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SIYE Time:14:28 on 28th March 2024
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After
By Senator of Sorcery

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Category: Alternate Universe, Asylum Challenge (2013-3), Asylum Challenge (2013-3)
Characters:Albus Dumbledore, All, Draco Malfoy, Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Lily Potter, Luna Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Other, Ron Weasley
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Disturbing Imagery, Violence
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 105
Summary: *** Winner of Best Overall, Best Drama and the People’s Choice Award in the Asylum Challenge ***
*Nominated for 2014 April/May and November/December DSTA for Best Romance and Best Drama* *Nominated for 2016 January/February DSTA for Best Drama and Best Completed*

Ginny's plans for the weekend were just perfect: a day out in Hogsmeade with her girlfriends. Spend the morning window shopping and wishing, then lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and then to the local theater for a production of the Scottish Play (Macbeth).


Unfortunately, the bad luck of the Scottish Play strikes before it even starts. The village is invaded by Death Eaters, Dementors, and a man she had hoped to never see again in her life.


And in the middle of the battle, Ginny sees something she'd never thought she'd see. Voldemort and one of her greatest friends dueling; Harry Potter and Voldemort fighting so fiercely, she lost focus on her own battle. Harry Potter, crying out, falling, and hitting the ground. Dead.

And then, someone she never expected to help her saves her from Voldemort’s wrath.
Hitcount: Story Total: 167849; Chapter Total: 4078







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Chapter Thirty-Five
Ultimatum


Harry charged. He aimed his wand and caught one man in a black hood in the back with a stunner. He fell and Harry shot another jet of red light at the woman behind him. The other wizards on his side started pressing against the horde of Death Eaters, pushing them back with spells of their own. Harry spotted a curse coming towards them; he blocked it with Dumbledore’s wand and shot a Stunning Spell around the shield with his own wand. Ginny fired off a hex and ducked a retaliation. One of the ten-foot tall warriors ran past Harry, dragging one of Voldemort’s dark creatures along by its hair. Harry spotted three Death Eaters bearing down on one of his allies; he raised a hand and, concentrating, summoned some natural horror to derail them. As he turned away, a bolt of lightning struck the three Death Eaters. He felt a sudden pang somewhere, and realized Ginny was not standing beside him. He stopped, scanned the fighters, and spotted her red-hair; she blasted aside two Death Eaters as she made her way towards the center.

“Ginny!” he shouted, breaking into a run. A Death Eater jumped out in front of him; he blocked the initial curse, but the second spell caught his foot and he felt his lower leg go suddenly numb. Harry tripped, falling to his knees and, beginning to panic, swiped a wand through the air and thick roots lined with barbs burst out of the ground. They tangled the Death Eater’s robes and wrapping him tightly up to the neck. He pushed himself up and jabbed his leg with the other wand; some feeling returned. So he hobbled forward as fast as he could, casting Stunners at every masked Death Eater who turned to face him. One man ducked and a woman in jeans caught his Stunner. Swearing, Harry paused to catch the Death Eater before he turned on the stunned woman. More vines burst out of the ground and wrapped around him, pulling him to the ground while Harry used the winds to lift the woman out of harm’s way. The ground responded to his needs; more vines and thorns were growing from the grass and reaching out from the forest. Ginny was still far off, and his numb leg wasn’t cooperating with him as well as the vines were.

Harry blocked a curse from striking a man in the back and knocked the Death Eater who had cast it to the ground with the wind where thorns coiled around the Death Eater’s legs and arms. Harry shook his foot, trying to get the blood flowing more quickly and ducked a curse. He saw Ginny up ahead; one Death Eater ran screaming from her with his robes blazing. The throng of fighters paused and parted at the sudden flames, enough to let him through. Harry raised a hand and the flaming Death Eater was caught by winds, flown to the lake and thrown in. Then he clenched his hand and a short burst of lightning caught the man, knocking him out. He rose up, and ran lopsidedly forward.

Ginny’s arms were on fire; her wand wasn’t in her hand and Harry spotted it lying on the ground a few feet behind her. He snatched it up and shoved it into a pocket as he ran. “Ginny,” he said, skidding to a halt beside her. She whirled around, her eyes wide, and raised her flaming arms. Harry’s heart turned cold; her eyes were too wide, too fearful. Blood was dripping down the side of her face from a gash on her forehead. Without thinking, he grabbed her hands. The fire should have burned him instantly, but he felt no heat. “Ginny,” he repeated, squeezing her hands. The flames were reflected in her eyes, staining them red. Gradually, her pupils narrowed and her breathing, which had been ragged, slowed. Then she jerked her hand out and shot flame at something behind Harry; he turned and saw a Death Eater fall to the ground with his chest afire. Harry flicked his wand and extinguished the flames, then stunned him. Ginny turned and pressed her back to Harry’s; and they were fighting again, felling the circles of Death Eaters who dared come closer.

Lightning and wind storms surrounded Harry on his front, behind him flames dripped from Ginny’s fingers. The adrenaline of the fight must have kick-started her abilities and fueled them enough for her to control them. They rotated in small circles, slowly moving further and further into the center. They left scorch marks and burns on the ground and the Death Eaters, the ground broke open of its own will and spewed thorns and vines thicker than Crabbe and Goyle as if Hogwarts itself was fighting against the Death Eaters. Harry turned towards the forest and saw a vine shoot out and grab a Death Eater. The man’s screams were audible over the shouts and blasts created by the wizards as he was sucked into the forest.

Harry ducked a spell, pulling Ginny out of the way as he did. He shot a Stunning spell at whoever had cast it, but he didn’t think he hit the right man. Regardless, he summoned a heavy wind to lift the unconscious man out of the way and flung him into the forest. The vines were growing inward from the trees, coming up and attacking the rear flank. He summoned lightning and electrocuted the very back of the crowd, hitting the Death Eaters who hadn’t been fighting. He saw at least seven wizards fall, and used the wind to blow them back into the forest. The vines would throw them back out to the other side.

The battle wasn’t going anywhere; while he was taking out plenty of Death Eaters, more kept leeching out from the forest and already too many of their allies had fallen. He grabbed Ginny’s hand and tugged her away from the center.

“We’re not retreating?” she shouted over the screams.

“We need to regroup,” Harry said back.

“But we’re driving them back!”

“Not fast enough and not without casualties,” he replied, stunning another Death Eater. He blocked a spell coming at Ginny’s back and replied with a Freezing Charm. “We have to regroup!”

Ginny sighed. “Fine. Duck!”

Harry bent his knees obediently and Ginny shot a spell with a blast of flame over his head. He smelled something acrid and touched the top of his head; she had singed his hair.

“Sorry,” Ginny said.

“It’s fine, start backing up.”

Harry stunned a Death Eater behind him, and watched winds roll the body out of the fighting and towards the trees for a moment before starting back towards the castle. He caught sight of one of Janu’s demons coming towards him, and flagged the giant man down.

“We need to regroup!” he shouted. “Can you and the other, er, demons keep the Death Eaters occupied?”

The giant nodded. “It is my honor to serve you, King Hogwart,” the man said, clapping Harry on the shoulder. “My grandfather served the last king as a boy; I am greatly pleased to live up to his legacy.”

“Er, yes, great, thank you for helping,” Harry said, blocking a spell with his wand and casting a hex with the other. The demon reached out and grabbed a Death Eater by the back of his robes; the man shouted a string of obscenities as the demon threw him towards a small tornado by the left flank.

“We will hold them here with the centaur’s help,” the demon said. “You mortals flee now.”

“We aren’t fleeing,” Ginny insisted, “we’re regrouping.”

The demon bowed to her. “Yes, Queen Hogwart.”

“We’re fleeing at the moment, come on Ginny,” Harry said before Ginny could react to being called ‘queen’ and pulled her away towards the front flank of the battle.

“RETREAT!” he shouted. “ALL WIZARDS RETREAT!”

There was a cry of delight from the Death Eaters and Harry’s allies started backing away. Several turned tail and ran back to the castle; Harry cast several shield charms at their backs just in case. The mortals began running back to the castle, the demons and centaurs lining up to hold the line as the wizards fled. Harry spotted the tornado and delayed his personal retreat for a moment; he closed his eyes and concentrated on it. When he opened them, the tornado had swollen and was sucking up everything in sight. A nearby demon with blue hair waved to him and began controlling the tornado. Ginny cast a fireball at the tornado, turning it bright red and sending greater panic through the ranks of the Death Eaters. The blue haired demon elbowed her neighbor with flaming hair and the fire demon started controlling the fire. Ginny tugged on Harry’s elbow and they began running to the castle.

Harry pushed into the Entrance Hall and ran through to the Great Hall, with Ginny on his heels. The rest of their allies flooded into the Hall, some supported by others, some bleeding, some limping, some unconscious and carried in by their friends. Harry glanced around, and spotted Madam Pomfrey rushing in.

“Get as many people as you can to help them,” Harry said. She nodded and called over a group of students. Harry ran up to the map at the top of the hall, where Ginny’s giant friends and McGonagall were standing.

“Good, Harry,” Storyteller called. “I see you pulled back.”

“Yeah,” he panted. “There were too many.”

“Actually, that’s good,” Romancer started. Harry raised an eyebrow. “Hear me out,” he added.

“Fine, what’s your plan?”

“I called on the legions and asked them to booby trap the grounds. The lawn right in front of the doors for one, is now charmed so that anyone bearing the Death Eater mark will get sucked into the ground and teleported to the ‘Oh Crap’ Realm.”

“The what?” Ginny sputtered.

“It is actually called the Realm of Worst Mistakes,” Storyteller glared at Romancer. “But some have taken to calling it the ‘Oh Crap’ Realm because that is frequently the reaction to many of the mistakes embodied there.”

Harry blinked. “The ground will teleport them?”

“Part of the ground,” Romancer said. “I figured we’d catch maybe thirty of them before they noticed what was happening and run around it. I’d do the whole place but —”

“Teleportation magic is very finicky and you can’t use a lot of it at one time?” Ginny asked.

“Yeah, exactly,” Romancer. “Glad to see you get the picture.”

“Lots and lots of hoops to jump through just to think about using your magic,” Ginny mumbled to herself.

“Right, so there’s the portalized earth outside the castle, then we’ve petitioned the legions of each Death Eater out there to slow them down, but the majority of those legions are sort of dark so that didn’t work well. The castle steps have detection spells that will spurt goo at anyone wishing harm upon Hogwarts, and that goo is part acid so that will help.”

“Essentially you want to draw them inside the castle?” Harry cut off the giant.

“Yep!” Romancer gave him a thumbs up.

Harry sighed. “Fine. Send the message that we’re going to draw them in.”

Storyteller touched a finger to his temple, and Harry felt the information slip into his mind. He bent over the map, and tapped the grass and steps. They turned blue, indicating traps. “Dreamkeeper, can you send your Night-felled to combat the spirits coming out of the forest?”

“I already did.”

“Okay, good. How many Death Eaters are left?”

“Approximately 120,” Storyteller said. Harry groaned.

“How are we going to do this?” he mumbled.

BANG! Harry jumped and looked around. BANG! BANG! Harry glanced at the map, and his eyes got wide. Two creatures half the height of the miniature Hogwarts were suddenly punching the stone walls.

“Giants!” McGonagall cried.

“Oh, s —” BANG! Harry’s words were drowned out by the sound of a giant slapping the castle.

“How the hell do we deal with that?!” Ginny shouted over the panic.

Harry didn’t answer. He stared up at the window above the raised platform, where a giant face was peering into the hall.

“Uh…” he said.

The giant raised a hand and poked the window. Harry heard glass cracking. He flung out a wand as the giant tapped it again, casting a rapid shield charm above them as the glass shattered. The giant stuck his hand in the opening and started groping for something. Dreamkeeper reacted and shot light at the giant’s arm. The beast howled, withdrew his arm, and glared into the hall. He opened his mouth again, and bellowed some unintelligible word at them; Harry clapped his hands over his mouth to block the foul stench coming from the giant. It backed away, then disappeared. The castle shook again, then it fell silent. Harry glanced down at the enchanted map and saw the line of Death Eaters suddenly pull back, and the forest swallowed them up. He glanced up at McGonagall and Janu; the professor looked confused, but the blue-skinned warrior queen looked worried.

“What just happened?” Ginny asked.

“They were winning!” Harry added. “Why’d they pull back?”

“I don’t know,” Janu muttered to herself.

The silence was wrought with anxiety. Harry glanced between the map and a nearby window, then ran from the hall and back to the great doors leading to the grounds. Ginny followed him, as well as McGonagall, Janu, Storyteller, Romancer and Dreamkeeper. He stared out over the grounds; the demon warriors aiding them were still out there, snuffing out the last few fires and dispersing the remaining tornadoes with the help of the centaurs. Harry ran out to meet them; there were no more Death Eaters, only limp bodies lying in the scorched grass.

“What happened?” Harry asked the nearest demon, the same giant who had called Ginny ‘queen of Hogwarts.’

“The dark mortals suddenly began pulling back,” the giant said in reply as he lifted two unconscious men, one in Muggle clothes and the other wearing a mask. The masked man he tossed into a tornado, which already carried a few of the masked fighters. The demon waved a hand, and the tornado sped towards the trees where it vomited the Death Eaters into the thorns.

“There was no indication as to why?” McGonagall asked.

The demon shook his head slowly. “We are cleaning up now, giving them back their injured and such.”

Janu touched the warrior’s shoulder. “Thank you, Tenju, you’re doing excellently. Your grandfather would be very proud.”

The demon straightened his shoulders proudly. Harry nodded absently and stepped towards the forest. The last of the Death Eaters had been thrown into the forest, and the tornadoes were carrying the rest of their allies back to the castle. Now, the grounds were clear but for themselves and the demon warriors. The edge of the forest was still now.

“It’s too quiet,” Harry whispered. Ginny stepped ahead of him and raised her wand; she murs.mured a spell and low, gray light poured from the tip. It seeped over the ground and into the forest. Harry raised an eyebrow.

“I was checking if there were any traps,” she said. He nodded understandingly. She walked ahead, towards the trees.

“PEOPLE OF HOGWARTS,” a sudden, booming voice shook the ground; Ginny staggered and dropped to her knees, Harry rushed to her side. “YOU HAVE FOUGHT BRAVELY. BUT YOUR COURAGE IS IN VAIN. YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE BEING SLAUGHTERED AND WE HAVE THE UPPER-HAND. IF YOU CONTINUE TO FIGHT, YOU WILL LOSE AND YOU WILL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE.” Harry gripped Ginny’s shoulders as he scanned the grounds. The voice had to be coming from somewhere, most likely the forest. Voldemort was speaking to them now.

“I ADMIRE BRAVERY, BUT I ADMIRE HUMILITY EVEN MORE. SURRENDER TO ME, AND I WILL SPARE THE LIVES OF ALL WHO ADMIT THEIR FAULT IN OPPOSING ME.” Harry gritted his teeth; he highly doubted that anyone who surrendered would live to tell the tale. “NOW, HARRY POTTER, I SPEAK DIRECTLY TO YOU. YOU HAVE ESCAPED ME MANY TIMES, BUT NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE SKILLED, BUT BECAUSE YOU ALLOWED STRONGER MEN TO DIE FOR YOU WHILE YOU FLED. BUT NO LONGER: I HAVE TAKEN HOSTAGES FROM YOU, MOST IMPORTANTLY THE VERY PERSON YOU ARE FIGHTING TO SAVE.” Harry’s eyes widened and he gjlanced at Ginny. She was here; was Ron safe, was Hermione? Mrs. Weasley? Mr. Weasley? Who else could they have taken? Blood dripped over her eyebrow; she raised a hand to brush it away. As she did, her skin began to shimmer, and then glow. Harry’s mouth fell open, Ginny’s hand passed through her forehead and her eyes widened as well.

“Harry!” she cried, trying to grab his arm but her hand couldn’t make contact. Harry lunged forward, trying to wrap her in his arms.

“IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER ALIVE AGAIN, YOU WILL ENTER THE FORBIDDEN FOREST. ALONE.” And Ginny vanished.

Harry’s chest heaved. He heard nothing but the roar of blood in his ears. He inhaled.

“NOOOOOOOO!”
Reviews 105
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