"Professor! Professor, hold on — someone is coming to save you!"

Harry came sprinting over and dropped to his knees beside Severus Snape, staring helplessly at the blood pouring from Snape's neck. The regret hit hard: why had he never bothered to properly learn healing magic.

Hands trembling, Harry raised his wand and cast Episkey after Episkey. Every single one dissolved the instant it reached the wound.

The blood kept flowing. The spells did nothing.

Watching Harry's panicked face, Snape closed his eyes in despair, so furious the fury nearly had enough force to get him back on his feet.

He had known this boy never paid attention in class. The venom wasn't neutralized, what good was Episkey on its own?

Under normal circumstances, Snape would have smacked Harry over the head, docked Gryffindor fifty points, spent half an hour mocking him, and only then explained what Episkey was actually for.

But Snape was about to die, and none of that would accomplish anything except make himself more miserable, and besides, in his current state, Snape couldn't even manage a proper flick to the back of Harry's head.

Never mind.

No idea why the boy's attitude had suddenly improved, but... nearly dead anyway. Certain things might as well be said.

Snape looked at Harry with tremendous effort, opened his mouth as if to speak. Harry quickly leaned closer.

Snape used every last scrap of strength to seize Harry's robes. A wet, wheezing rattle leaked from his throat.

"Take it... take — take it..."

A silvery-blue substance, neither gas nor liquid, began seeping from Snape's eyes, ears, and mouth.

His memories.

The instant Harry recognized what it was, pure alarm crossed his face and he lurched backward. The sudden movement yanked the already-weakened Snape sideways, nearly sending him face-first into the ground.

"No no no, I don't want them! You'd kill me the second you recovered, I am absolutely not taking those..."

Harry stood well back, wearing a look of polite but firm refusal.

If he'd actually dared to touch the memories, he might have shoved them straight back in.

After James Potter, Lily Potter, and Sirius Black had been resurrected, all three had developed a fondness for reminiscing about the old days. Harry had caught enough fragments to piece together certain facts, certain deeply unpleasant facts.

That was exactly why Harry wouldn't touch Snape's memories. Setting aside the fact that Yang Luoluo had already received the message and was on her way, even if Snape somehow went and met Merlin before she arrived, Yang Luoluo could bring Snape back.

And when that happened, a Snape who had given away his memories would be burning with fury and humiliation. Killing Harry wouldn't even begin to cover it.

Snape knew nothing of any of this. Snape only glared at Harry, consumed by the urge to drag himself upright and thrash the boy eighty times over.

A rare moment of deathbed generosity, and this ungrateful little wretch threw it right back.

Harry glanced around, guilt written all over his face, and was rewarded: Yang Luoluo and Loki pushed through the dense undergrowth and into view.

Harry's whole face changed. A wave, frantic, like spotting a long-lost family member.

"Quick, quick, over here! The professor is in a bad way!"

Snape, whose spike of indignant energy had already faded, pried both eyes open toward the sound. Two unfamiliar figures came into view.

...Muggles?

Snape closed his eyes serenely and waited to die.

"Whoa! That bald guy really did a number on him!"

Yang Luoluo startled at the blood flooding from Snape's neck and rushed over, pressing both hands firmly against the wound. White light bloomed from her palms, and the blackening edges of the wound visibly pulled back toward their normal color.

Snape's eyes flew open. Snape couldn't decide whether to take issue with "bald guy" or to be astonished by the strength rushing back into his body.

Seeing the death-grey leave Snape's face and the crisis clearly passing, Harry let out a long breath. Then, with a slightly sheepish look, turned to Loki.

"Thank you. If it weren't for you, I might have died out here just now..."

Faced with a deity not to be trifled with, Harry found himself considerably more careful than usual.

Loki waved a hand, unbothered.

It had only been a soul-protection charm. Nothing remarkable.

He simply had no desire to watch Yang Luoluo exhaust herself bringing yet another person back.

Snape heard the exchange and glanced over. Watching Harry standing there so meek and deferential, Snape's curiosity about these two strangers sharpened considerably.

Muggles, apparently, yet they possessed abilities no wizard had.

And Harry Potter had never shown Snape anything close to this level of careful respect.

Then rustling footsteps reached them, growing closer, accompanied by two voices.

"Hey — what does the master want us to drag Potter's body over there for?"

"Idiot. Obviously to make an example of him. Show those ungrateful fools what happens when they cross us."

"..."

All four went still without a word. Harry yanked the Invisibility Cloak from beneath his robes and threw it to Yang Luoluo, then dropped to the ground with practiced ease, landing back in his original position. Convincingly dead.

Yang Luoluo grabbed the Cloak in a scramble and threw it over herself and Loki. Snape cast one long-suffering look at all of them, then neatly tilted his head to the side and shut his eyes.

The two Death Eaters walked up and hoisted the very-much-alive Harry without ceremony, then carried him off. Neither one thought to check the pulse at his neck.

Thank goodness Lord Voldemort had extinguished the bonfire when he led everyone away. In the dim Forbidden Forest, no one could make out that the gruesome wound on Snape's neck had already closed. Otherwise someone might well have given Snape a fresh one.

Beneath the Invisibility Cloak, Loki, all six-foot-three of him, was crouched in a distinctly undignified hunch, on the verge of throwing the Cloak off entirely more than once, stopped each time by Yang Luoluo pressing down on his arm with wide, cautioning eyes and a firm look of disapproval.

Loki:...

Were it not for the risk of the Death Eaters hearing him, he would have reminded Yang Luoluo exactly how, after Thor had been banished by Odin, he had walked quite openly past everyone and strolled straight into the room where Thor was being held.

His peripheral vision caught a flash of vivid red. Loki reached over and pulled Yang Luoluo's hand toward him, examining it carefully, and only let go once he confirmed it was blood from treating Snape moments before.

Yang Luoluo had been watching the Death Eaters carry Harry away with full concentration. The sudden movement made her flinch. She turned to find Loki wiping the blood from her hand, a look of frank displeasure on his face.

A faint coolness passed over her skin. For no reason she could explain, her heart suddenly kicked hard. Yang Luoluo pulled her hand back with an awkward little motion.

She made a deliberate effort to ignore the puzzled look Loki gave her. Seeing the Death Eaters had moved far enough away, she grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and ran toward Snape.

The fully recovered Snape had risen to his feet and stood watching her approach, guarded.

This unfamiliar Muggle had saved Snape's life. Harry Potter clearly trusted her. That was still not quite enough for Snape to drop his guard entirely.

"You,"

"Professor, take the Invisibility Cloak and go find the others at the Hog's Head!"

Snape's unspoken challenge was cut off before it started. Yang Luoluo shoved the Cloak into Snape's hands.

Harry had been taken by Death Eaters, which meant the battle had hit its most critical point, win or lose, it would be decided very soon. There was no question of her being absent now, and besides, she had promised Harry there would be no casualties.

Yang Luoluo quickly told Snape the location of the secret passage. Given everything happening, it would be wrong for Snape to appear before either the students or Lord Voldemort. Better to send Snape to the Hog's Head.

She just hoped Snape would manage to stay calm when certain people came into view.

Yang Luoluo thought this with a quietly guilty conscience.

Snape opened his mouth to speak again. Yang Luoluo pressed her lips together, grabbed Loki by the arm, and ran, following the path the two Death Eaters had taken. One last line called back over her shoulder:

"Professor, whatever you do, don't follow us, I have absolutely no intention of saving you a second time!"

Snape:...

Fine. The Hog's Head, then.

That girl's guilty expression had thoroughly piqued Snape's curiosity.

Snape would go see for himself exactly what secret was hiding at the Hog's Head.

➤ Next: Battle of Hogwarts (1)

Chapter 80 - Battle of Hogwarts (1)

"Fred! Look out!"

George roared the warning, eyes wild with terror. Behind Fred, a Death Eater laughed wildly, and at George's shout, grew only more brazen, raising a wand and leveling it at Fred as a glint of green light began seeping from its tip.

George's voice, raw and desperate, told Fred something was wrong. Fred's scalp prickled. Fred tried to throw the body sideways,

and the world blurred.

When the scene snapped back into focus, Fred was already standing somewhere safe, with George right beside him.

The two stared at each other, blank. Then someone clapped them both on the shoulder.

"I'm guessing you two probably want to say, thanks?"

A silver-haired boy flashed past them with a grin. Where they'd been standing a moment before, a red-haired girl now stood in their place.

Wanda Maximoff gave the Weasley twins a slightly shy smile, hands never pausing. One gentle flick of the wrist, and the Death Eater wrapped in crimson energy went sailing more than ten meters, hitting the ground face-first and staying there, dead or unconscious, it was hard to tell.

The twins: "..."

They both swallowed. Both raised a thumb at exactly the same moment.

"You two are still the best twin combo around!"

...

"You shouldn't have come."

Remus Lupin cleanly blasted the Death Eater across the way and turned to Nymphadora Tonks, who was deep in the thick of it.

Tonks waved a breezy hand, grinning, and somehow, in the same instant, reached over and smoothed the tight furrow between Remus Lupin's brows.

"Remi. Do you honestly think I'd let my husband fight alone?"

Tonks was a top-tier Auror of the Ministry of Magic. Sitting obediently at home, wringing hands and waiting for Remus Lupin to come back? That was simply not something Tonks was capable of.

Remus Lupin let out a slow breath. There was no arguing with Tonks. Remus Lupin sharpened every ounce of focus instead.

Wife and child, both here. That meant being twice as careful.

A figure swept past like a ghost, light on its feet, utterly silent, leaving a line of fallen Death Eaters wherever it passed.

Natasha Romanoff paused at Tonks's side for just a second. Those eyes dropped to Tonks's belly, expression complicated, unreadable.

"I think the baby will be just as brave as the parents," Natasha said, and smiled.

Tonks blinked in surprise, then broke into a grin, eyes curving warm.

"Thank you!"

...

A boy in Gryffindor robes pressed behind a pillar, trembling, screwing up the courage to fire spells at a distant Death Eater. What the boy didn't notice was the second Death Eater who had already spotted him, raising a wand with a vicious sneer.

BANG!

The boy, Colin Creevey, went dead pale, lips quivering, and whipped around toward the sound.

Steve Rogers stood with the shield raised, covering them both. The next second, the shield left the hand and crossed the air in a clean arc. A dull thud. The ambusher made no further sound.

"Th-thank you... sir..."

Steve Rogers stood up and looked at the kid. Thin. Small. The spitting image of what the reflection had shown before the serum. A frown formed without thinking. Years of battle had left a certain edge in the bearing, quiet and involuntary, and Colin Creevey felt it land. The legs shook. Hot tears forced their way up.

"Son," Steve said. "You should have left with the other students."

The kid was far too slight. Clearly not one of the older students who'd been permitted to stay and fight. Steve figured the boy had slipped back on the own.

Colin Creevey squared up and found the voice. "Sir, I know I'm not of age yet. But I still want to protect Hogwarts. With everyone else."

Steve Rogers looked at those determined eyes and felt a headache begin to build.

Suddenly understood, completely, why Tony Stark always wore that same pained expression whenever dealing with Peter Parker.

"Stay close. Can you do that?"

"Yes! I promise I won't be any trouble!"

"...Just keep yourself safe."

"Sir, sir, when this is all over, can I get a photo with you? My photography is really good!"

"..."

...

Word had come that Lord Voldemort was moving on Hogwarts. Cho Chang and several Ravenclaw classmates had turned around immediately and raced back to fight.

Hogwarts was a second home. Watch it be destroyed and do nothing? No. That wasn't something Cho Chang could live with.

And there was the other thing. The thing from the Triwizard Tournament that had never fully let go.

That alone meant standing on the opposite side from Lord Voldemort. There was no other option.

Cho Chang's eyes steadied with resolve. Spell after spell left the wand without pause, Death Eaters dropping one by one.

If only he... could see this. He'd probably be glad...

"Careful, senior."

A hand caught Cho Chang from behind as the strength went out and the body started to slide.

Cho Chang didn't say thank you. Instead, every muscle locked up. Both hands flew to cover the mouth. Broken, muffled sobs pushed through anyway.

Too much. Too much like him.

Cho Chang couldn't even bring the self to turn around and look at this younger student, the one whose voice sounded so much like Cedric Diggory's.

"I should call you senior, right? I'm only in my sixth year, and I heard they said you already grad, "

"...Cho? Are you crying?"

"I'm sorry, Cho... I'm back."

That voice. That gentle, familiar voice. Cedric Diggory sighed softly and pulled Cho Chang close, one hand moving in slow, steady pats against the back.

Held inside that warmth, Cho Chang finally understood.

It was really Cedric. Cedric had come back.

"Cedric..."

"Hey! We all know you two are close, but maybe read the room!"

Peter Parker, locked in combat a short distance away, caught the moment in the corner of one eye and called out, indignant.

"The kid's right! Keep your head in the fight!" Mad-Eye Moody brandished a wand overhead, pausing every so often to wrinkle the nose and mutter another curse at Umbridge under the breath. "When this is over I'm going to settle that score properly—mounting my eye in a door, of all things—"

Up on the staircase, Sybill Trelawney merely glanced over, then went right back to pulling crystal balls from a bag and lobbing them at the Death Eaters below. The Death Eaters scrambled and ducked, hands over their heads, every one of them sporting fresh lumps.

Cedric Diggory scratched the back of the head and smiled at them, awkward.

Cho Chang pulled free, face flushed, and raised the wand again to rejoin the fight. Cedric Diggory fell into step right alongside.

"Poor children." The voice was cold, contemptuous. It carried across the entire grounds. "Do you still wish to keep struggling?"

Everyone stopped. Wizards, Avengers, Death Eaters, all of them, at once.

Lord Voldemort walked into the center of the grounds at the head of a procession of Death Eaters, bearing that high, unhurried arrogance.

"Look who we have here."

A hand waved. The two Death Eaters who had been carrying Harry understood immediately. They dropped Harry on the ground.

Harry lay there, motionless.

Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger felt their hearts miss a beat. Hermione Granger's vision swam; one step back, nearly stumbling. Ron Weasley clenched the jaw and reached out to catch the steady.

"Allow me to be merciful and explain." Lord Voldemort's tone was almost cheerful. "Harry Potter—your Savior—was killed while running away."

As if the lie and the belittling weren't enough, the addendum came with open satisfaction:

"Savior? No. Just a coward."

"Harry is not a coward!"

Neville Longbottom's voice cut through the air, and then came the sounds of a struggle. Scuffling. Shouting. A muffled grunt of pain.

Harry's chest tightened.

Neville Longbottom was honest and stubborn to the bone. Neville Longbottom knew nothing of the plan. Harry was terrified of what Neville Longbottom might provoke the Death Eaters into doing.

Footsteps tapped away. Lord Voldemort moved farther off.

Harry stayed perfectly still and let the sounds come in: Lord Voldemort mocking Neville Longbottom, Neville Longbottom pushing back, Lord Voldemort summoning the Sorting Hat, grandly declaring that in the future only Slytherin would remain...

Then Hogwarts came alive.

A roar of sound broke from every direction at once. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people rushing toward the castle. Harry could feel the vibration rising through the ground.

"Dumbledore's Army!"

At Neville Longbottom's call, a wave of voices answered from the crowd.

"Hagrid! Hagrid!"

That was Grawp, Hagrid's giant of a sibling.

"ROARRR!"

That was the centaurs, fury in every note, hooves thundering the earth beneath, the wind-whistle of a hundred arrows loosed all at once cutting through the air above.

"For my master! For Hogwarts! For the House-elves! Fight! Fight!"

That was Kreacher and Dobby and Winky at the front, leading the charge, House-elves streaming forward in a sweeping wave, brandishing table knives and meat cleavers grabbed from the Great Hall.

In the chaos, Harry pushed up from the ground in one fast movement. One hand dug into the robes and then stopped. The Invisibility Cloak was gone. Already handed off to Yang Luoluo. Harry scrambled instead to pull on a hat, yanking the wide brim low to hide the face.

Then Harry slipped into the crowd and moved quietly through it, searching.

Looking for Lord Voldemort.

➤ Next: The Battle of Hogwarts (2)