Blindness

Chapter 15: Golden Wards

Auror Hill had opted to stay. He knew it was foolish; surely the Boy-Who-Lived, as powerful as he had proven to be, could not survive the odds against him.

The Death Eaters would target him, next. He flew above them in the cloudless sky, his red robes grey in the darkness but all too visible from below.

He should have fled like Oliver; ran back to the Ministry for reinforcements and safety in numbers. But he had followed Harry Potter for over a year now, on one shift or another, and he felt some obligation for the preoccupied boy who at times seemed so powerful and knowing, looking over his shoulder directly at where they hid guarding him with a slight smile.

And yet, at times, so fragile; stumbling on a curb, jerked away from running into a plastic muggle sign with a sharp tug of his muggleborn companion. It had not happened as often lately; but Hill remembered each time the teenager had faltered and misstepped because it was so at odds with the powerful figure that had summoned a dragon from the stone under his feet with only a wave of his staff. It made the boy human; less a sorcerer and more a teenager. An impression only heightened by the way the boy snuck off with his muggleborn girlfriend to a house in London, reminding Hill of his own young loves, stealing kisses in alleyways with a mischievous grin.

Now, the boy who he had watched so closely faced off against his enemies alone, nearly surrounded by hundreds of pale inferi, a Dark Lord and his remaining minions.

A Dark Lord who should be dead; Hill had seen the grotesque infantile version Kissed himself, standing by the Minister as it happened. This man was not a misshapen child; he stood tall, so similar to the Dark Lord who had terrorized the Ministry when Hill was only just entering Hogwarts. Was it really him? Had some Death Eater merely taken on his appearance? It would not be beyond them.

The Dark Lord look-alike approached Potter; called out some threat in a loud voice. Hill barely heard it; and Potter's reply was lost to the wind in his ears.

Hill flew lower; he doubted a few feet would matter, once the inevitable duel took place. Potter spoke again; a quiet murmur. Hill tightened his fist around his wand, holding the broom steady with his knees.

If they could only keep talking, stalling until the Ministry arrived...

Hill sucked in a breath when Harry Potter's eyes began to gleam in the dark light, their green irises letting off piercing light, power thickening in the air and thrumming in his own heart, a pulse of foreign energy touching him that he did not expect, making his broom waver in response.

"Why? Is the fact that you are a thorn in my side not enough?" The pale wizard spoke loudly, and Hill saw the inferi begin to rotate and waver, creeping closer and around the teenager, eyes locked on his form like kneazles stalking a mouse. "Or that you killed me twice before? Or that people claim you are greater than me?"

Twice before? Was this wizard claiming in fact to be the Dark Lord resurrected? That was impossible!

The Death Eaters spread out as well, some uneasily looking at the inferi nearby, even as Hill heard muggle sirens drawing closer.

It would be a bloodbath if the inferi turned upon the muggles next, as they doubtless would. Hill could try a few flame spells; but he doubted he would get many off before the Death Eaters took him down.

If only the Ministry would hurry the hell up...

"Or maybe, I simply want to see you die, and not even at my own hand. I'll enjoy watching my army tear you apart and consume the pieces." The wizard continued, mocking, smiling with sharp teeth, slitted nostrils widening in excitement.