Chapter Fourty-Five
Confronting the Faceless 💀 CompleteMay 2, 1998
"It is important to fight and fight again, and keep fighting"
Kent is excited. Finally they're doing something! After months of dead-end planning to reclaim the Ministry, Kingsley had sent word of the impending battle at Hogwarts via Patronus and everyone in the HQ (which at this point has become a lot of people) had immediately been up and rushing for the Floo.
Kent had Apparated straight to the Hog's Head with Theo, Willow, and the Hobbes (Andromeda and Tonks had volunteered to stay and watch Tori and Teddy when the lynx had appeared) and been sent down the passage behind the portrait by an annoyed Aberforth Dumbledore, and the five of them are immediately directed by Kingsley to the Great Hall when they emerge from the other end.
"Man it's weird being back here." Laurel muses as they walk down the stairs to the designated meeting point. "Hey Eric, that's where you confessed!" She laughs, pointing down one of Hogwarts' many dead end coridoors.
Eric groans. "Please don't bring that up here." He says. "I've never tripped over my own tongue that much in my life."
Willow giggles. "Hey, you're married to her now with a great kid, so it can't have been that bad." She points out.
"She has a point." Theo agrees, and Kent grins. It had taken time, but Theo has really been coming out of his shell since the last Order meeting, even babysitting Tori on several occasions. Willow and him are still a bit cool in their relationship, but they're both trying and Kent is glad for it.
"And I mean, meeting and confession stories that sound like fairy tales are pretty rare." Kent adds.
Willow nods. "And usually those relationships don't work - the expectations are way higher than reality could ever keep up with." She adds with a wry grin.
"Well alright Ms. Pessimist, no dramatic declarations of love for you then." Kent jokes, and they're all laughing when they enter the Great Hall. Theo comes with Kent to the Gryffindor table, while Laurel goes traitor and sits with Willow and Eric at the Ravenclaw one.
"It's odd on this side of the hall." Theo mutters, glancing over at the Slytherin table. "The view is all wrong."
They listen attentively to McGonagall's evacuation plan, and both stand with their wands out when Voldemort interjects with his disgusting offer. In the aftermath, Kent sees Theo ducking his head to the table when McGonagall dismisses every Slytherin student from the room.
"It's a whole indoctrination thing in the school, you're not like that." Kent says lowly, and Theo shakes his head bitterly.
"Maybe." Is all he says before Arthur Weasley bustles up to them to ask for volunteer fighters for his group.
Both Kent and Theo turn him down (and Kent pretends he doesn't see the slight relief in Arthur's eyes when Theo voices his rejection) but Willow and Eric agree.
"I prefer my feet on the ground, brooms and I haven't ever been good friends." Willow says in explanation. "You boys look out for each other, alright?" She adds as she an Eric follow Mr. Weasley into the throng of fighters.
"I'm going to join up with McGonagall. You two coming?" Laurel offers, turning to Kent and Theo.
Kent nods, but Theo shakes his head. "I'm going to join Sprout on the Astronomy Tower." He replies. "I'm more familiar with it."
Kent frowns. "Well I can go with you if-"
Theo is already shaking his head again. "No, you go with Laurel to Gryffindor Tower, it makes sense for you to go there. I'll go find Paulo - he's around here somewhere - and take him with me. We'll want the Order's best fighters spaced out."
"Paulo is a best fighter?" Laurel quips, and Theo just grins and waves before heading over to where Professor Sprout is gathering large groups of Hufflepuffs.
"Well, let's go find our former Head of House then." Laurel decides, leading the way through the crowd.
It's weird being back at school but not recognizing any of the people in the uniform - but of course Kent had graduated ten years ago, so everyone he would know has already graduated. The last time he'd been in these halls was Evera's graduation, and even then he'd known several people having only recently graduated himself at that point. (And now he's going to direct his thoughts elsewhere because he doesn't want to think about his sister. Not right now, not when he needs to focus).
McGonagall is pleased to see them, and Kent ends up finding himself recruited as one of the leaders of a smaller division of flyers to be posted on the East end of the Tower.
As he waits for McGonagall's signal to head out he hears his name being yelled over the commotion filling the hall.
"Kent! Oi, Kent, over here!"
He spins in shock, recognizing the voice but honestly stunned to be hearing it. But sure enough, there's Xander Orton pushing through the crowd towards him, a young, coffee-skinned woman following in his wake and looking irritated.
"Z? What the heck, what are you doing here?" Kent asks, accepting the hug that Xander drags him into once he's close enough. "Shouldn't you be in hiding?"
"Oh we were! But when we heard about the fighting we had to come check it out ourselves." Xander says cheerfully. "This is Matangi something-or-other by the way, we've been on the run together this year. She wants to punch some faces."
The girl - Matangi - rolls her eyes. "I prefer Tangi." She says shortly. "So you're the Hit Wizard then?"
Something in her demeanor reminds him of Theo when his partner is feeling nervous but doesn't want to show it, and it makes him grin. "Yeah, I am. Are you old enough to be fighting?"
She snorts. "I've been through more this year than almost anyone else here I bet. I'm better prepared for a fight regardless of my age."
Kent glances at Xander who shrugs. "She's right. And besides, when T's decided to do something you don't really say no."
"And we're going with Professor Lupin's group out on the grounds." Matangi-Tangi-T says bluntly. "I'm not getting on a broom."
"My girlfriend had the same sentiments." Kent laughs, and Xander of course picks up on the slip immediately.
"Girlfriend? My my you've been busy." He grins teasingly. "I'm sure Evera's put her through the wringer."
Kent's heart stutters. Evera and Willow... they'd never even met. Never would. He'll never know what his sister thinks of his first real relationship, and the reality of that realization hits him hard there in the middle of war preparations.
Beside him Laurel has tensed, and she quickly grabs Xander's wrist and tugs him to the side (Tangi looks ready to attack at that but Xander waves her down). Kent knows what Laurel is telling Xander, and he's close enough that he probably should be able to hear it, but nothing is able to rise about the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears.
"Hey, sorry about your sister." A young female voice says, and suddenly noise rushes back into his world.
Xander and Laurel are looking awkward off to the side, while Matangi is standing right in front of him, hands on her hips and looking both genuine and bored which is... a weird expression.
Kent blinks. "I... she went out fighting. She'd be proud of herself." He says after a moment. "But I think we're all ready for this war to be over."
Matangi nods. "That's for sure." She agrees. "But we've got a few more people to stab first."
Xander laughs, and Kent doesn't question it. Matangi is right - and he and Laurel need to get up to Gryffindor Tower.
"Let's go?" He says, and she nods and gives him a small smile.
"Holly isn't here either, but she's due in like, a week so no one is judging her for it." She says awkwardly. "She did yell at me and Willow for about twenty minutes when she found out we were with the Order and hadn't told her, even though I tried inviting her way back in October."
Kent shrugs. "Sisters are weird." He offers, honestly wanting to move on from the conversation.
Laurel thankfully picks up on that and begins rambling about their old Quidditch practices and how nostalgic the walk up to the Tower is. Kent doesn't participate much, but her voice is relaxing, and her stories are some of the more memorable and amusing ones, so by the time they join the group of fighters waiting in the tower he's feeling a lot more grounded.
"You guys ready?" Oliver Wood asks with a grin, bouncing over to them immediately.
"Hey Wood, congrats on moving up to starter this year." Laurel greets him, and just like that they're off on professional Quidditch, leaving Kent feeling a bit out of the loop. And so he looks around to see if there's anyone else he recognizes.
He sees a handful of students gripping brooms, a few Order members he recognizes but hasn't spoken to enough to feel comfortable just walking over, and of course McGonagall but she's focused on trying to magically maintain the barriers around Hogwarts.
Then he sees the last face he'd been expected.
"Jake?" He asks, pushing past a pair of young women to get closer to the other man.
Sure enough, Jacob Fawley turns to face him, and the emotions that fly across his face are too rapid for Kent to pick out any individual ones, but the overall effect is exhaustion and grief.
"I thought you were in a coma." He says awkwardly, and Jacob hums.
"Medically induced by Jemma, yeah." He replies after a moment. "She woke me up when she got the messages since Mungo's finally wasn't being guarded. She wanted me at the safehouse but I couldn't stand by and do nothing while you all fight." He hesitates, glancing around. "I, um, I haven't seen Evera? Jemma got awkward when I asked about her - is she..." He trails off, and Kent closes his eyes. He's doing a terrible job not thinking about his sister.
"She didn't make it, and it was a miracle you were breathing at all." He says after a long moment, keeping his voice clipped. They're about to dive headfirst into the biggest battle any of them has been a part of, he really can't afford to be emotionally compromised right now.
Jacob's expression crumbles and Kent turns away to look at the barrier around the school, hoping it will provide a distraction.
To his slight surprise, it actually does - but not in a good way.
"The barrier is cracking." He breaths, grabbing his wand and accepting the broomstick that's suddenly shoved at him. He isn't sure where it came from but everyone is grabbing brooms so he supposes it was probably McGonagall who gathered them.
He moves to one of the larger windows, Jacob close behind him with his own broom, and they watch the barrier shudder and strain before finally letting go with a low groan.
It sounds like death.
"All fighters on your brooms! Keep the skies clear!" McGonagall shouts and Kent is only too happy to turn off his brain and leap out into the night sky, the familiar feeling of flying momentarily overpowering everything else on his mind.
He loses track of the others as they're almost immediately met by flying Deatheaters streaming through the collapsing barrier. Kent's wand is out and he's firing stunners at everyone who looks unfriendly, only managing to stay up on his broom because he's able to grip it steadily between his thighs. He sees a few people falling but he doesn't have time to linger, too busy knocking back the curses and hexes flying through the air.
It's pure chaos in a way none of his previous fights have been, and it's both exhilarating and utterly terrifying. He's existing moment to moment, reacting far more than he likes but unable to change it unless he wants to risk being thrown off his broom and down several hundred meters to the hard dirt floor of the castle grounds.
He does take down two of the Deatheaters - one spirals away to the Earth but the other manages to fling herself through the open window of Gryffindor Tower to avoid a painful, splattered death.
Kent turns to try and rectify that, and it's in that moment of distraction that the back of his broom is hit by something and he spins out of control.
He keeps his grip for a good thirty seconds before he's bucked, and as he falls he feels a strange sense of disconnected calm settle over him. He can see the combatants above him, see the flashes of light as spells are cast (it's almost pretty, really, the variety of colors lighting up the battle), feels almost like he floating despite the whistling in his ear confirming how fast he's moving downwards.
He wonders if this was how Evera felt when she was dying. He hopes so - this isn't such a bad way to go honestly. It's almost peaceful.
And then something slams into him from the side and his momentum is redirected from downwards to sideways and an arm is dragging him up onto another broom.
He grips the person in front of him before registering who it actually is that had just saved his life. "Laurel?" He shouts over the wind, and she tosses him a grin over her shoulder even as she continues a wide spiral towards the ground, firing off deflection spells as she goes.
"Hey there, nice of you to drop by!" She shouts cheekily, and Kent grins.
"Dork." He says back as they finally touch down.
"Broom won't hold us both, and I think they're starting to stream in down here." She says, tossing the broom aside and brandishing her wand like a sword. "We can't let them into the castle - I don't know if the evacuation is complete."
Kent hadn't even thought about that, but there *were* a lot of kids to get out, and the tunnel he'd gone through to get in wasn't exactly short. "Sounds like a plan." He agrees, and he follows close behind her as she races towards where the edge of the barrier had previously been.
Already, more Deatheaters and several dark creatures are crossing onto the grounds, though there aren't as many down here as there had been in the sky. Kent thinks nervously about Theo and Willow and hopes that wherever they are they're staying safe.
He falls back in the rhythm of fighting easily, and as he already has plenty of experience on patrol with Laurel the two of them quickly end up back to back, defending each others' blind spots. She still isn't Theo, but Kent can't say he's disappointed with his partner for the night.
The fighting is a blur - they take down one enemy only for three more to pop up, and Kent is again intensely thankful to have Laurel at his back because he's barely able to cover his front as it is.
He recognizes some faces - people from work, from school, and it's a bit disorienting in a way to be firing curses at people he can recall joking around the water cooler with.
Amazing how normal people can seem despite housing such disturbing biases.
"Trade you!" Laurel shouts and Kent spins effortlessly, deflecting a stunner the bulky Deatheater Laurel had been fighting shoots at him and returning firing rapidly. Behind him he hears Laurel whoop as she takes out the man Kent had been duelling.
Kent follows suit shortly after and there's a brief reprieve.
"All good?" Laurel checks, not turning around as she continues to scan for incoming enemies.
"Nicked my leg on something but it's not debilitating. You?" He replies honestly - training had long drilled into him that lying about any injury, regardless of size, could cause major problems down the line.
"Could use some water." Laurel laughs breathlessly. "Let's move around towards the Greenhouses, I think I hear more fighting over there."
Kent follows her, but keeps flitting his focus to the areas around them, wand poised to deflect anything that might be thrown at them by Deatheaters hiding in the shadows of the Forbidden Forest.
They make it to the Greenhouses with no trouble, and they run into one of the ground groups once they do.
Kingsley Shacklebolt doesn't acknowledge their presence, but considering he's trying to take down a werewolf Kent isn't surprised.
He and Laurel are briefly separated as they join the new crush of people, but they re-find each other rather quickly. They already know each other's patterns and techniques - it's only natural to fall back into formation with one another despite the numerous other fighters around them.
Kent has no idea how much time has passed at this point - it feels like both hours and only seconds since he'd first leapt off Gryffindor Tower into the onrush of combatants and he's flying high on adrenaline even as he's vaguely aware of his muscles screaming in soreness.
Next to him a young man suddenly start swearing heavily. "Dementors!" He shouts, pointing upwards and distracting pretty much every person around him regardless of which side they're fighting for.
Kent takes advantage of the momentary pause to cut down three of their opponents before they can regroup, and then he glances up to confirm that sure enough, a swarm of the creepy black figures are cresting over the tops of the trees.
"Fall back!" Kingsley instructs. "Anyone who can cast a Patronus to the front!"
"Well now I regret dropping Defense." Laurel mutters behind him as Kent raises his wand and summons his white stallion. It's quickly joined by Kingsley's Lynx as well as a fox summoned by the young man who'd pointed out the creatures in the first place.
"Seamus, go collect anyone you can find who can summon a corporeal patronus." Kingsley barks, and the young man frowns.
"But I-"
"Now." Kingsley snaps and the fox is gone moments later and the man is racing across the grounds towards the castle.
"Kent warn the other groups, it looks like they're all coming in from this direction - we don't want anyone caught off guard." Kingsley orders and Kent doesn't question it - Kingsley is a leader of the Order for a reason after all.
"Laurel-" He starts, but she's already there.
"Got your back. Let's move." She gestures for him to go first, and he keeps his Stallion galloping beside them as they traverse across the grounds to try and find Remus Lupin and Arthur Weasley's groups.
There's an explosion from the direction of the castle, and Kent thinks he sees someone fall out of a hole in one of the walls but he's too far and too focused to really be sure.
They find Arthur's group first, battered and bloody and a bit scrambled.
"Mr. Weasley!" Kent shouts, but the man doesn't hear him, is too focused on trying to defend a younger girl from the Deatheater bearing down on them. Laurel blasts the Deatheater as Kent moves in to pull the girl out of harm's way.
"Arthur!" He shouts again, and this time the man startles and looks over. He look haggard, older than Kent has ever seen him, but determined.
"Kent? Weren't you with the Gryffindor flyers?" He shouts over the continued fighting.
"There are dementors on the grounds! We need everyone who can cast any kind of Patronus to get out here as quicky as possible!"
The girl that he still has a grip on squirms. "I can get people! My twin can cast corporeally." She volunteers.
"Go on then Parvati, and be quick." Arthur agrees, and the girl takes off towards the castle, erecting a shield charm around herself as she goes.
Kent whistles. "That's high level stuff - some Aurors can't do it that consistently." He comments even as he falls in beside Arthur to continue fighting off the seemingly endless swarm of Deatheaters and Dark creatures pushing towards the castle.
"The kids have been practicing according to Ginny. Had to - the war didn't leave Hogwarts alone this time." Arthur says darkly.
Kent doesn't reply to that - he doesn't actually remember the first war in any detail - his family hadn't moved to England until after the First Wizarding War had ended and it was once again safe on the island - so he doesn't really have an opinion on the topic. Instead he focuses on locating Laurel so they can hunt down Remus's team and warn them as well.
"Do you know where Remus and them are?" He asks Arthur, but the red-haired man shakes his head.
"Haven't seen them since the Great Hall, sorry."
Another thought hits Kent and he looks around hopefully. "How about Willow and Eric?"
Arthur shrugs, still firing off the occasional shield or stunner as he replies. "I think Eric is around somewhere? Haven't seen Willow in quite a while though, she was chasing down a couple people - heading towards the castle last I saw."
Kent frowns - if Willow hasn't come back that means people have gotten through to the castle. All the more reason to find Remus and warn him so Kent and Laurel can head inwards in case they're needed.
He finds his partner shortly after and she makes her way over quickly.
"Sorry, got in an insult match with this one lady which was kind of fun but then she just got mean so I knocked her out. Any idea where Remus is?"
"None." He answers regretfully, "But Willow vanished into the castle and hasn't come back out so I think that should be our next goal once we finish this one."
Laurel nods in agreement. This time she's the one to lead the way across the grounds, though Kent notices with quite a bit of concern that they aren't quite as dark as they should be considering the sun vanished hours ago. Between the flashing spells and the fires that have started in multiple areas the entire area surrounding the school is lit up like it's midday.
They don't find Remus, but they do find another group of people that they assume must be his team. This end of the grounds are a lot quieter, though there are still a few duels going on.
Kent recognizes Hestia Jones among the group and immediately heads over to her. She's a senior member of the Order - if Remus isn't nearby then she'll likely still be able to give orders to the group.
"Hestia!" He calls over to her, and she spins, looking nervous but relaxing when she recognizes him.
"Kent! Hey, um, what's up? You haven't seen Tonks have you? She kind of ran off a while back and Remus went to look for her when she didn't come back and-"
"Some of Voldemort's forces got into the castle, they're probably fighting them." He cuts her off quickly, only sparing a brief thought to wonder why and when Tonks had left the kids to come fight. "There are dementors on the grounds, we need anyone who can cast a patronus to head towards the greenhouses."
Hestia blinks, shakes her head slightly, and then nods. "Got it. I'll relay the message, you guys get into the castle and warn them too." She says, a full 180 from her twitchy demeanor just moments before.
Kent nods to her and then he and Laurel are off again.
"I pity anyone who doesn't workout regularly." Laurel laughs as they run. "They must be dead on their feet already with all this physical exertion."
Kent can't help laughing, remembering Laurel's extreme exercise routine that she'd put the Quidditch team through when she'd been the Gryffindor captain. "Not a problem for you though." He teases.
"Of course not, have you seen my thighs, they're fantastic." She grins.
The make it all the way to the castle without running into any major trouble, just a few injured Deatheaters clinging to consciousness that are easily dispatched with little thought or effort.
Once they actually reach the castle though they're immediately back in the thick of things.
In the back of his mind Kent is worried about how much fighting and destruction there is going on in here - several of the fighters on the Towers and the grounds must have been defeated if not killed if this many of their opponents have gotten inside the walls. But he doesn't have too long to linger on that thought as he has to focus on not getting cursed.
He's out of practice though - the Snatchers have been quiet for almost a month now and even before then he wasn't practicing his dueling nearly as much as he probably should have been. He's pretty sure it's only ingrained Hit Wizard muscle memory that's allowed him to avoid dying up to this point.
Well, ingrained muscle memory and Laurel he mentally amends as his partner blasts away a giant spider that had just attempted to push through one of the large first floor windows.
Time and battles are blurring together again, but Kent is definitely aware of Laurel swearing loudly and a wand flying past his face only moment later. He's in a fight himself at the moment so he can't turn immediately, and just hopes that Laurel can hold her own wandless for a few more seconds while he finishes off his opponent.
The man puts up more of a fight that Kent wants, but Kent has a sort of manic desperation on his side and he eventually successfully takes out one of the overhanging light fixtures and sending it crashing down on top of the other man.
Kent doesn't care enough to check if the man is dead, turning straight to Laurel in hopes he can still help. His heart freezes at what he sees.
The older woman is on the ground, a werewolf latched onto her with a bloody muzzle. As he watches though, Laurel's fist raises and slams into the mutt's face, breaking its hold and forcing it back and up a few inches - just enough for Kent to have a clear shot directly at it's neck.
He doesn't hesitate with the severing charm, and the werewolf falls limply beside Laurel, who's hand has dropped to press against the front of her bloodied robes.
A disarming charm is thrown in his direction, and he immediately dives for cover, cursing angrily. He needs to get to Laurel so he can close her injury enough that she can hunt down her wand and get somewhere safer, but clearly the witch or wizard who had initial disarmed her is still in the area.
He peers out around his hiding place to try and locate the aggressor, and spots her ducking behind her own cover. Good, he knows where she is now.
There's a stone statue situated just behind the woman, one that obviously isn't part of the defense force the professors had activated earlier, and he directs a blasting spell at it. One of the flying stone pieces hits its mark, and Kent hears the woman scream.
He doesn't have time to feel bad about it, darting from his hiding spot and over to hers. The base of the statue has pinned her legs - she almost definitely won't be able to walk after this. He knocks her out with a quick stunner - he's not so mean as to leave her awake and in pain even if she is the enemy - and finally turns back to Laurel.
Their area has quieted down almost as quickly as it had gone to chaos, the fighters either unconscious or moved on to other parts of the castle to find new opponents. Kent easily picks his way over to Laurel and kneels down, uncaring of the blood pool surrounding her. He does erect a quick shield around them before finally giving her his full focus.
The damage is ugly - the werewolf had clearly gone straight for the throat, and her punching it had resulted in an ragged, gaping wound. Kent tries to find the edges to fit together so he can close it, but she doesn't seem to have a neck at all.
It's only when he recognizes that that he finally admits something else he'd noticed immediately upon reaching Laurel - she isn't breathing. The hand on her chest is limp, and there is surprisingly little blood on it despite it's proximity to the wound.
Likely the bleeding was slowing when it landed there. A detached part of his mind observes, the part that paid attention back when they were trained in basic first aid in the Auror program. She was already dead when I killed the werewolf. Punching it was the last thing she ever did.
Some part of him finds a bitter amusement in that - Laurel would absolutely love knowing she'd gone out punching a werewolf in the face. Kent is less enthused than she would be though - he's hit now with the realization that even if he'd gotten to her immediately he wouldn't have been able to do anything. She was already gone.
Someone has to tell Eric.
It's that thought that shakes him out of his stupor. Someone has to tell her family - her husband, her sisters, her daughter. He's the only one present - he's the only one who knows she went down fighting literally to the last breath. They deserve to know that. He needs to tell them.
He needs to live.
Gripping his wand he stands up, and levitates Laurel's corpse out of the middle of the room, so it can't be further ruined by the fighting. Then he turns towards the castle and heads deeper into it, blood weighing down the front of his robes but fury and determination driving his footsteps.
He's going to live, and he's going to tell Laurel's story. And Evera's. He's going to make sure no one died in vain.
Author's Note: ;; So I knew from the beginning of H:aH that this would happen and I still wasn't ready for it. *takes off hat respectfully* Laurel, you will be remembered for your confidence, kindness, and the totally BS exercise routines you always put the Gryffindor Quidditch Team through while you were their captain. Fare thee well, fair lady.
Next Time: Thinking you're untouchable just makes you vulnerable
Comments