Half-Blood Princess Book Seven

Chapter 3 - Battle of Eight Potter's

Third Person POV

27th July 1997

Tilly took Hedwig and Raven to the side and made them invisible so that they could be around the rest without being spotted. Tilly runs back inside and charms her broom to follow her, just in case she needs it, then walks over to Harry and Hagrid and sits next to her brother.

"Head for the Burrows. We'll rendezvous there." Moody tells everyone. "On the count of three! ...One!" Tilly and Harry look at everyone around them, both worrying about what will happen. "...Two!" Tilly takes a breath as she and Harry hold tight to the car and watch their friends get ready to take off. "...Three!" Everyone quickly takes off into the sky, soaring above the city and houses, trying to escape in the middle of the night.

But not even five minutes into the flight, the group is attacked by the Death Eaters. Spells are going all over the place; blocking, firing... killing. Everything is happening before their eyes. Tilly and Harry watch, wanting to help, but Hagrid keeps flying, not allowing the others. Harry starts to argue with Hagrid, but Tilly focuses on linking as many people as she can, including her Dad. Tilly knows he's here and can feel him reaching out to her.

'Pumpkin, you have to help your friends. Let Harry go; you can catch up. I can't keep my cover and protect everyone here.' There's a pause as Tilly waits for Snape to say something. 'You'll have to face off against me, then maybe Voldemort.' Tilly shuts off the connection, not wanting to hear it again. She calls for her broom, then jumps out of the sidecar, landing perfectly. Harry calls for her, but they keep going as she turns back.

The scene she sees on her return is horrifying. Many people fell from the sky, lots with wounds, and a few dead, only Death Eaters, though. Tilly sees a group of Death Eaters encroaching on two Harry's and goes to help. Tilly fires spell after spell at every Death Eater she can when one calls out.

"It's her. The real one. You go after the boy." Tilly glares at the man, knowing the voice anywhere, Rodolphus Lestrange. He never liked Tilly much like Bella, but at least she put up with her. Rodolphus hated her and tried to hurt her multiple times, but she always overpowered him, so she never saw a need to tell anyone. She looks him dead in the eye and shoots the Cruciatus Curse at him. He falls to the ground, hopefully dead. Tilly looks over to the two Harry's who smile at first then tell her to leave. She nods, going to find Harry, but hears a scream, like Fred's and turns to see, who she thinks, is George, being helped by Remus. She looks to see two Death Eaters, one who seems ashamed and the other who's overjoyed by what happened. Tilly flies closer and realises that Bella is the one happily laughing, and Snape is the one who seems to be having a panic attack.

"Bella!" She screams. The two fires at Tilly, Snape much slower than Bellatrix, and the spells are nothing harmful. Unlike Bellatrix, who is using the killing cures, knowing Tilly would be able to save herself, and on the off chance she didn't, Bella didn't care. After a few minutes of fighting, Tilly has a feeling she should find Harry, so she shoots one last spell at the group of Death Eaters, and they all disappear. Tilly hopes they don't return but must help Harry, so she leaves.

She flies as fast as she can, trying to save her brother when she hears Voldemort call out to her and Harry.

"Harry...Tilly..." His voice is soft and raspy. Tilly sees them up to head but knows she can't make it in time, so she calls Harry.

"James..." Harry hears his sisters voice and grabs his wand starting to fight. Harry is slowly losing until Tilly makes it in time. The two face off against and Tilly's second spell crakes Voldemort's wand he took from Lucius. He realises this and takes off after releasing a powerful blast of energy. Tilly and Harry go as quickly as possible and make it to the Burrow, with Hagrid still pasted out.