The Battle of Hogwarts
Chapter 28 - The Battle of Hogwarts
Dora and her mother said a brief goodbye, Dora knew she would start crying if she didn’t leave at once. She left the protective barriers of her mother’s house before disapparating to The Hog’s Head, where she practically ran all the way through the passage until she reached the Room of Requirement. There were only two others in the Room; Ginny, and Mrs. Longbottom. None of whom knew where Remus was.
Soon they were graced by the presence of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Mrs. Longbottom then made her way out of the Room to fight, Dora wasn’t surprised, this was the mother and mother-in-law of two great aurors after all. Harry was surprised to see Dora, he was under the assumption that she would be at her mother’s place, taking care of his godson. To her dismay, none of them knew where exactly Remus was, except that he was leading a group of fighters into the grounds.
Dora rushed out of the room immediately. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, where are you my sweetheart? She thought to herself. Ginny joined her after a moment, apparently the trio had asked her to leave for a bit. There was a window on the corridor where they were waiting, Dora and Ginny started aiming hexes, and jinxes at as many Death Eaters as they could manage through it. They had succeeded in taking down quite a few of them in just a few minutes.
Aberforth appeared from out of nowhere, he complimented Ginny on a particularly well-aimed jinx, Dora decided to try her luck and ask him if he knew where Remus was. Aberforth said Remus was dueling Dolohov the last he saw him. At this, Dora ran after him into the grounds. She had to get to him, one way or another, she didn’t even hear what Ginny was telling her.
Dora tore down the corridor, heading towards the nearest staircase which would lead her out of the castle. She managed to stun a fair few masked Death Eaters on her way down. Dora took the stairs two at a time, jumping down the last few steps, slipping slightly in the rubble. Thank Merlin she was wearing her combat boots, they always had excellent grip. But there was no time to lose, she had to find Remus, the love of her life, the father of her child.
Dora didn’t stop until she reached the Hogwarts grounds, her lungs felt like they were on fire, and her legs were seizing up, but she didn't slow down. Once there, she saw numerous figures in fierce combat. She scanned the vicinity for her husband, and she finally saw him. Remus was dueling Dolohov, Dora thought for a minute before casting a shield charm in his direction. It wouldn’t last long but it distracted Dolohov for a minute, just what she wanted. In that split second, Dora cast her first ever unforgivable curse.
‘Avada Kedavra!’ she yelled, the jet of green light hit Dolohov squarely on the face, and he crumpled to the ground, dead.
Remus looked around frantically for his savior, although he was managing perfectly well on his own. He was aghast when his eyes found Dora. Without a moment’s hesitation, he grabbed her hand, and they both ran towards the nearest greenhouse for a moment’s refuge, firing hexes at Death Eaters on their way, taking a decent amount of them down.
‘You shouldn’t have!’ yelled Remus, the blasts from the battle were enough to muffle their conversation. Their bodies were entwined in a close embrace now. Dora had to stand on her toes, as she always did when she hugged him. ‘It’s Teddy who needs you,’ continued Remus.
‘He’ll sleep til dawn, and snore like his father,’ said Dora as they broke apart, still holding each other. ‘It’s you that needs me tonight,’ continued Dora.
A loud blast snapped them back into reality, Dora and Remus knew now was not the time for a cozy chitchat. They ran out of the greenhouse, back into the grounds, ready to resume fighting, Dora’s arrival gave Remus’ fighting spirit an upheaval, they could win this, together. They fired all the jinxes and hexes they could think of, they were both adept at non-verbal magic, giving them an edge over some of their opponents. They both had their fair share of near misses of fatal curses casted by their opponents, but that didn’t slow them down, it pushed them to fight harder. They had to, for Teddy, if their side lost tonight, the Death Eaters would start killing off the family of the Order members, one by one, stopping at nothing.
They were interrupted once again by the same cold, high voice which had spoken earlier before the battle. The Death Eaters began to retreat, Dora and Remus began their way, hand in hand to the Great Hall. Their hearts caught in their chests as they saw a fair few bodies along their way, whether friend or foe, there was no way of knowing for sure at the moment. Back in the Great Hall, the dead lay in a row in the middle, while the injured were treated by Madam Pomfrey and a few others. They noticed a band of redheads surrounding one particular body, they froze at the sight. Who could it be? Dora prayed it was not one of the Weasleys, please be someone else they were mourning over.
Alas it was Fred. Dora made her way to Ginny who was being comforted by Hermione. Remus made to comfort George, he was kneeling beside Fred’s head, still one ear short, but now without his other half of his heart. Molly sobbed over Fred’s chest, while Arthur was stroking her hair, tears streaming down his own face.
Remus couldn’t bear to imagine what it must feel like to lose a twin, someone who had been by your side your whole life. Even worse, what it must feel like to outlive your own child. His mind flitted to Teddy, Remus missed him so much already. Teddy and Dora were his only reason to want to survive this battle. Remus then thought of Andromeda, he must do his level best to ensure Dora goes home to her mother. Apart from Ted, and Teddy, Dora was the only true family Andromeda had left.
Dora then made her way towards the injured, she knew a fair amount of healing spells, that was second nature to her as an auror. Remus headed towards Kingsley and Minerva, they had to plan their next course of action, there was only an hour left. The rest of the Weasleys would want their privacy, at least for a while, Remus and Dora didn’t want to impose too long on a moment like this. Besides, there was work to be done.
There was no sign of Harry anywhere, Hermione and Ron had no clue where he could have disappeared to. For one wild moment, Remus thought he had gone off to the forest. It can’t be, he tried to convince himself, he was probably under his cloak, maybe he was doing something related to the mission Dumbledore had left him. Please just be anywhere but the forest, Harry. Remus would much rather Harry had just run away from all of this, just please be alive, went his internal monologue.