Snape's family (Severus x OC)

17 The Riddle Manor

Panic began to spread among those in the front row, and many retreated to get away from the attackers, but others, especially the aurors, came forward to confront them, forming a defensive line around the school.

Screams were heard everywhere, along with some voices asking for tranquility and order. The death eaters were slowly approaching, followed by their creatures, but they were still too far away to attack.

"What do we do?" Hermione asked, completely scared.

"I don't know," Ron looked around, noticing the frightened people stumbling back, and the aurors standing firm, ready to defend others with their lives. He swallowed. "We should fight," he decided, trying to control the tremor in his voice. "Or else, retreat, because if we stay here, they will crush us."

"Maybe Harry is fighting or looking for the Horcruxes," she answered, her voice weak.

Ron looked at her and understood what she meant. Perhaps, if they resisted, Harry would have a chance against Voldemort, since the dark lord would be more aware of what was happening at Hogwarts than what the boy was doing.

"For Harry?"

"For Harry," Hermione squeezed his hand.

Before they thought about what they were doing, they were already slipping through the people to get to the front row. Once there, they had a perfect vision of what awaited them.

In fact, there were not as many death eaters as they had imagined, but they had a veritable horde of Inferis under their command. Recognizing the creatures, Ron and Hermione became more frightened, but they did not back away.

Perhaps they did not run because fear prevented them from moving, but it was also true that each one planned how they were going to fight, without considering the option of fleeing.

The death eaters stopped, far enough away that the aurors' spells would not reach them, but they sent the Inferi into the fight. The undead moved forward, not stumbling or stopping as the spells hit them.

The aurors quickly created a barrier of fire, and the less experienced mages, who obviously hadn't thought of that, quickly followed suit, causing the Inferi to stop before the flames.

However, blue flames appeared on the other side of the barrier and partially extinguished many of the fires. The aurors managed to raise their barriers, but the other wizards did not have that presence of mind and used other spells again, which, as they had no effect on the Inferi, did not prevent them from advancing towards the defensive formation again.

Ron and Hermione were in one of those groups, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't convince anyone to stop casting spells uselessly and help them create fire. Their efforts were of no use, because the blue flames extinguished everything they lit.

The chaos was absolute, and as the Inferi approached, many fell back, opening gaps along the defensive wall.

The aurors could not cope, since if they left their position, the defensive wall would collapse immediately, but there were fewer and fewer of them to stop the unstoppable wave of enemies.

The worst was when the Inferi began to attack them with magic. They raised their hands and rays came out of them and hovered over the wizards.

"It's not possible!" Hermione shouted, to make herself heard. "The Inferi are dead beings, they cannot use magic."

"Inferi-vampires aren't supposed to exist either, but we found three," Ron replied. "You-Know-Who must have given them a little gift."

They had to crouch to avoid a series of rays that were coming directly towards them, and then they protected themselves with shield spells to stop the next ones. The wizards around them insisted on continuing attacking with normal spells, without thinking that fire would have helped more.