Blood of the Moon {Remus Lupin}

Chapter 110

NOT me wallpapering my room at 2am with the pages of the brontë sisters' works :)

Spells shot through the main courtyard, and any that flew Auriga's way she blocked somewhat easily. She had to admit, Voldemort's tactics were working brilliantly. They didn't stand a chance if they carried on like this. He'd sent his most dispensable fighters up front - Snatchers and werewolves - and they were efficiently blocking any hopes of reaching the giants feet. But they could not reach the castle if the Hogwartians stood a fighting chance.

"Cover me!" she roared to no one in particular. Two wizards obliged as she began to haul herself up the wall, wand between her teeth. She got to the top of the courtyard wall, keeping low as she crawled along so as to avoid the spells that whizzed past her head.

She hooked her toes around the edge of the wall and raised her wand, gripping onto any stone she could. "INCARCEROUS!" she screamed into the oncoming crowd. Thick cords shot from her wand and found themselves twisted around the ankles of the nearest giant.

The force of its footsteps jolted her forward and she yelled out as her grip threatened to give way. But the next moment, the giant fell, unconscious, crushing dozens of Death Eater allies. There was a roar of triumph and several more people climbed onto the battlements whilst everyone else defended them. Two giants fell, three, four, five, crushing their own allies as they did.

The battle was swinging. For now. Auriga climbed down, and using the first giant as a shield along with everyone else, began to fire upon the oncoming army. "Dementors round the back!" called a voice from the doorway, that Auriga couldn't identify. She ignored it.

"FORWARD!" she cried and those around her obliged, scrambling over the top of the giant and propelling themselves into duels. "HOLD STEADY!" They just needed to protect the castle. That was all.

The next wave of giants made their way forward, this time their feet unprotected. "ATTACK!" The group rushed forward, cords finding giants' ankles and sending them plummeting into troops, weapons turned on each other. Nine giants down, four more to go.

"INCOMING!" cried of voice to Auriga's right. Far above them came shadows, black as the night that framed them, raining down on them a shower of curses.

"COVER!" cred Auriga. But there was nowhere to cover. People were struck and falling around her, and the Death Eaters seemed uncaring after who they hit, be it friend or foe. A reductor curse hit the ground next to her and she flew away a few feet to where two giants had broken off and started towards the castle. "OVER HERE!" roared Auriga into the night, as the first raised his club for the astronomy tower.

Gritting her teeth and planting her feet, she sent cords towards it. They wrapped around its foot, but the giant wasn't hindered, pulling her along with it. She reluctantly let it go, instead summoning her strength fo conjure three patronuses, a pack of wolves waiting expectantly on her message. "Evacuate Towers!" said Auriga desperately. "Tackle giants." She flicked her wand and they bounded up and away.

Auriga had only just come to her senses when she noticed the giant feet away from her and headed towards the castle. She looked up at it in terror as its foot loomed over her. "PROTEGO!" she screamed, forming a shimmering shield that would only soften the blow. Another giant, smaller, barged into its side and it crumbled, toppling over the side of the bridge. Auriga sprinted back, back and away and into the fray.

They'd lost their fight. The Death Eaters were inside Hogwarts. She sprinted through the halls, firing curses at anyone she could find that attacked a student or an Order member, and blocking any that flew her way. She wasn't sure what she was looking for. A duel perhaps? Draco? Her mother?"

"You," she spat. A man with chestnut brown hair lowered his wand from where it pointed at a Gryffindor student (Creevy, Auriga thought his name was) and turned around to face her.

"Come to find me again, sweetheart?" said Augustus Carrow, his green eyes glinting dangerously and his perfect teeth framed by a disgusting sneer. Auriga nodded at Creevy and he scampered off down the hall, looking for a better-matched opponent.

There were several other duels around them, but for the most part they were alone. Auriga wasted no time in opening fire, sending an array of curses his way. They moved quickly through the air, flashes of colour bright against the cracked stone walls.

Augustus retaliated, dodging back and forth to evade her attack, firing nothing but green her way. Auriga scoffed; how unimaginative. She could see that Augustus was tiring, and Auriga was certain she'd never fought so hard in her life. Her mind flicked briefly to the raid on her holiday home a year and a half ago. He'd bested her then. But she'd lived. And she'd learned.

A smile curled into Auriga's face as she formed a plan in her mind, like a game of chess when one thinks three moves in advance. She fired a stinging hex at his hand, which he dodged, looking smug. But she hadn't intended for it to hit him. It clanged and ricocheted off the suit of armour behind him, hitting him in the back of his neck. He yelped and grasped the back of his neck, and Auriga smirked as she disarmed him, sending him flying backwards in the opposite direction of his wand.

She stepped over and picked it up, keeping her wand trained in him. There was a tiny voice in her head telling her to kill him, and her heart thundered, roaring for her to obey. "You never learn, do you?" she said softly. "That I'm the better duellist? Don't fucking mess with me."

Augustus spluttered through tears. "P-please, Auriga-" he began, but Auriga only smiled.

"Your fake tears won't work this time," she said. He stopped crying immediately, and his lips curled.

"Do it then," he spat.

Auriga thought for a moment. "I'm not going to kill you," she decided eventually. "I'll snap your wand-" She did it, and he visibly flinched. "And cart you off to Azkaban. But I won't turn into you."

"Look out!"

Somebody was sprinting at break-neck speed down the corridor and Auriga leapt back into the wall just in time to see them raise their wand, pointing directly at Augustus's chest. "Reducto!" Remus cried.

The spell hit Augustus with unparalleled force, and his chest exploded, littering the walls with crimson. Auriga was surprised his blood wasn't black. Or Green.

"Don't get all noble on me now, Malfoy," he said breathlessly as Auriga rushed forward and embraced him.

"I have never found you so incredibly sexy in my life," said Auriga, grinning as she dropped Augustus's wand pieces to the floor and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed and shook his head, smiling.

"Come on," he said, taking her by the hand. "There's acromantulas in the entrance hall."

"I told you so," Auriga muttered, following him as they jogged through.