A/N: Just for your information “ I don’t speak latin, so the spell I used is most likely wrong. I looked up the words „shift“ and „time“ and this is how the spell came to be…
Chapter 2: Proferre Tempus
Hermione stumbled over the lawn to the front door of the Burrow and pulled it open, completely out of breath. The still-partying occupants turned their heads, fully expecting Harry to be in Hermione’s company, but confusion was evident on their faces, when they spotted her disheveled form. Hermione’s face was flushed a deep red, her eyes wide and hair messy from the run.
“Oy ‘Mione, what’s up?” Ron, still wearing his orange and black Chudley Cannons attire, asked. “Where’s Harry?”
“The Dark Mark!” she breathed. “Death Eaters are here! Harry is waiting for them … ”
The whole room went silent and quick looks between the present members of the Order of Phoenix were exchanged. “Molly,” Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody ordered, his magical blue eye moving too fast for anyone to see more than a blur, “get Dumbledore. We try to keep them at bay until the others arrive.”
Molly Weasley grabbed a Phoenix-formed pendant around her neck and disappeared with a plop. The Weasley twins, Fred and George, as well as their older brothers, Charlie and Bill, ran past Hermione, their wands poised in their hands, followed by their father Arthur Weasley, Moody and Remus Lupin. Before Lupin, however, could pass Hermione, she grabbed his arm.
“Remus … Harry, he believes that this time Voldemort is with them. That tonight, it will end … ”
Lupin acknowledged this fact with a grim look upon his face, before he, too, darted outside. Hermione had just started to follow him when she heard Ron yelling. “What do you think you’re doing?” She first thought that this was directed at her, but Ron was shouting at his younger sister, Ginny, and her friend Luna Lovegood. Both had their wands in their hands, ready to join the others outside.
“This is our fight as much as it is yours,” Ginny countered. “We’re going.”
“They’re right, Ron,” Hermione said calmly. “They are also members of the Order, and you can’t stop them from going out to fight the Death Eaters.”
Grudgingly Ron relented and the four of them left the house. The Dark Mark was still dangerously looming at the horizon, but they could not see any Death Eaters yet. Ron and Hermione quickly joined Harry in the middle of the group assembled outside and the two younger girls went to the right flank. Harry smiled at his friends, though it was somewhat forced. His scar was still hurting and his nerves were ready to burst.
Shortly after, popping noises could be heard all around the place. The Order members were arriving. Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry saw Hagrid, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt, closely followed by Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle, Sturgis Podmore and Hestia Jones. Emmeline Vance and Mundungus Fletcher had lost their lives in former Death Eater Attacks. Behind him, he heard Molly and Lupin talk in hushed voices. No one dared move. Harry’s mind was reeling. Where was Dumbledore? What was keeping him so long?
A popping noise next to him let his head jerk around, but it was not Dumbledore. “What, Potter? Not happy to see me?” Draco Malfoy teased.
For the first time, Harry did not retort. Instead he was deadly serious. “I’m waiting for Dumbledore.”
“He will be here, soon,” Severus Snape’s voice hissed behind him. “He said he had to get something first.”
Get something first? What was Dumbledore playing at? Didn’t he know that they needed him here?
“There they are.” Hearing Ron say this, Harry immediately turned his attention back to the upcoming battle. And indeed, black masses were moving toward them. Harry tried to do a head count, but it was too dark and there were too many.
Too many. Too dark.
It suddenly seemed as if someone had switched off the stars. Even the Dark Mark was gone.
So cold.
When the air had been warm and sultry before, it now felt as if he were in the deepest of winter. Harry heard long, hoarse, rattling breaths and got a clammy feeling in his stomach. His scar was searing once again and then he heard them, the voices in his head. "Not Harry! Not Harry!! Please, not Harry!"
Dementors! They were building the front line!
Kill the spare!
Harry raised his wand, trying to think of something happy.
SIRIUS! SIRIUS!
“Expecto Patronum!” Nothing happened. Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts! He glanced to his left and noticed that his friends seemed to have similar problems with conjuring a Patronus with this mass of Dementors advancing. Tonight it will end! This is the last fight and I will kill Voldemort! Then it is finally over and we can live in peace! “EXPECTO PATRONUM!” A silver stag emitted from the tip of his wand and galloped toward the Dementors.
And sure enough, with the Dementors thrown back by Harry’s Patronus, the others were able to conjure theirs. Soon enough it was an army of Dementors versus and army of Patronuses, the silver forms being successfully able to force the Dementors into retreat.
This victory, however, was of short duration. They still had to face an army of Death Eaters and of course Voldemort himself. Harry looked around. There was still no sight of Dumbledore.
"I’m waiting," the voice in his head hissed.
“I know,” Harry answered aloud, earning incredulous glances from those standing close to him. With or without Dumbledore, they could not stall any longer. If they did not attack first, the Death Eaters would. And how went the old saying? Attack is the best means of defence. “But you won’t have to wait any longer. It’s time.” He raised his wand and shot red sparks into the air. “ATTACK!”
The members of the Order of Phoenix rushed forward, some stealthily, some, like Hagrid, with a loud roar.
Momentarily stunned by this bold and unexpected move, the Death Eaters hesitated. This was long enough for the Order to send stunning and disarming spells into the first rows of their enemies. Few were knocked down, most of the others managed to conjure a shield just in time, but were not able to make them strong enough to withstand a bodily attack on top of the spells.
The two parties clashed like two giant waves. Green and red sparks flew to his left and to his right. Harry saw some of the jets of red lights hitting Hagrid, but they were just bouncing off him, just as they had already done years ago, when High Inquisitor Dolores Jane Umbridge had sent Aurors to capture the half-giant. The Death Eaters trying to stun him never stood a chance. Since he was expelled from Hogwarts, Hagrid was not allowed to do any magic nor did Harry think that his friend was able to do major spells that might help them, but with his massive figure and his incredible strength, he made more than up for it. One swing with his fist and a couple of Death Eaters were lying at his feet, unconscious. Hagrid caught Harry’s gaze and winked at him, before turning his attention back to his foes.
Harry smiled at Hagrid, just before he ducked the green light of a curse, which he had more felt than seen and disarmed his attacker quickly, the wand getting lost in the chaos around them. The young man then rushed forward and, without using his wand at all, lunged a hard upper-cut at his opponents jaw, sending the wizard sprawling on the floor. Before he had the chance to get up again, Harry lazily stunned him. He was not going for the kill, not until he was facing the one person, if he could even call him that, that had made his life miserable ever since he was one year old.
He sprung around, his gaze quickly wandering over the fighting wizards and witches. I’m here … Harry turned around once again and there he saw him. Black robes fluttering around him, pale, spidery fingers holding a wand. They were not close, but Harry could swear that he could make out the slits of his nostrils and the burning red eyes.
A curse missed Harry’s hand just by inches, but he did not care. Voldemort was finally showing himself. It was time. Only one or neither of them would leave this battlefield alive.
And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives …
Eyes trained on Voldemort, he began a determined stride in his direction, while his archenemy slid past his fighting minions, now and then pushing one aside with magic, when they were blocking his way. Neither raised his wand when they finally met. They only stared at each other.
After having set a now-fleeing Death Eater on fire, Hermione turned her head to do a quick head count, only making sure that the people closest to her were still up fighting, when she saw them, Harry and Lord Voldemort, walking up to each other with a determination that she had never seen before. She still could not see Dumbledore and she was sure that Harry alone never stood a chance against Voldemort, no matter how good he had become over the last years. “Ron! Malfoy!” she yelled to those fighting closest to her and Harry. “He can’t do that alone!” The two young men immediately understood what she was talking about and followed her.
“Voldemort,” Harry acknowledged him with a deep growl in his voice.
“Harry Potter, we finally meet again,” Voldemort’s voice was barely above a whisper, a quiet hiss, and yet Harry could understand him perfectly well. “You’ve grown since our last encounter, become more manly. But still alone as I see. Always alone. It has been like this from the very beginning. No, I remember that the first time we met, your Mudblood mother was trying to protect you. How little did she know that she was only giving you a couple of years … And tonight you will leave this plane of existence, Harry. Alone. Happy Birthday…”
“He’s not alone,” Hermione yelled, as she came to a stop just a step behind Harry, along with Ron and Draco.
“Get out of here,” Harry barked at them, but none of them moved an inch. “This is my fight!”
“I see,” The Dark Lord seemed thoughtful for the split of a second. “Miss Granger, I presume. And there is Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy. Draco, isn’t it? You would have made a formidable Death Eater, just like your father was. But allying yourself with Harry Potter and Dumbledore … A mistake … ”
None of them answered, all holding their gaze with the man -“ being -“ that had brought so much despair over the wizarding world.
“I’m impressed. Most people would cower in fear to see me. Well, if you don’t want to leave without Harry, then I suggest you leave with him. But first, I want to see a reaction from at least one of you,” He quickly raised his wand and pointed it at Hermione. “CRUCIO!”
“Protego!” It was not more than a whisper, but a shield had appeared in front of the four young people, though none of them had a wand raised.
Voldemort eyed Harry with an amused look on his face. “Remarkable. I was told that you were able to do this, but I thought that my Death Eaters were exaggerating. It’s draining, isn’t it? Holding this shield without the strengthening core of your wand? Even I find this task exhausting and wouldn’t able to hold it much longer. It’s harder than most people think, harder than cursing someone without a wand, because now you have to concentrate a steady amount of magic into this shield, while with a curse you only have to gather the magic once and then let it explode.”
Much to his annoyance, Harry knew that Voldemort was right. He would not be able to keep the shield up any longer. His scar was hurting so much that he had the feeling his head would split any moment and sweat was trickling down his face and back. He wished he could use his wand, but he did not want to repeat what had happened on the cemetery what seemed like ages ago. He could first use his, when Voldemort had lost its brother.
Now or never!
He let the shield down and yelled, “Expell”“
But Voldemort seemed to have only waited for this moment. As soon as it was obvious that the shield was fading, he raised his wand once again and finished his spell before Harry could finish his. “Proferre Tempus!”
Something that resembled a green bubble came out of the tip of Voldemort’s wand, closing itself around Harry and his friends, before one of the four could react in any way. All of them tried to get out, using spell after spell, but they were only absorbed. Though his vision was obscured through the bubble, Harry finally saw Dumbledore, holding something seemingly heavy, but his heart dropped. Somehow he knew, it was too late. This time, Dumbledore could not save them.
They heard Voldemort’s shrill laughter through the bubble and then, with a swish of his wand, everything went quiet around them and the battlefield disappeared.