The Serpent's Blossom: A Trick Of The Light

Harry woke to gentle shaking of his shoulder and a hand over his mouth. His eyes shot open and his hand was at his wand under his pillow before he recognized Dominick’s almost glowing purple eyes. Harry relaxed only a little and Dominick drew back after bringing a finger to his lips. Through the silence in the room, Harry could hear shuffling about through his closed bedroom door, originating down stairs. He got up and mutely took the change of clothes Dominick handed him.

 

Nova stood at the door, wand in hand and a grim look of determination on her face. Harry didn’t want to think of her using that weapon. She seemed on the verge of collapse anyway without the energy drain a fight would require.  Shaking that uncomfortable thought, Harry dressed quickly.

 

The noise downstairs should have awakened the Dursleys but they were silent in their rooms. Harry didn’t question it, but he couldn’t leave them to face whatever had gotten into the house and by the tenseness in both Nova and Dominick, it couldn’t be good.

 

Dominick stepped close to the window and glanced through the edge of the curtains, his mouth tightening. Harry stepped over to see but Dominick came in close, ducking his head down until Harry felt cool breath at his ear.

 

“The wards are down. Your enemies have come,” he murmured. Harry went cold.

 

“The Dursleys-”

 

“I will see to them. You and Nova must leave. Can you apparate?”

 

“No, I-”

 

“She will take you, then. Go.”

 

Harry stumbled forwards with Dominick’s hard shove at his back. He didn’t have time to stabilize himself before Nova grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him to her, using his momentum to compensate for her lack of strength. Her blood red eyes lifted, meeting his with only half hidden fear, “Stay still. I’ve never done two.”

 

Dominick stepped past them and opened the door as Nova readied to apparate them both. He had barely slipped through before the world exploded with sound and pain. Harry went flying, knocking into the wall across the room. His elbow smashed back into the window and pain wrenched through his shoulder as glass sliced through his skin. He didn’t have time to recover from the shock before hands were hauling him up from the ground and then there was a laugh and a voice he knew.

 

Bellatrix grinned at him nastily and Harry didn’t have time to scramble for his wand before he was shoved through the window he’d smashed. He twisted, trying to grab the edge of the window but he missed and fell and-

 

Inches from the ground, a spell caught him, stopping his descent just in time and then dropping him the harmless half foot to the grass. He looked up, spying Nova with her arm out stretched towards him, and then Bellatrix gave a nasty snarl and Nova dodged past a spell.

 

Harry started to go back inside but he felt more than heard a spell coming at him. He ducked, throwing himself behind the hedge Petunia lovingly trimmed each day, and stared through the leaves. Death Eaters were filling the street, popping into existence in droves and coming for the house. Harry drew in a ragged breath. The fight was still going on in the house and he scrambled through his thoughts to figure out just what the hell he was supposed to do. They needed help and fast, or they were all going to die.

 

At least they hadn’t noticed him here. Whoever had taken a shot at him seemed to have lost him again. That gave him at least a few seconds to try and figure out some kind of plan. He gripped his want tight and tried to think of something, some way three young wizards could fight off an army, but the choices were notably few and tended to end in a less than honorable death. Harry swallowed thickly, but his resolve strengthened. If he was going to die, he would do it taking down as many of them as he could.

 

Harry threw himself over the edge with the cry of a curse on his lips. He had shocked few seconds to send off more spells before the Death Eaters recovered from their shock. Then he was running and dodging more than he could cast. It should have ended quickly with how many spells were coming at him but Harry realized with an uncomfortable clench of his belly that they were only toying with him. Keeping him occupied long enough for something else to happen and he had an strong notion as to what that was.

 

“Harry!” hissed out a familiar voice from above before that same voice snarled out a deadly hex.

 

“Remus!” Harry called back as the man dropped from his broom and threw up a protective shield around him. “Remus, they’re still inside!”

 

The older man gave a curt nod, concentrating too much to look at him. “Tonks is already in the house with Arthur. They’ll get the Dursleys out-”

 

“But Nova and Dominick are in there too!”

 

Remus didn’t have time to ask him who they were. A wave of Death Eaters swarmed them and while other Order members dropped from the sky to fight, they were being pushed back. Harry fought as well as he could by their sides.

 

Small hands suddenly grabbed his wrists as a thin body pressed to his back. Harry had a moment to recognize the voice that told him urgently to stay still and then they blinked out of existence.

 

When Harry’s feet hit the ground again, he stumbled away from Nova a few steps before he could right himself. Then he twisted and watched as she sank down to her knees. They were in the park they’d visited two days ago and from there, Harry could hear the sounds of the battle he’d been whisked away from.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked, stumbling back over to Nova. She looked up at him, blood dribbling down the side of her face from a wound above her eye.

 

“Fine,” she murmured but she didn’t look fine. Her eyes were hazy, weak. The way she sat on her heels made it pretty obvious she wasn’t getting back up anytime soon. “Dom’s… on his way.”

 

Harry grabbed the edge of his shoulder and started wiping the blood from her face, which she let him do in a kind of shocked stupor.

 

“I should go back,” Harry muttered to himself but Nova still shook her head once before her eyes crossed and she swayed heavily.

 

“No,” she managed. “No, you have to get out. You have to kill him. If you get captured now…”

 

She didn’t have to finish that thought. They both knew the stakes.

 

When he thought she wouldn’t trip over her own feet, Harry hauled Nova up and they started moving. She stumbled along with him grimly but said nothing as they crossed the park and headed farther from the Dursleys’ home. Harry didn’t know where to go but Hogwarts and that meant getting to the train station because it was the only way he knew how to find the school.

 

The sound of voices near by sent the two of them down to the ground, crowding together behind a tree that wasn’t nearly big enough to hide them. Harry glanced past as Nova leaned heavily against him, feeling each of her heavy, strained breaths. He could barely make out the shape of a few men near by, looking harried if he could judge by their sharp movements and the tones of their voices. Voices which were familiar…

 

Relief made him sag. He pulled Nova with him as he left their slight cover and went into the open. “Moody!”

 

The older man swung around and there was a moment of relief in Mad Eye Moody’s gaze before he reached out to clasp Harry’s shoulder.

 

“Glad you’re still breathing,” he said gruffly.

 

“Who’s this?” Kingsley asked from beside him, giving Nova a confused look. She barely seemed to notice, leaning hard into Harry’s side.

 

“I’ll explain later, but you have to get Dominick out of the house!”

 

The two aurors glanced at one another and Moody let go of Harry. He turned on his heel and started back towards the house without a word as Kingsley shook his head. He gave Nova a weighing glance, then pursed his lips.

 

“Harry, do you think you can carry her with you on your broom?”

 

“I’m fine,” Nova muttered but they both ignored her.

 

“Maybe. I think so.”

 

“Good.”

 

“I’m fine,” Nova edged in.

 

Kingsley lifted a hand and muttered out, “Accio brooms.”

 

Nova thumped her head down on Harry’s shoulder and said something dark in German. Two brooms hit Kingsley’s hand just as high pitched laughter cut through the sounds of battle not far away. He shoved one broom to Harry and then mounted his own.

 

“Lets go!” he barked out. Harry mounted and dragged Nova with him. Despite her protests, she still slid her thin arms around his chest and held on tight as he lifted off the ground. Above the few trees of the park, Harry could see the bright flashes of spells zinging across the neighborhood. He swallowed thickly, hoping none of the Order was hurt or worse killed, then shot off after Kingsley.

 

Two more broomed wizards lifted off near by. Harry barely dodged a spell streaking across the sky, boggled down with more weight than he was used to. He rolled in the air, leaning close to the broom handle as Kingsley returned fire above him. Harry felt Nova shift, one hand curled tight in his shirt but the other pulling free, and then she snarled out a vicious curse, attacking so that Harry could concentrate on flying, which was hard enough.

 

More figures rose up, both friendly and enemy. The Death Eaters seemed to have realized Harry was there and were coming with a vengeance. He flew as well as he could, weaving through the air as Nova fired off spells behind him and the Order kept as close quarters as they could to form a barrier.

 

Harry didn’t notice that Nova’s hand had loosened in his shirt until her body slid off the broom. He made a mad grab and missed, staring as she fell towards the ground, eyes closed and body limp. But mere seconds after, Tonks caught her by the back of her shirt and hauled the girl across her lap. She gave Harry a hard grin and then went back to fighting.

 

“We have to get out of here!” Moody snarled out between spells. A pink cheeked woman Harry didn’t know suddenly pulled away from the flock of wizards and drew herself up, readying for something big.

 

“GO!” she cried and then all Harry could hear was something exploding. He put on the speed, not looking back, and followed the other Order members to safety.