Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 22: Hogsmeade (pt 3)

12:12 p.m.
The Streets of Hogsmeade

James ran as fast as he could towards the explosion. It helped that Mad-Eye Moody had graciously yelled out the target location loud enough to be heard across town. While he and Moody had parted on bad terms, he still had enormous respect for the grizzled old veteran and he hoped the man would be along soon to assist. While James had insisted on an Auror Corps presence today, he had not been able to assign as many as he'd wanted. In addition to himself and Moody (who technically didn't count), there were only seven other aurors in the village: Gawain Robards, Kingsley Shacklebolt, young Michael Proudfoot, and four trainees in their last year at the Academy who were mainly here for field training. Oh, and the Tonks girl was here somewhere. Hopefully that would be enough.

Unfortunately, those hopes soon seemed to be in vain. As he turned the corner onto Wizarding Way, the street that ran in front of the Hogsmeade Post Office, James was dismayed to see that the attackers looked to be over a dozen people in Death Eater uniforms and masks. All except for one – the leader who seemed eager to show off his face. Apparently, Sirius Black was just as arrogant and cocky as he'd been back at school.

There was no sign of either Robards or Moody, but Shack seemed to have taken command of the defense with Proudfoot and two of the trainees standing together behind a hastily conjured barrier that seemed in imminent danger of collapse under the Death Eater onslaught. Potter grimaced as he saw that the other two trainees were down, and from here, he couldn't tell whether they were even still alive.

There was a flash of green light, and James had to dive for cover behind a fruit and vegetable stand. He ducked his head up and fumed as he realized that it was Sirius who fired the Killing Curse at him. The bastard!Luckily, the stand had survived the spell – James was a Transfiguration specialist, and fruits and vegetables gave him a lot to work with. With a deft flick of his wand, all the apples, pears, tomatoes and other items in the cart suddenly transformed into huge wasps as big as a man's hand, and at his command, they flew out of the cart and began swarming over the Death Eaters.

Then, with a second flick, the entire empty cart itself transfigured into a large brass bull which instantly charged straight for Sirius Black. Those Death Eaters not distracted by the wasps sent cutting curses towards the bull, but they all bounced off its metal hide. But then, to James's surprise, Sirius Black jumped over the bull, firing off a Blasting Curse at James while in mid-air. The auror only barely jumped to safety, and even then, the concussive forced threw him about twenty feet. Shacklebolt summoned him to the barricade which was starting to crumble under the assault. Shaking off the impact of the explosion, James touched his wand to it, and the barricade quickly repaired itself and became even more durable. On the other side, over half the Death Eaters were still batting off wasps and the brass bull was circling around for another attack. As James considered what spell to cast next, he was distracted by a loud pop and then surprised by its point of origin – up in the sky above the Dark Mark that loomed over the town.

As Remus approached the ward line at Hogwarts, he could clearly see the Dark Mark in the sky. A veteran of the last Wizarding War, he knew all too well about the Dark Mark and some of its properties. In particular, there was now most likely an anti-apparition and anti-portkey jinx over Hogsmeade. But Remus also knew that the jinx extended out and down from the Mark in a cone-like shape. The jinx was probably not in affect in the airspace above it. That gave Remus an option, albeit a dangerous one. As soon as he hit the ward line, the werewolf apparated -

- and materialized in the air above the Dark Mark and about fifty feet over the rooftop of Tomes & Scrolls. Surviving the fall unscathed might have been challenging even for a werewolf but not for a werewolf who was also a 99th degree master of the Path of Air. As he started his fall, Remus extended his arms straight out, stiffened his legs, and allowed himself to spin around in mid-air like a top. The magic of his Wu Xi Do technique slowed his rate of fall so that he dropped almost gently to the rooftop. On his way down, he made note of the position of the Death Eaters in the street below. And especially, the position of Sirius Black. He pulled out his wand and stepped back into the opening kata for the Tiger Pounces and Rolls Technique, and then he ran for the edge of the rooftop.