by Harry Potter
“That’s odd, I don’t remember any smoke,” Hermione said to herself.
“Wow, you’re right, Mr. Middwood. Those Death Eaters you made for the addition are scary,” Mr. Cummings murmured while looking past Harry.
“Wha...? But they’re not completed yet,” Middwood stated. As a group, Harry, Hermione and Ron turned toward the double doors leading from the nursery and saw a number of Death Eaters standing there. Harry was impressed, whereas there had been a large number of mistakes with Middwood’s rendition of Voldemort, he was spot on with these Death Eaters.
Middwood pushed past Harry and walked up the group of mannequin Death Eaters. He quickly inspected the group before his eyes where drawn to the nursery, which was now in flames.
“What the hell happened to my ride?” Middwood exclaimed.
The Death Eater in the front turned its attention to upset wizard and asked in a cold and feminine voice: “So this atrocity is your doing?” She then raised her wand and pointed it at Middwood and shouted “CRUCIO!”
Middwood collapsed to the floor screaming. Before Harry could react, four more Death Eaters shouted “CRUCIO!” and four people in the shop, including Ron, fell to the floor screaming in agony. Harry froze temporarily as he saw his best friend writhe on the ground.
“Does wee-baby Potter not like seeing people get hurt?” the Death Eater in the front asked in an all too familiar sickly childish voice.
“Bellatrix,” muttered Harry. He tried to quickly count how many Death Eaters he was up against - because these Death Eaters appeared to be real and not mannequins - but lost count after he had gotten to twenty.
However, Hermione - being the studious witch she was - hadn’t lost count as evidence by her question to Harry. “Harry, what are we going to do? There are thirty-eight of them.”
The screaming stopped suddenly when Bellatrix signaled to her brethren.
“I felt compelled to destroy that thing you had made!” Bellatrix said to the convulsing Middwood at her feet. “You should consider yourself lucky that the Dark Lord didn’t know this was here. If he did know of this place... well... you would be begging for a quick death.”
Bellatrix raised her attention to Harry and Hermione. “I heard something truly fascinating a few hours ago...” she began and paused as she noticed Ron who was trying to stand back up. “Ah... I recognize this one. He’s one of your little friends who stopped us from retrieving the prophesy for our master.”
The evil witch whipped her wand at Ron and shouted “CRUCIO!” once more. Ron screamed and crashed back to the floor.
“Stop it you bitch!” Harry shouted.
Lifting the curse, Bellatrix said “Such sweet words, flattery will get you nothing though.”
Kneeling next to Ron, Hermione checked on his still form. “He’s unconscious,” she informed.
“Back to what I was saying,” Bellatrix continued. “My master heard that wee-baby Potter’s power has gone all ‘wonky’. And he decided to end this once and for all.”
Slowly, all thirty-eight Death Eaters pointed their wands at Harry. (Some of the Death Eaters in the back had on to stand on their toes and did their best to aim in Harry’s general direction, while some of the shorter ones where complaining that they couldn’t see where he was. But you get the point.)
From her kneeling position, Hermione reached up and held Harry’s left hand. Harry locked eyes with his girlfriend and Hermione mouthed the words “I love you” to him. With a sense of love completely filling Harry’s heart, he whipped out his wand and shouted “STUPEFY!”
Harry could see Bellatrix’s eyes bulge as a huge red crescent-shaped arc erupted from Harry’s wand and flew in her direction. Unfortunately for Harry, Bellatrix, along with seven of her fellow Death Eaters, had the common sense to duck as the super-charged Stunner came flying at them. A few of the others actually had quick enough reflexes to cast a Shield Charm, though it didn’t do them any good.
The glowing red arc sliced through the remaining Death Eaters like a hot knife through butter. The few Death Eaters who had cast a Shield Charm seemed quite surprised when their Shields were shattered; that is they seemed to be quite surprised right before they were knocked unconscious.
It was at this point that the innocent - and not so innocent if you include Joseph Middwood - bystanders decided to leave the gift shop. Of course they weren’t leaving in a calm and orderly fashion. No, they were running in every direction which caused some problems. Some of them thought it would be best to head straight to the exit while others thought it would be speedier to actually run through a solid wall. Still others believed that it was in everyone’s best interest to run directly into another person attempting to flee while screaming “My God, my God, we’re all going to die!”
“I thought he was supposed to be powerless,” one of the Death Eaters complained as he dodged a pack of panicky bystanders.
“I’m going to kill that filthy elf!” Bellatrix shouted right before Mr. Cummings crashed into her, sending both of them to the floor.
There were too many people around for Harry to launch another Stunner; he was afraid his super-charged charm may actually harm an innocent. Either by causing them to fall, thereby injuring themselves, or by Stunning them with so much power that they could possibly suffer dire consequences, much like how McGonagall nearly died during his fifth year.
The Death Eaters had no such limitation. Six of the conscious Death Eaters began firing off various hexes and curses in Harry’s general direction. Fortunately for Harry, none of the spells hit him; instead, many of the witches and wizards who were running around in a panic were struck. A dull grey bolt hit a witch who was running to the door causing her hair to catch fire. One wizard was struck with an orange flame and was flung painfully into a nearby wall.
Harry realized that even if he didn’t try to stop the Death Eaters for fear of harming innocents, those same innocents were being harmed. He focused on his loving memories of Hermione and quickly knelt down and waved his wand a few inches over the floor before shouting the incantation for the Trip Jinx: “Lapso Accido!”
It was if everyone in the room - save for Harry and his friends - were tenpins and had been hit by some giant invisible bowling ball. They were all, Death Eaters and bystanders alike, flipped up into the air; the flipping action causing all of the various robes to fall around their shoulders and thereby exposing their undergarments. Harry’s vision was assaulted by the sight of brightly colored bloomers and dull grey boxers as the airborne victims of his super-Tripping Jinx crashed back to the floor. Unfortunately, one Death Eater had apparently decided to go “commando” so to speak and not wear any unmentionables. And to Harry’s horror, that Death Eater was Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry normally wouldn’t be horrified at seeing a woman’s naked groin, but besides going “commando”, Bellatrix also apparently favored an extreme look as well. “Au natural” didn’t begin to cover it. The evil witch was unusually, nay, ridiculously hairy and the sight made the bespectacled wizard gag.
The frightening scene reminded Harry of Sirius’ disheveled and unkempt appearance the first time he saw godfather. Sirius’ stay in Azkaban had left him in a state unfit for civilized society. But even a long (and extremely justified) internment in the hellish wizading prison could not explain Bellatrix’s excessively hairy state. There was just so much hair, it couldn’t be natural! It hung in long, matted tangles from her groin and it crept down her legs as if it was consuming her flesh.
Harry’s terror filled mind scrambled trying to find an explanation for Bellatrix’s shaggy muff. One potential explanation was that she was the victim of a very powerful Hair Growing Hex of some kind. Another, more terrifying reason that came to Harry’s mind was that it was actually an overly furry creature that had attached itself to Bellatrix’s bits in some sort of sickening symbiotic relationship.
This second possibility was given more credence in Harry’s eyes when he saw one of the tangled locks that hung from her crotch beg
in to move. The hairy appendage seemed to undulate in a different and unique way; totally alien when compared to its fuzzy counterparts. The unique tangled... thing was moving as if it had a will of its own and was acting accordingly.
“I’m going to be ill,” Hermione muttered as she too saw Bellatrix’s overly shaggy bits. “A pack of flobberworms could nest in there it’s so matted.”
It was at this unfortunate time that Ron regained consciousness. “That’s just not right,” the red head groaned upon seeing Bellaxtrix’s nakedness. “You could braid that mess, couldn’t you?”
“My god,” Hermione continued, the raw fear in her voice evident to everyone. “Are... are those bits of hay and straw sticking out?”
“More than likely,” explained Harry, desperately trying not to acknowledge the image being forced into his nightmares. “I think... I think it’s hungry...”
Forcing the terrifying image of Bellatrix’s “Forbidden Forest” out of his mind, Harry knew he could now take care of the disorganized Death Eaters. But he had to make sure that no innocents got back up and into the line of fire again. So, in his best booming voice, Harry commanded: “EVERYBODY, STAY DOWN!”
“Does that mean us, too?” Harry heard a Death Eater ask.
“NO, IT DOESN’T!” screamed Bellatrix while she stood and - thankfully - covered herself. “Kill Potter!”
Ron rolled onto his side and launched a Stunner at the Death Eater to Bellatrix’s right and the masked fiend fell to the floor. With a swish of her wand, Hermione conjured a thick rope that wound itself around another villain. Taking his girlfriend’s lead, Harry tapped into his love based magic again and attempted to conjure a thick rope to would bind another Death Eater. But Harry didn’t conjure a rope that wrapped itself abound a bad guy; instead he conjured a chain and it wrapped itself around three Death Eaters. It wasn’t a simple chain by any means either; it appeared to be the type of chain that is attached to an anchor for a cruise ship. Each link looked like it weighed as much as two men.
“Ooff,” one of the bound Death Eaters moaned pitifully under Harry’s chain. “This is really heavy...”
“Reducto!” screamed Bellatrix and the ground in front of Ron exploded. The blast sent Ron, Harry and Hermione into the air. Ron crashed against the wall and fell to the floor in a heap, Hermione landed behind the counter supporting the cash till, and Harry hit the wall of tasteless and tacky and plain insulting pullovers. When his body hit the wall, a majority of the novelty shirts were knocked off of their pegs and ended up burying him.
As Harry tried to dig himself out of the mountain of pullovers, he heard Bellatrix command her fellow Death Eaters to revive their fallen comrades. “Wake them up!” she barked.
The two Death Eaters quickly performed several Re-enervate Charms. As Harry poked his head out of the mountain of novelty shirts, he saw the Death Eater that Ron had Stunned stand up. He also saw Ron was unconscious, slumped against the far wall with blood seeping out of a gash on his forehead. Harry then saw that Hermione was using the check-out counter as a shield.
“Bellatrix, we can’t rennervate the ones Potter Stunned,” one of the Death Eaters informed their leader as another busied himself by banishing the ropes Hermione had conjured. Harry noted that they couldn’t banish the chains that he had created.
“Damn that house-elf!” cursed Bellatrix. “He told us Potter was powerless!”
Harry wondered what she was talking about for a moment before the realization hit him. She had to be referring to Kreacher. Harry had told both Doby and Kreacher that his power had gone “all wonky” and that he couldn’t conjure anything properly. ‘But how would the little shite have been able to communicate to...’ Harry thought, only to have his memory supply the answer. ‘I told them to leave. Kreacher must’ve decided that the order meant for him to leave the castle. And of course the bastard would’ve immediately scurried off to his more favored masters and promptly told them that I was powerless.’
“I was going to give him his wish and chop off his head and mount it,” Bellatrix continued to complain. “But for now, I’ll make his life a living hell until I get what’s rightfully mine; the Most Noble House of Black’s ancestral home.”
“Didn’t you know that’s my house now?” Harry shouted still half hidden under the pile of pullovers. He saw Bellatrix look around frantically trying to find him; apparently she hadn’t seen where he landed. “Does it bother you that number twelve is now owned by a half-blood?” Harry continued to taunt. He could see the rage build up in Bellatrix’s face. “Maybe I should live there.”
“Yes, and does it bother you that the halfblood will be shagging his mudblood girlfriend there as well!” added Hermione. A well of hope, and a touch of lust, sprung up in Harry’s heart at Hermione’s statement. Even though she was taunting Bellatrix, Hermione had mentioned having sex with Harry! She had used rather crude language but as Harry had discovered earlier, he found “Dirty - Talking Hermione” a bit of a turn on.
“His girlfriend?” Harry heard of the masked Death Eater asked. “But I thought he was a poof and that he fancied Malfoy?”
Resolving to deal with the aftereffects of both that damned Daily Prophet article and the traitorous house-elf later, Harry jumped out of the pile of pullovers and launched a super-Stunner at the five remaining Death Eaters. Regrettably for Harry, Bellatrix and the same two Death Eaters who had ducked his Stunner before ducked again. The recently revived and the recently unbound Death Eaters both muttered “oh, bugger,” an instant before the red arc struck them in the chest, sending them both off to slumber-land.
“Disarm him now!” barked Bellatrix before Harry could launch another Stunner.
“Expelliarmus!” shouted Bellatrix and the two remaining Death Eaters in unison. Harry felt as if a bludger had hit his hand. Not only did his wand go flying out of his grasp, he also felt one of his fingers break as he was struck with three powerful Disarming Spells.
“Stupefy!” Hermione shouted and one of the Death Eaters collapsed to the floor. She dodged back behind the counter before Bellatrix and her remaining thug could counterattack.
“Don’t bother with Walker,” commanded Bellatrix, indicating the fallen Death Eater. “Kill the girl. I’ll take care of Potter!”
While cradling his injured hand, Harry looked around desperately for his wand. He was of no help to anyone without it.
As the unknown Death Eater stalked toward the counter, Bellatrix pointed her wand at Harry and shouted: “Locomotor Mortis!”
Harry’s legs locked together and he started to fall. He tried to lessen the fall by bracing his hands in front of him, but this only led to further injuring his broken finger. Harry suppressed a groan as saw his twisted digit which was already turning a nasty blue color.
“I’m going to enjoy watching wee baby Potter cry for his mama,” Bellatrix taunted in her sickly baby voice. Harry looked past his tormentor and saw that the other remaining Death Eater was very close to where Hermione was hiding.
Hermione whipped herself from behind the counter and pushed the large barrel that contained hundreds of “glowing baby Harry” figurines over, spilling its contents on the ground. Before the Death Eater could react, Hermione rapidly cast a series of Banishing Charms on the figurines, sending them at her attacker. The Death Eater cried out as dozens of “glowing baby Harry” figurines pelted his face and body.
“OW! OW! OW!” he cried as his white mask was shattered.
“Stop your whining and kill her!” Bellatrix ordered in an annoyed tone.
“But it hurts!” the Death Eater complained. He turned his head away from the onslaught of flying figurines and Harry saw that one of his eyes was already blackened and blood was dripping from his nose. The Death Eater cried out in agony and whipped his body around. Harry was quite taken aback to see a figurine had been thoroughly shoved into the villain’s ear. He desperately tried to pull the little plastic toy out of his ear canal as Hermione continued to send the figurines pe
lting into his back. Suddenly, the Death Eater screamed in utter pain, and began to hop around while clutching his backside. “OW! OW! OW!”
“What is the matter now?” demanded Bellatrix.
“It’s in the ouchy area!” the Death Eater cried out while pointing frantically toward his bum. “GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!”
Thankfully for the Death Eater, the pain of having a small plastic toy forcibly shoved up his bum was replaced with the sweet oblivion that came to one when a large wooden barrel was smashed into his head. Apparently, Hermione had run out of “glowing baby Harry”’s and decided to use the barrel that housed them as a projectile, Banishing it at her attacker’s head. As the Death Eater crumpled to the ground, Harry noticed that a good deal of his robes seemed to be wedged firmly in his arse.
Hermione quickly leveled her wand at Bellatrix but it was too late. “Expelliarmus!” shouted Bellatrix and Hermione’s wand flew from her grasp. Hermione gasped as Bellatrix began to walk toward her. “I think I will play with you while wee baby Potter watches.”
Harry frantically dragged himself across the floor. The villainess stood in front of Hermione and raised her wand so that it was pointing at the younger witch’s heart. Harry tore at the ground, causing his broken finger to twist even more, as he propelled himself at Bellatrix. He realized that without his wand he was powerless because he didn’t know any wandless magic. And because of his injured hand and the fact that his legs were rendered useless due to the Leg Locker Hex all he could do was paw at Bellatrix’s back.
“You’re going to suffer, mudblood,” sneered Bellatrix, pointing her wand at Hermione. Harry had finally caught up with Bellatrix and with his one good hand, tried to pull the witch away from Hermione. “And your worthless half-blood boyfriend can do nothing to stop me, besides fondling my back...”
Then a sudden thought hit Harry: he did know wandless magic!
“... Why are you doing that? It’s really annoying!” commented Bellatrix off-handedly to Harry, as he continued to paw at her back. Harry was oblivious to her comments; he was lost in his own thoughts as he tried to force himself to tap into his core. It was extremely hard to access anything love based when dealing with Bellatrix. He had to fight to prevent his memory from calling up the image of Bellatrix without her robe. It’s extremely hard to do any sort of wandless magic when one is on the verge of vomiting.
