Destiny Reversed

Chapter 7 Familiarity

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted, shooting the wand that had slipped partway into the man's hand onto the other side of the sidewalk. "Stay where you are!" he roared as the man turned to retrieve it. Unfortunately for him, he didn't stop.

"Stupefy!" The man crumpled to the ground. "Keep an eye on them," he told Violet, going over to examine the man more carefully. He began examining the inner pockets of the robe, looking for some identification of some sort. Ah-ha, he thought as he picked up an I.D. However, he frowned, realizing that the face in the picture didn't match the man lying on the ground.

"Bloody hell," he muttered, realizing that they'd almost been tricked. This Death Eater obviously wasn't being too cautious if he hadn't changed the picture on the I.D. Could no one be trusted here? Guess they can't just rely on finding someone who looks like an Auror anymore . . . they'd have to find someone that they recognized, like Kingsley, Tonks or his parents.

Harry involuntarily ran a hand through his disheveled hair, brushing some dust into his face. His fingers flexed involuntarily, irritated with the situation and his helplessness, his reliance on dumb luck. He deliberated for a few seconds about what to do with the Death Eater. He couldn't just leave him here; there was no telling whether or not he would come after them again, and letting him rejoin his mates wasn't an option.

Harry sighed. Looks like they've got another one in tow, then.

CRUNCH.

"Stupefy!" The red beam rebounded back at Harry, which he dodged easily.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" Harry bellowed, sending sparks in the rough location of the voice. "Run, Violet!" With a flick of his wand, he re-levitated Parvati and Malfoy before running right on Violet's heel, shouting various cursesbehind him every few seconds.

They raced up the dark alley, the aged bricks surrounding them seeming to stretch on forever. Harry felt his own exhaustion from maintaining the levitation, but he couldn't leave them there, not with their pursuers right behind them.

Even through the adrenaline, Harry could hear the stampeding footsteps advancing on them. Damn it! They were vulnerable in this narrow area. Thinking fast, Harry quickly flicked his wand at claustrophobic walls around them, sending the bricks crashing down in a huge cloud of dust. Harry held his breath as long as he could until they cleared the dust –he almost thought that they were out of the danger zone.

Almost.

Just as they finally reached the end of the alley, a flash of numerous dark robes blocked their way, at least four wands aimed in their direction. Anticipating what was going to happen, Harry shouted "PROTEGO," manipulating the shield to appear further up, in front of Violet. Following his lead, Violet placed a shield of her own to strengthen their defense.

A blindingly red blast of various stunners came their way, ricocheting off the combination of their two shields. Harry was trying to think: how were they going to get past all of those Death Eaters, especially handicapped with their charges? He had half a mind to drop them all there and save Violet and himself (he really wouldn't mind leaving Malfoy behind) –but he remembered Padma's vacated eyes and Parvati's failing condition. No, he could not leave them in the hands of these people in good conscience.

"The shield's faltering!"

"PROTEGO! Keep redoing it!" Harry shouted back, his throat aching and ears throbbing from the shrill of spells hitting the shield.

For what seemed like forever, it had become an exhausting exchange of spells bouncing off the shield, which kept on being reapplied. Even though they had ceased levitating their charges long ago, Harry felt both magically and physically drained. He wasn't sure if his endurance would outlast that of the more numerous others at the end of the obscure alley.