A dish best served cold

16

The students from the PDC had held their enemy off well enough considering the vast difference in experience between the two. Remembering the training, they had utilized the environment to give them hiding spots from which to fire spells. Those barricades and walls had, for the most part, disappeared when the goblins showed up, forcing them out into the streets, making them much more vulnerable and forcing them to fall back up the road towards the school.

Albus Dumbledore and his staff handled the situation with the Death Eaters quite well. Sure, there were forty of them, but they were lesser Death Eaters, and he was Albus Dumbledore. Not to mention the fact that most of the Hogwart's staff was renowned for their skill with a wand as well, putting them at a distinct advantage over these nobodies.

There was one problem, though. The goblins kept on coming. Massive numbers flowed from the underground tunnels, and soon both the Light and Dark sides were struggling to keep up. They had each abandoned fighting their primary foes and focused solely on keeping the goblins at bay. The hacking and slashing of the magical weaponry, combined with the surprisingly swift agility of these miniature creatures was troubling everyone involved.

In the chaos, Luna Lovegood had managed to get away from her captor. The man released her in favor of saving his own hide when faced with a deadly goblin lightning spell. Slipping behind the buildings, she ran full-tilt back towards the school, harsh winter air stinging her cheeks and stabbing her lungs, hoping to find Harry and the PDC and aid them.

The world was falling apart around him. Harry Potter ducked and dodged spells the likes of which he had never seen. Sickles of light slashing through the air, making his hair stand on end as it passed by. The students had learned the hard way that most Wizarding magic did not work against goblin spells. Something in their fundamental make up was different than that of human spells, and so shields were rendered useless, resulting in student deaths when a Protego immediately shattered in the face of a bright blue ball of light shot from the blade of a gob-axe.

Buildings stood lopsided, holding on for dear life as the earth grabbed at them, trying unsuccessfully (for now) to pull them to the ground. It would be a miracle to find a single unbroken mirror in the entire town, and half of buildings still standing were alight with flames, engulfing roofs and working their way into basements, filling every nook and cranny with destruction. The roads were scarred with deep gashes, reminiscent of a certain retired Auror.

If one believed in such a place, they might say Hell had been made manifest, right here in humble Hogsmeade.

Harry watched as more and more students fled and died. Those were the only two things that seemed to be happening. The younger students, and the ones who were untrained, they ran toward the school, their backs to the battle, sprinting for the gates. Running for salvation and their life.

The citizens of Hogsmeade had, from the beginning, been making their way toward the Hogwarts. The town was empty now except for combatants. With this in mind, Harry made the call.

"RETREAT! EVERYONE BACK TO HOGWARTS!" he shouted. Harry could see groups of his trainees with their backs to each other, shouting curses and hexes, moving slowly up the road back toward the grounds. It was hard to tell just how many had fallen, but Harry could see the road strewn with bodies, some of them Death Eaters, but far too many of them being students.

The Death Eaters had looks of both incredulity, and in some cases, slight betrayal. At some point in this fight, in the minds of many of the warriors, this battle had moved beyond good guys and bad guys. It was more than "Potter/Dumbledore versus Voldemort" with outside interference from goblins. Now, this was a struggle between humans and goblins, a return to the historical clashes that had wreaked havoc on magical society in the past. Hearing Potter call for a retreat was like being abandoned by their brothers at arms, and it was strangely painful. They paid it little attention soon enough, for their new enemy was voracious and a major danger, needing only a split second to render flesh from bone and scatter it across the town.