Disclaimer: JK owns HP Universe

Fear and Self Loathing in Wiltshire

Chapter 29

The Death Eaters were running their direction. Most had their wands raised; realizing they had been discovered and would need to fight their way out. Others hadn't seemed to notice them yet due to the dragon hot on their heels. A few even had smoke wafting off the tails of their robes; making it obvious that the Chinese Fireball was attempting to live up to its name.

"Steady." Arthur warned them, as if he was waiting on the opposing army to reach a certain point before wasting any energy or magic before it was necessary. "Steady."

Hermione could feel her heart racing in her chest as she stared down the death eaters that were directly in her path. She took a deep breath as she tried to recall who was behind each unique mask.

Yaxley and Dolohov she knew almost immediately, others she hadn't seen before, nor recognized. There were also around a dozen or so wizards who must have run for cover before they had a chance to grab their cloaks or masks; their faces bare. Another three hadn't even had time to grab their robes, as they were all in various states of undress.

She was sure the sight of the man in nothing but his underwear and death eater mask would have made her laugh, if not for the crippling fear that she would lose more loved ones by the time the battle was over.

BOOM!

Hermione's heart jumped up into her throat as the man she had just had her eye on disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The boom was followed by screams and Arthur's continued directions of keeping steady. It took several seconds and a sudden rain down of blood and limbs for her to realize that the blast had come from an explosion of some kind.

BOOM! BOOM!

Another two went off, sending more body parts raining down upon the charging death eaters and their allis. Most seemed to stop, realizing more of the somethings unknown could be waiting in between them and The Order members in the treeline.

"There are two more on the east side, and one on the far right." Arthur called out quiet enough that only those on his side could hear him. "Stay in the middle, and don't go near any loose dirt."

Just like that the people on her left began to move toward the startled Death Eaters. They had them trapped between a fire breathing dragon, landmines, aurors, and order members. Things were looking good, they had caught them by surprise, but Hermione knew not to get her hopes up just yet. She had no doubt that The Lestranges would fight dirty, and that this was far from over.

As the boys took off, she followed; running beside Draco as they stayed a few paces behind Harry and Ron. The four of them together as they made their way into the battle.

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The battlefield was a mixture of red and green as spells were thrown back and forth, but it was nothing like Christmas as one would normally associate those colors with.

Arthur and Lucius had taken off first, heading to the east side of the battle field. Their intention was to use Lucius as bait; using him to lure death eaters one direction. This would allow them to make a clearing for Harry and the others to get inside where they could destroy the horcruxes on the other.

Lucius sent off a killing curse just before the first approaching death eater could do the same to him. They had now taken down five of their opponents, only forty-two or so to go.

As predicted, several death eaters were locked on Lucius; wanting retribution for his betrayal of their fallen master. Side by side, the two men once enemies fought and defended each other against the onslaught of curses thrown at them.

After taking out another three attackers, Arthur gestured for Lucius to follow him across another patch of loose dirt and rocks. He laid another of his circular devices down gently and sprinkled some gravel over the top.

There was another small group of Death Eaters approaching them quickly, so they backed up a short distance to give themselves room to defend themselves.

BOOM!

The man in front had triggered the freshly laid devise; sending more body parts raining down and startling everyone nearby. Lucius froze in the aftermath of the blast; as startled as everyone else.

The break of flying curses gave Arthur the opportunity to send out a few of his own; taking out the other death eaters who had not been blown up in the blast.

With his eyebrows still high on his forehead from shock, Lucius turned to look at his newfound friend. "What the hell are those things?"

"Landmines." Arthur answered him. "Muggle weapons. They use them in wars as a way to take out or trap their enemies without having to be present. I thought they might come in handy."

Lucius stepped forward and poked the remaining casing with his cane. He looked very interested.

"That's diabolical." He grinned maliciously as he turned to face Arthur again. "I love it."

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"I need to get to the dragon." Charlie said suddenly, as the group made its way further toward where the castle should be.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco had quickly met up with Charlie, Bill, Fluer, and Percy after the battle had begun. Shortly after that, they were joined by Ginny and George as well. The group of Weasleys, as well as the honorary family members had quickly formed an outward facing circle as a way of watching each other's backs. So far they hadn't come across anyone but the odd death eater attempting to escape the fiery castle.

Bill looked to the east where a streak of flames could be seen taking a lone death eater out in the distance. "He's too far away, you'll never make it across the field on your own. Besides, we need to get the others inside."

Charlie stepped out of their circle to take in the sight of the battle going on before them. "There's no other choice. We should be able to see the castle as soon as the fidelius charm gets broken; which, if he'd set enough of on fire, should be lifted by now." He gestured to his left where there was still what looked to be an empty field. "The charm needs magical fire to destroy enough of the residence that it can't detect what needs protecting anymore. If the Lestranges are still inside, that means the fires have been put out and he needs to go back in and reset them."

Bill sighed, now understanding what needed to be done, but still hesitant to let his brother run off on his own. "Shit."

"You know the rest of you can't get inside if I don't get my dragon back in there." Charlie continued to explain. "If I don't get to him this is all for nothing."

"Fine, you're right." Bill groaned. " But I'm coming with you to make sure someone has your back though."

"No. Absolutely not." Charlie put his foot down. "I'll be quicker on my own, and Charmander won't come to me if any strangers are nearby. None of you know him, and if one of you were to follow me part way you'd be on your own once I reach him. I won't have that either."

"Then George and I will go." Percy spoke up. "You take the lead, we'll watch your back on the way there, and then the two of us can look out for each other and keep any death eaters back once you get to the dragon."

Charlie and Bill seemed to have a short conversation with their eyes before nodding at each other.

"Fine." Charlie agreed. "But this is it. Once I take off I won't be stopping until I reach him, and then I want you both to group up with whoever you can find immediately."

George and Percy left the circle as well and nodded. Hermione had never seen George accept anyone's orders like that before, especially without a joke thrown in to lighten the mood. His actions reminded her once more of how serious this battle was.

"Stay safe brothers." Bill clutched Charlie's shoulder briefly as he bid them farewell.

"You too." Charlie saluted him, and with that they were off.

The group watched after them as Charlie took the lead, sprinting at full speed toward the Chinese Fireball; George and Percy not far behind.

It wasn't until they were half way across the battlefield that a deep cough brought their attention elsewhere; back to the forest on the other side of where they stood. Toward the direction they were supposed to be heading in the first place.

Fenrir Greyback stood in the shadow of a large oak tree nearby. How long he had been staring at them, nobody knew, but they all seemed to freeze as he stared at them menacingly.

"Hello again lovelies." He grinned at them with bared teeth.

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George pushed Percy to the ground as a particularly nasty curse blasted toward them. He dodged out of the way himself, before throwing a rather yucky curse of his own back in retaliation.

It turned out following Charlie might not have been the best plan after all, as all they had done was slow him down. He'd already had to turn back for them once, and now he was going to have to pause again while they caught up to him for a second time. At this point he could have already made it to his destination and sent the dragon on its way with how good he was at dodging the onslaught of hexes and curses thrown at him.

"It's not far now you two!" He called out to them as he sent a blast of orange into the chest of a nearby death eater. "Find mum, dad, or Hagrid and stick with them." He commanded.

Charlie sent another one of his orange specialties, followed by something purple at another death eater in the distance; hitting the neck and side of the face of the man. He looked rather proud of himself and took another look around to make sure that he would be leaving his brothers in a somewhat secure position before abandoning them.

"I'm going to go get my dragon."

The two brothers left behind watched as he called his fantastic beast to him with a strange whistle, but it wasn't long before they made it to their feet to check on their own surroundings instead. They were in the middle of a battle after all.

"I think we passed mum a few minutes ago when we were coming this direction earlier." Percy said, pointing and staring back the direction they had just come from.

"Mums going to have to wait, Perce." George replied darkly.

Percy snapped his head back to look at him, wondering what he was talking about. He was staring angrily at someone in the distance.

"What? Why?"

George kept his eye on the death eater who was approaching them slowly; his wand clenched tightly in his fist.

"Because I've just spotted Rookwood."

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Once he left his brothers, Charlie tore off toward the dragon again. A group of death eaters were apparently tired of having to dodge his flames and fireballs, and had taken to attacking the fire breathing beast with water spells. There was no way he was going to let them harm it; it was his job to protect the magical creature after all.

He drew back his wand as they continued their assault with wave after wave of icy water. Charmander screeched and tried to fly higher in the air to escape it; only to be knocked to the ground as a particularly large wave overtook his wings.

"Flagellum magna." He shouted with a flick of his wrist in the groups' direction; before they could do any real harm to him.

It was as if a large whip had flown through the current his wand had made; hitting each of them in the backs of their legs and ankles, and causing them all to fall forward from the impact. With another loud screech, the dragon flew back up into the air now that there was no water to keep him subdued, and began to pelt the startled death eaters with his own waves of flames and fireballs.

A few of the death eaters on the end were able to run as their robes caught fire, but it was clear that several of them had been too consumed with the flames and were succumbing to their fiery fate. Charlie quickly fished his dragon call whistle from his pocket and began to blow on it.

With an excited squeal, the dragon returned to his human companion, blasting another stream of violent fire at the nearest death eater in the process. Charlie stroked his snout affectionately as he landed in front of him, before feeding him a treat of the roasted goat jerky he always kept on hand for the younger dragons.

"Good boy. Good boy." He cooed at it as if it were a fluffy puppy who had just learned a new trick. "But what I really need is for you to head back to that castle, and bring it to the ground. Do you think you can do that for me?" He asked it as if it understood him.

It squeaked slightly and knocked its muzzle against his hand a few times.

"That's right." He continued to talk to it calmly in English before switching to Romanian. "Respirație flacără."

The young chinese fireball dragged its front claws into the ground and crouched; letting out a long and loud final screech as it took back off into the sky.

Charlie turned to take in his surroundings; making sure he was alone before he continued to watch his favorite creature fly higher into the sky. Before long he disappeared; going behind the curtain of the fidelius charm once more.

"I'm going to give him the biggest pile of goat jerky after this." Charlie promised with a grin.

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Bill stepped to the front of the group; his wand raised in a defensive position. This was a rematch he'd planned in his head over the past two years, but hoped he'd never actually have to encounter.

"Fleur honey." He said as he pushed her behind him. "Can you look behind us, and let me know how close Charlie is to reaching that dragon."

Fleur backed up a few paces before twisting her head around; squinting into the dim light of daybreak. "Close." She replied as she glanced at her brother-in-law's stocky figure in the distance. "But not close ee'nuff. I steel see ze dragon."

"Okay, great." Bill replied semi-sarcastically as he stared down the evil being who had disfigured his face. "Seven against one though, I quite like those odds."

Greyback chuckled darkly before snapping the fingers of his left hand.

Among the large tree trunks, four figures emerged from the shadows behind him. They walked forward slowly as they lined up behind him in a V shaped pattern; with Greyback at the head. It was obvious from their stances that they were part of a pack, and that they considered him to be their leader.

Hermione's heart sank as she pondered the risk in front of them. It would take a while to take out all five of the werewolves, even if it wasn't close to the full moon. One or more of them would likely end up injured, or worse; and they didn't have any time to waste. They needed to get inside the castle to destroy the horcruxes now.

"You might want to reconfigure those numbers boy." He barked at Bill before turning his attention to Hermione. "It seems that mudblood lover Krum didn't quite know that I still had a group of loyal followers ready to aid us at a moment's notice, did he lovely?"

In a similar fashion that Bill had displayed earlier with Fleur, Draco pushed Hermione behind him; his wand also raised defensively.

"Seven to five then." Draco replied; trying not to show his fear. Greyback had always frightened him, even if he liked to pretend otherwise. "I still like those odds."

"Ah, and the blood traitor." He grinned and ran his tongue across his sharp and yellowing teeth. "You know I really can't decide who I want to sink my teeth into first." He shrugged with his arms spread out from his sides. "I mean I've already had a taste of you." He gestured to Bill, "But I so rarely get the chance to have seconds. Then there's your pretty little veela bitch."

Bill let out a snarl under his breath at the look he was giving his wife and almost sent a violent curse. The only thing stopping him was the knowledge that as soon as he started to attack them, the other werewolves would retaliate, and he wasn't quite sure the group was ready for that yet.

"I've actually never tasted veela before. I bet she's devine." He continued to try and rile him up. "But then again, how could I pass up the opportunity of taking a large bite out of the-boy-who-lived himself. The one who wouldn't just fucking die like he was suppose to, and took away my one chance of eating freely when he took out the dark lord." He turned to face Harry and clicked his tongue against his teeth again. "Yes, I see you too boy, and your delicious fiery redhead of a fiance."

Harry eyed the violent werewolf distasteful as he too gripped his wand tightly; making sure Ginny was close behind him.

"Then there's the trusty ginger sidekick, and who could forget the mudblood of all mudbloods. The one who turns even the highest class of purebloods into despicable blood traitors" He continued his disturbing speech, as they bided their time until the inevitable werewolf attack."I almost had you last year. I was looking forward to it as I relished in the sounds of your screams while Bellatrix was carving into you with that trusty dagger of -"

Greyback was cut off mid sentence as a loud crackling noise rang throughout the valley. Slowly, the beige castle walls started to appear in what had once looked to be an empty field. It seemed the dragon had finally accomplished its mission in destroying enough of the hideout that the fidelius charm could no longer hold.

"Bombarda!"

"Impedimenta."

Harry struck first; sending an explosive spell at the werewolf closest to him, while at the same time Bill threw his jinx directly at Greyback. He was attempting to slow the leaders movements so he would have a hard time blocking the onslaught of curses he was just about to release in tandem.

The pack had obviously been distracted from the noise and sudden appearance of the castle, and the two men had taken advantage of it.

Within seconds, the rest of the group fired spells off, each aiming at whichever enemy was closest to them. The two weakest ones falling almost immediately, while Greyback and the other two dodged and ducked around them.

Even though it was now seven to only three, the speed and strength of these werewolves made it just about even in terms of strength and magical capability. Bill and Fluer had taken on Greyback, with the assistance of Ron; Draco and Hermione were teaming up on the large one to the right; while Harry and Ginny worked together to try and bring down the third and final werewolf.

Side by side, Hermione and Draco sent a series of jinxes and curses at the shady looking werewolf. Somehow it was able to dodge or block almost all of them and even sent a few of his own back their way.

Watching closely as she studied his patterns and movements, Hermione waited for his next attack which would be directed at Draco before switching tactics. With a series of three powerful slicing hexes, she sent one to each of the werewolves her and her friends were battling. The first one hit the ground next to her own foe's feet, and the second one flew just over Greyback's head, but the third and final one hit the last werewolf directly in the middle of it's back.

He stumbled forward and fell to his knees; clearly stunned by the surprise attack. Taking advantage of the moment, Harry and Ginny each sent a stupefy from their own wands, both of which hit him directly in the center of his chest.

The impact of the two spells hitting him so soon after the slice to the back was too much for one creature to handle, and he collapsed backward in a tangle of limbs. Not wanting to take any risks this time around, Harry sent another for good measure before joining Hermione and Draco in their battle.

While it was now three on one with the remaining werewolves, Ginny took the opportunity to make sure the other three would not be getting up again. She sent a series of deep sleeping spells at each of the already incapacitated bodies.

Ginny Weasley had grown up as the baby in the family, the little sister who was always coddled and kept out of harm's way. She had long tired of being told to stay away from the danger, and she was now here to prove that she could hold her own. Taking a leaf out of Hermione's book, she sent a series of her own slicing hexes; not stopping until she hit one or both of her targets.

The first three were sent at, but doged or blocked by the unknown werewolf. The next two went toward Greyback, who she was sure would end up dodging them all anyway. And lastly she fired off two dozen more back to back and from different angles at the werewolf battling Harry, Hermione, and Draco.

It was clear by the amount of blood seeping from several wounds that she had hit her target at least half of those times. He fell to the ground, where the field between the forest and the castle became stained with red.

Not wanting to waste any more time, lest Greyback succeed in his mission to bite one or more of them, the two couples headed toward Bill, Fleur, and Ron in hopes that the seven of them together could finally defeat him once and for all.

"We're wasting too much time!" Bill yelled as he kept at his attempts to knock Greyback off his feet. "It's already light out, and we are no closer to The Lestranges or the horcruxes. The five of you need to get inside now, before the rest of the death eaters notice what we are up to and turn back to stop us."

"No!" Ginny yelled, as she threw several hexes of her own. "We need to stick together. I'm not leaving you out here so he can finish the job he started two years ago."

"We don't have the time to waste." He argued back. "If the rest of you don't get inside soon, we are going to have a lot more than just Greyback on our hands. He's trying to keep us preoccupied out here. Fleur and I will be fine, the rest of you go!"

Draco threw a few jinxes from his wand before turning behind them. It looked like Bill was right. In the daylight he could see many of the death eaters running their direction; likely noticing that the castle was back in view. It was smouldering profusely on one side, but the other was almost entirely unscathed. If this was their last stronghold, the chance of them abandoning it was not likely.

Bill was right. They needed to get inside now if they were going to have a chance of destroying those horcruxes before they could be moved.

He sent a final defensive spell off, knowing beforehand that it would miss just as all the others had. With a sigh, he stepped out of the ring surrounding Greyback.

"Bill is right." He said over the chaos. "There is a large group headed our way, and we need to get inside before they do. I know we don't want to leave anyone behind, but time is not on our side right now. We have to go."

Before she could protest, Draco grabbed Hermione by the arm and began to pull her toward the castle entrance just ahead. "It's not just death eaters, I saw aurors and order members heading this way too. They will be fine, but we have to go before it's too late and this was all for nothing."

Hermione didn't struggle against him, but she did fire off a multitude of spells at Greyback as he guided her along. She didn't want to leave Bill and Fleur alone with that maniac, but they were already running late on their mission. He was right, this might be their only chance to finish the war once and for all.

Before long, they were too far away and she had to stop her attack lest she hit one of her friends instead. The guilt of leaving them behind weighed heavily on her as she followed Draco along the path, but somehow she knew it was the right decision anyway.

"The three of you need to go as well." Bill commanded the others, as he continued the onslaught of curses he was throwing at Greyback unsuccessfully. "The job that needs doing inside the castle is more important than this. Fleur and I can hold him off long enough for the rest of you to get inside."

"No." Ginny refused again as she attempted to help her brother; sending another half a dozen curses out.

Harry paused for a moment; taking a deep breath before sending out the most powerful expelliarmus he could conjur. It barreled toward the werewolf, and for a moment it looked to be directly on target.

With a quick flick of his wrist, and a large step backward; Fenrir Greyback dodged the disarming spell. He let out a feral laugh as Harry's spell hit the ground; dissipating into a small wisp as if it was nothing.

Harry cringed, and hung his head; for that was his last attempt to take out the vile half-creature. He had wanted to have it both ways. For the entire group to be able to move forward into the hideout together instead of having to be split up again. They had started off with ten going toward the castle, and now they would be down to half that many with George, Percy, and Charlie already gone.

"Ron, Ginny, come on. We need to catch up to Hermione and Malfoy." He stated solemnly as he lowered his wand.

Ron's face fell, but he too lowered his wand and nodded in compliance. The last thing he wanted was to lose another brother, but he also understood what was at stake if they didn't make it to the horcruxes before The Lestranges took them somewhere else.

"Go!' Bill yelled at them again. "You're wasting time!"

Before she could protest any further, Harry and Ron each grabbed Ginny by the elbows and dragged her from the battle. She kicked and screamed at them to let her go, but they held strong. As much as they knew she'd rather stay and help her brother and sister-in-law, they knew she'd be safer with them. Her help was needed inside, and not left in Fenrir Greyback's hands on the outside where they couldn't protect her.

As he saw them drag his sister off out of the corner of his eye, Bill changed tactics just as Hermione had earlier. Greyback had no discernable pattern to his attacks. In fact, it looked more like he was focusing all his attention on blocking and dodging their spells rather than attacking them outright. He knew now that it was only two of them, that he would likely change that last part.

Not knowing what else to do, Bill lunged forward and sent a right hook directly into Greyback eye socket. If magic wasn't doing the job, maybe physical violence would do the trick instead.

Both Ginny and Fleur screamed as the duel turned into a fistfight. Harry and Ron flipped her, so that Ginny could no longer see the battle they had just abandoned. The three of them made their way across the drawbridge that would lead them inside the castle as the brawl continued.

Fenrir retaliated, and knocked Bill to the ground. Fleur screamed again as she attempted to use magic against the ferocious werewolf clawing at her husband.

The last thing Harry saw, as he pushed both Ginny and Ron ahead of him into the castle, was the sight of Greyback sinking his teeth into the side of Bill Weasley's neck.

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Woof, rough ending huh? Only two chapters to go though!

Flagellum magna - large whip

Respirație flacără. - fire breath