Under Your Spell

The Fight

With an almighty crash, a killing spell missed them by an inch, exploding a chunk of grass out of the earth next to Harry's foot. 

"RUN!" Screamed Hermione, and they did, scrambling. There was no time to disapparate again. 

"They're following us!" Yelled Ethel breathlessly, shooting a body-bind curse backwards. "You forget, Harry; The Dark Lord's name is still cursed. Anyone who uses it can be tracked!" They threw themselves over a grassy ridge, falling into a drainage ditch. Harry heard Ron swear explicitly as his ankle buckled. He looked behind them, and saw that the death eater had an army, and they were closing in on the group fast. Skidding to a stop, Ron swerved, wincing sharply, and began casting a volley of spells at the death eaters. Harry saw two, three drop to the ground and remain still. The others were deflecting and casting additional spells faster than Ron could. Jets of light shot past Harry, Hermione and Ethel as they ran. Harry turned.

"Ron!" He yelled, "leave them. It's no use, come on!" But Ron continued to cast spells, seemingly oblivious to Harry's warnings. Harry began to run back, but Ethel caught hold of him around the middle. 

"If you go back for Ginger, then we all die!" She screamed. Harry fought her off with a shield charm.

"'Ginger' has been my best friend since I was eleven years old," cried Harry. "I'm not abandoning him now." He shot a look back at Hermione who stood still, panting a little, and paling at the sight of the death eaters gaining on them. She caught Harry's eye, silently begging him. Harry turned back, and began to run. 

The grass was slippery with rain, and Harry felt his balance wavering as he staggered towards Ron. The death eaters were less than one hundred metres from them now, and it was getting harder to avoid the jets of light shooting past him. 

"RON!" Harry roared, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Ron turned, shifting just in time to let Harry cast an exploding charm at the mass of growing black. The death eaters shifted, moving just in time to avoid the explosion of earth. There was a smell of burning in the air. Harry found that he and Ron had been thrown through the air with the force of the explosion, and thrown behind a large, mossy rock on the treeline. Shaking, Harry staggered upright to see that Hermione and Ethel were now fighting the frontline, their wands moving so fast that they seemed to be blurring. Harry and Ron ran out to join them.

For a while, the fight seemed to be evenly matched. Many of the death eaters were dazed from the explosion, and seemed to be having difficulty in regaining their rhythm. Hermione and Ethel were gifted in spells and charms, and while they excelled in that, Harry and Ron fought their defense, cursing those who tried to sneak past. But after a while, Harry could see that they were severely outnumbered, even with the injuries they had caused already, and they were getting tired. What's more, the death eaters had begun to get clever. While Ron and Harry were defending, the death eaters had begun to shift around, closing in on the group in a circle. Harry knew it was only a matter of time.

Soon the quartet were back to back, fighting from all sides. Harry knew that they needed to disapparate soon, but he knew the risk of a death eater grabbing one of them. Soon they would be too close. Then, Harry spotted a space on one side of the circle that had not yet closed in. He knew he only had seconds.

"MOVE!" Harry threw out a massive shield charm, and began to run, and as though they had read his mind, the others followed in a heartbeat. In a second, the shield charm had been removed, and jets of light were flying past their heads once again. They headed for the hill, and began to climb, throwing spells behind them the whole time. 

Suddenly, Ron collapsed with a groan as his bad ankle gave out. Harry stopped too. 

"Hermione, the dittany, NOW!" Hermione dropped to the floor, summoning the dittany from her bag. She threw it to Harry, and cast a shield charm around them both, the spells from the death eaters bounced off the surface, making it ripple like water.

"Harry, j-just l-leave me." Ron looked exhausted. "I'll disapparate, meet you somewhere. I still have my wand. Go, and take the others. You-You have work to do." Harry looked down at Ron, and dropped dittany on his swollen ankle, thinking. 

"Meet us in the Forest of Dean," said Harry. "I'll keep a patronus on guard from when we arrive." Ron nodded. 

"I'll meet you there," he promised. "And -" he paused. "Look after Hermione." Harry felt an odd twinge in his stomach. At that moment, Hermione's shield charm broke, showering them in sparks. Harry staggered upright, running towards Hermione, who's arm was outstretched. 

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Yelled a death eater. Ron's wand sprang out of Ron's hand, and he howled in anguish. He tried to get up, but his healing ankle was still too weak. He collapsed.

"Hermione!" He yelled, "I..."

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light shot towards Ron. Harry touched Hermione's hand, and everything twisted out of focus. He knew they were disapparating.

Ron's dying words echoed in Harry's ears and left a path like a knife through his heart. 

"Hermione, I love you."