Chapter 1010: Death...
Stomachs churned, and screams stretched.
Everything blurred, as if twisted and lengthened to the extreme.
All the boys and the girls had experienced Apparation before. But this... this felt much faster, as if it had disregarded comfort, which had never been a priority for Apparation anyway, to gain even more time.
When the abnormal, nauseating feeling died, the horror began.
The Shrieking Shack, a multistoried, ghostly house, was in a horrible state.
Decades ago, when Lupin was at Hogwarts as a student, Dumbledore had enchanted the Shack’s walls, making them stronger, while closing up all doors and windows permanently. In that way, a Werewolf Lupin wouldn’t have left the Shack and harmed others.
However, those charms had lost their effect long ago.
When the Hogsmeade villagers saw the Shack’s moving walls, it wasn’t because of ghosts now, but because of the wind — heralding the structure’s doom sooner or later.
It was a miracle that the Shrieking Shack survived such a mass teleportation over such a long distance.
But that was the thing about miracles.
You couldn’t expect them to happen two in a row.
Under the dark, cold sky, and over a cemetery, a large house appeared... over 50 feet above the ground.
Then, with an unnatural speed, it came crashing.
A BOOM rumbled across the surroundings as the entire Shack exploded, walls disintegrating and debris flying in all directions.
If that was the state of the structure itself, much less needed to be said about the people within.
Darcie’s eyes were still wide open just before she was hurled out of the crash zone. Before she could even land on the ground, a large piece of wood hit squarely on her head, knocking her back, drawing blood.
Daphne and Hermione were luckier, it seemed. They had already lost consciousness, making their bodies effortlessly go with the explosion’s flow before the debris rained and buried them under it.
Draco screamed — a foot-long, extremely thin, and sharp piece of wood lodged right into his right leg, through and through. In the next moment, that same leg landed on the ground, making him instantly pass out, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
Ron had already been mauled by Uncle Black, almost mutilating his shoulder. Now, under the large chunks of walls and furniture, only his shoes were visible.
Speaking of Sirius, the half-mad wizard had turned into a dog involuntarily. The transformation saved him from the worst, but it couldn’t save him from getting his tiny leg crushed by the fall, making him pass out as well.
That left...
Harry groaned, feeling splinters running through the palm of his left hand. In his right hand, he still carried his wand somehow. The left lens of his glasses was broken, and a piece of it had lodged itself right above his eye.
Letting out suppressed moans, he twisted his body in an upright position and looked around.
The first man he saw was Lupin.
Instantly, Harry’s heart gave way, all the pain seeping out of him in shock.
A massive, sword-like piece of wood was running through Lupin’s stomach. The man was hunched over it as if someone had impaled him from the front with a sword before burying the sword’s hilt in the ground.
A growl, from the pits of his stomach, escaped Harry’s throat.
Before he could even mourn for Lupin, though, he saw a man crawling out of the debris not far from him.
It was Filch, but... he was changing, extremely fast. In only a matter of moments, he turned into someone else entirely, gaining a youthful look. He had managed to stand up, but his left leg was twisted at an odd angle, a white, sharp fragment of bone jutting out of his calf. And... he still carried his wand, too.
The man suddenly crouched and cleared the debris next to him, revealing another figure.
Harry, despite all the shock and pain, winced as he saw Wormtail.
Wormtail’s jaw had shattered, and now it was hanging loosely. All his fingers were bent, and his right hand had snapped in half. Several splinters were running down his shoulders near the neck. When the man, who had been Filch before, used magic to make Wormtail levitate him, one of Wormtail’s eyes slid out, leaving behind a bloody trail.
"Argh..." the Death Eater growled in disgust before dropping Wormtail’s dead body right back into the debris.
Then, a blue halo suddenly lit the dark surroundings.
Harry, to his utter horror, saw a blue-armored figure coming out of the debris, shaking its head. The armor was half broken and only covered the figure’s right hand and face. Still, Harry didn’t need to see the face to know who it was.
The Death Eater, shocked, lifted his wand and pointed it at Black.
No... Harry’s mind roared. "NO!"
The shout caught both the Death Eater and Black’s attention.
However, it couldn’t stop a blazing, green light from leaving the Death Eater’s wand and... hit Black, sending him flying with a bluish-silver explosion.
Harry couldn’t hear the scream that had left his own throat.
But it must have been strong enough to make even the Death Eater step back.
All the training Harry had received from the workshops just rushed out of his mind. Instead of using his wand, he bolted toward the Death Eater and slammed into him, both rolling on the wooden debris.
The man screamed, holding his broken leg, his wand slipping out of his grasp.
Harry, in pure anger and madness, got up right away, and this time... remembered to use his wand.
A Spell that he was told to never use appeared in his mind.
Kill him... A voice said in his mind. Kill him! You know the Spell... Harry. You know it. Avada Kedavra...
Harry, with broken, blurred vision, shook.
He snapped his head to his left and found a woman carrying something wrapped in a red shawl in her arms.
Then, with no warning, Harry’s scar exploded with pain.
Pain as he had never known before shot through him. His wand slipped from his hand as he held his face. His knees gave out. He hit the ground, and his head felt as if it would split apart.
And, without someone telling him, Harry knew who it was... wrapped under that red cloth.
Lord Voldemort!
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