Published: November 15th 2024, 7:40:34 pm
Harry swiped his hand in a wide arc, casting a black energy whip which cut straight through the flesh and bones of the werewolves surrounding him. Sirius and Fleur picked themselves up from the floor after his spell took effect. It was a modified rotting curse which ate through anything organic it came in contact with. Even the highly regenerative properties of werewolves under moonlight stood no chance against the dark curse.
“That ‘eez a sick spell.” Fleur said with a grimace, watching the rotting curse eat away the flesh of their enemies.
“I don’t disagree, but against these beasts, it is quite effective.” said Harry, glaring coldly at the fallen beasts.
The werewolves writhed on the ground, struggling to survive the unbearable pain as the corrosive magic ate their flesh away. The few werewolves that took Harry’s spell head-on were dead the moment their bodies hit the ground. However, the few who managed to avoid the brunt of the attack by partially dodging at the last second were left to suffer.
Sirius and Fleur used cutting curses to decapitate the struggling werewolves and put them out of their misery. With that done, they moved as one into the heart of the village.
Harry conjured a silver spike and banished it straight into a leaping werewolf. The silver spike punched straight through the heart of the beast. The werewolf fell to the ground with a painful whimper as silver’s corrosive effect on werewolf blood made it gasp painfully. The beast didn’t last long as it reverted back to its human form and choked on its own blood before dying.
Seeing the street clear of any more danger, Harry concentrated his magic on his locket and connected it to the other knights. The Protean charm connected his locket to all other lockets in the possession of other Knights. The charm allowed him to track the Knights even though it was never designed for that purpose.
His magic suffused with his locket and tapped into the Protean charm, tracing the other lockets in Hogsmeade. Immediately, he could see in his mind‘s eye the location of three lockets in the vicinity.
“I found them.” Harry declared before he placed his hands on Sirius’ and Fleur‘s shoulder.
He assumed his spirit form and took both of them with him as he soared above the village towards the closest location of one of the lockets. Harry settled down with his two companions close to a half-destroyed building. He could see two werewolves attacking a family of four within the broken home. The family huddled behind a shield while the werewolves were clawing and smacking at the shield to get to the terrified family.
He noticed the familiar face of a fourth-year Ravenclaw standing behind the shield with a panicked look on his face. So, when the kid saw Harry, the relief that washed over the youthful face was palpable. Unfortunately, that was not the smart thing to do as the distraction faltered the cohesion of the shield, and it broke on the next blow from the werewolf.
Harry could see the exact moment it dawned on Courtney McKinnon that she placed herself wide open before the werewolf. But Harry was quick to react before the werewolf could harm the young witch.
“Ignis vincula.”
A fiery chain blazing with red-hot flames shot out of the tip of his wand and wrapped around the werewolf’s neck. The skin around the werewolf’s neck sizzled as the fiery chain burned the flesh away. The beast howled to the high heavens as the skin started to peel off.
Harry yanked the chain wrapped around the beast while windlessly using a bludgeoning hex to blow the legs from underneath the beast. This made the werewolf fall on its back, and Sirius finished it off with a gouging curse straight through its eye. All struggle left the savage beast, and the creature lay there on the ground in a pool of its own blood.
The remaining Werewolf had its legs cut off by a cutting curse from Fleur. A well-placed exploding spell set its head to explode promptly.
“Dear Merlin!” Mrs McKinnon whimpered and shielded her children from seeing the gory sight.
“Harry, you came!” Courtney cried her eyes out in sheer relief.
“Of course. We arrived as soon as we could. We were held up only because the streets were crawling with werewolves.” said Harry, patting the girl's head, trying to calm the hysterical witch.
“What should we do? They are everywhere.” Mr McKinnon said with fear.
Harry eyed the four-member family with pity. Their home was almost unrecognisable, with most of the interior trashed and the doors nowhere to be seen. Courtney's younger brother was sniffling quietly in Mrs McKinnon’s hands.
“Listen closely to what I say. Potter Manor can be found in Plockton by the shore.” said Harry.
Four pairs of confused eyes stared at him.
“Mandy.” Harry called.
A house elf serving in Potter Manor appeared by his side wearing a yellow hat and a dark brown dress.
“Master called for Mandy.” the little elf asked happily.
“Please take them to the Potter Manor and help them settle in for the night. Take care of their needs.”
Mandy looked at the surroundings, and her eyes widened comically upon seeing the bodies of werewolves lying prone on the ground.
“Master.” Mandy nodded, trying her best to remain composed before taking the McKinnon family out of Hogsmeade.
With the McKinnon family out of the village, he went after the next location, which was pinged by his locket.
On high alert, they moved through the streets, scanning the shadows, wand in hand. He was aware of every flicker of movement, every sound amplified in the chilled air. The streets that were previously crawling with werewolves were now suddenly absent.
“Any sign of them?” Sirius asked, his voice low, barely more than a whisper, his eyes fixed on the dark alleys.
“They pulled back.” Harry whispered quietly.
“Their instincts,” Sirius said thoughtfully as they moved further in.
“What?” Harry asked.
“The werewolves have a keen sense of danger during the full moon. They must’ve pulled back to regroup.” Sirius mused.
Suddenly, a low growl rumbled through the air, sending a chill up Harry’s spine. Three dark, hunched figures emerged from the shadows, their eyes gleaming red in the moonlight. Their breaths came in ragged huffs, clouds of misty air forming as they advanced. These were no ordinary werewolves—they were wild and feral, and they were unusually large compared to the werewolves he had seen so far.
“Confringo!” Sirius shouted, his wand aimed directly at the lead werewolf.
The jet of pale yellow light burst forward from the tip of Sirius’ wand, striking its target with force, but it merely staggered, snarling before resuming its charge.
Fleur sent a wave of fire towards the werewolves, arresting their charge and forcing them to split.
“Avis. Opugno.”
The conjured birds swiftly rocketed straight for a werewolf. Mid-flight, Harry transfigured them into bolts of sharp metallic spears. With a swift jab of his wand, he tried to pin the werewolf down. Only one of the spears struck true and punched through the fast-moving werewolf’s shoulder. The pinned werewolf attempted to pull the spear out of its shoulder, but Harry used that moment to put the beast down.
“Depulso.”
The repelling charm he used on the spear made it bite further into the werewolf's body, making it scream in pain. The creature desperately tried to make its escape, but he held it against the ground.
“Defodio.”
The gauging curse punched a hole through the exposed neck of the werewolf, killing it instantly.
Sirius and Fleur were not as lucky as he was. The other two werewolves were too fast on their legs for spells to clip their bodies. Harry spewed out a flood of flames from the tip of his wand, forcing the werewolves into a confined space. Thus, this created a small opportunity for Sirius and Fleur.
“Expulso.” Sirius shouted.
A violent popping sound was heard caused by the abrupt expulsion of air. The spell blasted a werewolf against a stone slab Harry hastily conjured while the other one made its escape. He also conjured a metal spike and banished it straight through the beast's heart. The werewolf was pinned to the stone slab, with the metal spike piercing through the other side of the slab. The werewolf bled to death, pinned against the stone slab while they moved further into the village.
They could hear renewed fighting in the village as aurors started to engage the werewolves. They came across another pack of werewolves and greeted them with a barrage of spells.
The air crackled with the energy of their magic as the spells collided with the werewolves, who moved with unnatural agility, dodging and evading in ways that defied their hulking forms. One of the werewolves howled—a chilling, blood-curdling sound that echoed through the village, sending shivers down Harry’s spine. His primal instincts were ruffled with the bone-chilling howl, which sounded more like a beacon than a painful scream.
More figures slipped from the shadows, surrounding them. There were now at least six werewolves, snarling and snapping, their claws scratching the ground as they inched closer, tightening their circle around Harry, Fleur, and Sirius.
Sirius immediately conjured a wall of fire around them, keeping the werewolves out.
“Why did you do that?” Harry hissed. “We can’t see anything now, and we’re stuck inside the ring of flame.”
“Sorry. I panicked.” Sirius apologised with a wince.
Suddenly, a manic laughter filled the area, forcing them to look up at the source of the sound.
“Look what we have here, boys. We have the boy-who-lived surrounded.” Fenrir Greyback said with a mocking smile stretching on his cruel face.
Harry found the infamous werewolf standing on the roof of a home. Soon, more werewolves joined their leader by climbing to the top of the buildings and surrounded them.
“I count ten.” Sirius muttered, his eyes darting from one beast after the other.
“There ‘eez more.” Fleur whispered with concern.
“I give you this one chance, Greyback. Get on your knees and surrender. I shall show you mercy by delivering you a quick death.” Harry shouted back, making Greyback sneer.
“You have guts, boy. But you don’t know anything about us werewolves.” Fenrir growled. “Attack them.”
The werewolves surrounding them howled, looking at the moon shining in the night sky before leaping from the roofs.
“Indomitus.”
A spherical dome of energy surrounded the three of them just before the werewolves rained down punches on the shield. They tried to claw their way in, but Sirius and Fleur blasted them back one by one with blasting hex.
Harry’s eyes trained on Fenrir Greyback standing on the roof. Greyback started to assume his own form, which was massive compared to the others. Long brown fur covered the man’s body, and a large snout formed on his face. Large hulking muscles grew across Greyback’s body, and his wolf form stood a few feet above the other werewolves.
Harry waited patiently for the right moment to strike, and it presented itself before him when Greyback chose to leap from the roof. He didn’t waste the opportunity and launched a powerful arc of lightning from the tip of his wand.
Greyback was caught off guard and fell straight into the barrage of lightning. The screams that tore through Greyback’s throat were loud and filled with agony. Harry didn’t let up one bit, and he watched the most dangerous werewolf blasted into a wooden building by the arc of lightning. The building suddenly caught fire as Harry didn’t relinquish the spell and continued pouring lightning from his wand.
Seeing the leader of the pack get electrocuted and burned alive inside a building gave the other werewolves pause. Fleur and Sirius used that lapse in judgment judiciously, and they were quick to drop a couple of werewolves with well-placed cutting curses.
Harry followed it up by unleashing a barrage of lightning from his free left palm, striking randomly at the werewolves surrounding them. Painful howls and the smell of burnt flesh reached them in response.
Beating back the werewolves became easier when the villagers and aurors were emboldened by the fall of Greyback and saw the werewolves run to escape after the fall of their leader. The arrival of reinforcements made Harry leave the village in search of the Deah Eaters he knew were prowling the Forbidden Forest.
He left things in the hands of Sirius and Fleur while he soared over the village in the form of a sparkling grey mist. It didn’t take long for him to arrive near the Acromantula nest, and he was amused by the sight that greeted him. The Death Eaters that came to the nest looking to recruit the Acromantulas or even force them to attack Hogwarts or Hogsmeade were lying prone on the ground. He could feel the faint outline of a barrier, keeping a thin mist within the barrier. The fog he could see was his creation. It was a modified version of the Draught of the Living Death. He managed to replicate the properties of that potion into a gaseous form.
“Good job, Dobby.” He patted the elf on his round head once Dobby appeared beside him.
“Thank you, sir.” Dobby perked up at the praise and puffed his chest in pride. “What do you want Dobby to do with them, sir?”
Harry pondered for a moment before ordering Dobby to imprison the captured Death Eaters in his dungeon. While he had every reason o hand over captured Death Eaters to the Ministry he felt like holding on to the prisoners. He wanted to see whether he could glean the location of Voldemort’s hideout from the prisoners.
******
As dawn broke over, Hogsmeade, Harry, Fleur, and Sirius surveyed the aftermath, their faces grim. The village had taken heavy losses; buildings lay in ruins, and several villagers were being treated for injuries. There were a lot of causalities and an equal number of newly turned werewolves. In general, the Hogsmeade residents survived, thanks to the bravery of the villagers and the timely arrival of aurors and hit wizards. Most importantly, the architect of this attack was now captured and seriously injured.
“You seem to have done a number on him.” Tonks said with a grin as she stared at the half-burnt body of Fenrir Greyback.
“Not enough. This idiot still lives.” Sirius growled, reminding everyone of the fact that Greyback was responsible for a lot of woes suffered by families and, most importantly, for the misfortunes of Remus Lupin.
“Not for long, Lord Black.” said Rufus Scrimgeour, marching into the broken building with a cold look in his eyes. “Fenrir Greyback is a wanted criminal by four other Ministries, and I suspect he’ll get a death sentence with an expedited trial.”
“I suppose being a werewolf grants an expedited trial.” Sirius snarked.
“If you must know, we are also expediting the sentences of Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers. They’re set to be executed with Greyback.” Scrimgeour informed them.
“Is it? That’s a relief. Keeping those three alive is just asking for an attack from the Dark Lord.” Sirius muttered with a grimace.
Harry grunted at that, and he couldn’t help but wonder why Voldemort hadn’t tried to break those three out of the Ministry holding cells.
‘Maybe Voldemort is weakened far more than I thought.’ Harry mused.
Harry watched the aurors place magic suppression shackles on Greyback and bound the man with enchanted chains before teleporting away.
“I suppose this will be a blow to Voldemort’s ability to gather werewolves to do his bidding.” Harry said, looking expectantly at the head of the DMLE.
“It’s our hope that is the case. Without Greyback holding the group together, we expect the werewolves to start to fight amongst themselves.” Scrimgeour said with a sharp nod.
“So, you’ll be leaving them alone then.” Harry prodded.
“It’ll be to our advantage to do nothing while our enemies make mistakes.” Scrimgeour said with a shrug.
Harry generally would’ve agreed, but he had a different opinion on what to do. Standing back and doing nothing, hoping for the best results, was lazy and a decadent idea. But he wasn’t about to take a class on how to wage a war with the head of the DMLE. He had his own ways to pursue the war in the way he wanted. Knowing that he had to act fast before the opportunity passed, Harry rushed to settle the affairs in Hogsmeade.
Before he could leave, he had to meet with the families of some of the Hogwarts students and some of the other residents in the village. The aurors were understaffed to properly transport the injured and the dead to St Mungo’s, as there were other attacks unleashed by the Dark Lord running parallel to the one in Hogsmeade. So, all the help was needed for the night, and the Daily Prophet reporters were like vultures snooping around the scene.
So, when the sun rose, the first thing he did was track down Remus in one of the Black properties in the countryside.
“Harry?” Remus said tiredly with dark bags under his eyes. “What’re you doing here?”
“Last night, there was an attack on Hogsmeade.”
“Oh!” Remus immediately went to apologise, “I’m sorry I was indisposed last night because of the…”
“Full moon, I know. It was Greyback and his pack that attacked the village.” Harry said with a sigh.
“Greyback!” Remus’ eyes flared with a sudden flash of rage.
“You don’t have to worry. That guy is lying in a Ministry holding spell with a half-burnt body after taking a lightning strike to the face.”
Remus looked like he didn’t know whether to be happy or horrified.
“Your doing?” Remus asked curiously.
“It was a group effort.”
“Ah, too bad I couldn’t see it myself.” Remus muttered. “I’m sure it’d have been a sight.”
“I can make some arrangements to let you pay your respects to Mr Greyback before his esteemed presence leaves this world into the next great adventure.” Harry offered.
“Hmm.” Remus nodded thoughtfully. “I’d like that.”
“Good. Now, one more thing. I need you to introduce me to the werewolf community.”
“Introduce you…? Do you expect werewolves are living in some secret caves and meet in shady bars to discuss their woes and plan in the shadows of the underbelly of cities or something.”
“I do.” Harry said with a straight face.
Remus rubbed his eyes and sighed.
“Well, you’re not wrong. I think I can get you an in with them.”
“That’s good.” Harry grinned.