. I flipped myself over and saw him advancing, a crazy look in his eyes.

“You’re mine now, Potter.” His tone was too familiar, one that I was used to, one that came out of Lance’s mouth. It made me calculate my next move without even thinking. “Avada—”

‘Incacerous!’ Aided by the wind, my chains latched onto him with such force that he was knocked on his side, tangled and restrained. I took a steadying breath and shoved myself off the ground, looking around for the Muggles. The giant’s footsteps were rocking the ground beneath our feet, but they had run on a good ten yards away from me. I caught up to them, my breathing already becoming shit yet again.

“Come on! You need to get to safety,” I told the mother of the family, and I made them run with me, lungs wheezing and knees shaking.

‘Safety… safety… where the hell can I keep them safe?’ I asked myself, casting yet another Shield Charms. I wasn’t going to take any more chances. We ran by a ripped out tree, and I skidded to a halt. The hole where the tree roots had been would be enough, at least for a little while. “In here!” I ordered, and they clambered into the hole. I pointed my wand at the tree and concentrated. My first and second tries both failed, but my third attempt ended in the tree being transfigured into a door that sort of looked like the ground around it. “Don’t open it until the—uh—storm’s over,” I told the father.

“Thank you,” he said, and I nodded before shutting the door and sealing it with a protective charm. I took another moment to open my throat back up and pull my soaking wet hair out of my face. There was literally no point in pretending I was dry anywhere on my body. I sighed and started running towards the jets of light that surrounded the giant. The Order was still attempting to take it out, everyone closing in, trying to push it towards the ocean. The sand beneath my feet was mud, sucking in every footstep I took, this would be so much easier if I could just—

A bold streak of lightning lit up the sky as the giant brought a huge tree trunk swinging through the air, catching a petit, purple-haired witch and sending her reeling through the air.

“OPHILIA!” I aimed my wand at her falling body and shouted, “Arrest Momentum!” She slowed and fell gently to the ground, and I rushed to her, only to be intercepted by Cedric.

“Jen, go! I’ll watch after her!” he yelled, and he kneeled by her body. I swallowed back some tears and charged into the fight, aiming for the giant’s face.

“Conjunctivus!” By some miracle, the jinx hit the giant right in his eyes, and now we was blubbering around, unable to see. He dropped the tree to rub his eyes, and Remus had to lunge out of the way.

“We need to get it into the ocean!” he yelled, sending more jinxes towards the giant, which was backing up towards the crashing waves.

“Glacius!” I could barely hear Sarlanda, but I looked up to see that she was turning the pelting rain into large chunks of ice and charming them to pelt against the giant, forcing him back towards the water. I joined in, and soon, the force of five wizards forcing ice upon him made the giant struggle backwards. He sunk in the muddy sand, and eventually collapsed, sending a huge tidal wave of freezing, salty water over us, just to add insult to injury.

“Tonks, I chained up Lestrange somewhere, can you handle him?” I asked when we came together on the edge of the beach.

“Got it.”

“Remus, help me get this Atmospheric Charm stopped,” Kingsley said, and they started casting spells at the angry clouds above us.

“Ophilia,” I muttered, and Sarlanda and I ran back up the slippery grass to where Cedric was kneeling by Ophilia, hands pressed over her leg that was skewed at a completely wrong angle. There was a lot of blood in her jeans and all over Cedric’s hands.

“Her femur is broken and she’s not breathing well,” he reported as Sarlanda took over, conjuring bindings that tightened around Ophilia’s leg. Ophilia let out a scream of pain as Sarlanda continued to try and fix the problem.

“I’ve got to get her to Saint Mungo’s,” Sarlanda said through gritted teeth, and without any more comments, she grabbed Ophilia’s wrist and Disapperated. I became very aware of just how hard my hands were shaking as I looked at the dark blood that coated the grass where Ophilia had just been lying, wondering if she would be okay, if her injuries were even fixable, if she would live to see tomorrow.

“Jen.” Cedric had wiped his hands in the grass and now set one on my shoulder. “She’ll be fine. She’s with Sarlanda.”

“Y-yeah,” I managed to say, and I had to focus on my breathing for a moment. The freezing cold was making my lungs want to close up again, but at least the storm had finally broken. Now there was just the night sky peaking in from above the grey clouds, small bits of moonlight hitting the ground where it found the path. Tonks, Lupin and Kingsley now approached us, none looking too pleased.

“Lestrange got away, as did the others,” Tonks grumbled. “I dunno how he did it, but he did.”

“Arthur just sent us a Patronus,” Kingsley said. “Tonks, you and I are wanted back at the Ministry. There’s been another death. Apparently, this was all a distraction.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Emeline Vance.” Kingsley’s face was still relatively composed, but his jaw was clenched. “The Ministry is sending Obliviators to this location now, but Tonks and I have to leave.” With a nod to Tonks, they both turned and vanished.

Lupin let out a tired sigh. “Jennifer, Cedric, I left Launa at home—”

“Say no more. We’ll wait for the Ministry to arrive,” Cedric said, and Lupin left too, leaving myself and Cedric with the wreckage of several structures and a giant sleeping at the bottom of the ocean.

“Who are you?”

Cedric and I both jumped, wands gripped tight, but it was only the family of Muggles. We sheepishly pocketed our wands, though, to a Muggle, I guess a fancy looking stick probably wouldn’t be that scary. They all looked filthy and ruffled, but generally okay. The speaker had been the mother, and they all looked at me with anticipation for an answer, so I cleared my throat.

“Erm, well… it’s a bit complicated. I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you. But you’re safe now, everything’s alright. There are some people coming to take care of you.”

They nodded slowly, the father especially eyeing me with suspicion, but they seemed to take my word for it. It’s not like I looked threatening in this moment. And after all, I had saved them from Lestrange and the giant and goodness knows what else was out there.

Finally, the Obliviators started arriving, and Cedric went to talk to them. I stayed with the Muggles, but caught snatches of the conversation. “…most were empty, but we’ve got a dozen Muggles wounded and three dead…”

I didn’t want to think about what would have happened if The Order hadn’t arrived when it did.

I saw Cedric gesture towards myself and the Muggles, and an Obliviator approached us. “Alright, you’re going to need to talk to this man here. Don’t worry, he’s a good guy,” I reassured them. The parents nodded.

“Thank you,” the father said, and I smiled at him.

“You’re welcome. Stay safe.”

Cedric grabbed my arm and we Disapperated from the scene. Cedric siphoned the water out of our clothes in the alley before we went inside. I headed for the bathroom and to sort out the complete disaster that was my hair. It was tangled and matted, and I ended up stripping and taking a very quick shower just to detangle it. Finally, I was dressed back in my pajamas, ready to collapse into bed and pray that I didn’t have nightmares.

“Jennifer? You okay?”

I had been standing in the doorway to the bathroom, staring off into space. Cedric was standing in the bedroom doorway opposite me, eyebrows scrunched in concern. I tried to smile, but I wasn’t quite feeling it. My eyes instead drifted down his bare chest and settled on the scars from two summers ago, bright white against his skin, and my throat got hot and tears fell out of my eyes before I even knew what was happening.

Cedric pulled me into his arms, letting my tears drip off my face and onto his shoulder, hands patting my back and lips kissing my hair, all while silent. Only the sound of my sobs were in the air.

“I… I don’t k-know why I-I’m crying,” I admitted, trying to get myself to stop.

“It’s alright.”

“Cedric, do… do you think I’m mad?”

“No.” He looked at me, giving me a comforting half-smile. “I just think you care too much.”