Blake acted on pure instinct. Weaving through motions with his wand that he'd practiced countless times before, he created a wall that resembled a turtle shell around him made of gravestones, protecting him from all directions. But in the split second before the spells made impact, Blake realised he was in for another problem.
"Protego Maxima!"
The stone wll he created was blasted to rubble by the power of the Killing Curses, but Blake's shield held strong, protecting him from the debris and explosion.
"Stupefy!" he heard multiple voices scream. The Aurors had used the second of distraction to subdue one Death Eater each - 2 in Moody and Scrimgeour's case, and in that moment, the tide had turned.
Now, the numbers were 8 to 10, and with Harry back on his feet relatively soon after Blake reached him, they were practically evenly matched, especially when considering the Death Eaters had to ensure they were protecting their own.
"Harry!" Blake yelled, mid-way through cursing a fat man that oddly resembled Crabbe, "get Pettigrew!"
"On it!" the Gryffindor boy responded, his voice steady with determination. Pettigrew was attempting to sneakily attack one of the younger looking Aurors, but Harry wasn't having any of it.
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled, and with pinpoint accuracy from range, Pettigrew's wand crashed out of his wand.
"Hello, Wormtail," Harry said with a cold smile, before hexing him with a Bat-Bogey Hex then Stunning him.
"Quick!" Blake shouted as Crabbe Sr fell, Body Bound with blood gashing from his abdomen. "Take the Portkey back!"
"But you're all-"
"We'll be fine, look at the numbers! You need to get Wormtail out of here! Remember!"
Frustrated, Harry nodded, running back towards the trophy. Voldemort howled.
"Come back here, Potter!"
"I think not, Tom," Dumbledore stated calmly. "Look around you. Your men are wounded and on the backfoot, but ours are still up and fighting. You can't win."
Voldemort growled.
"Count yourself lucky, Dumbledore! Had I not been caught unaware-"
"Rich, coming from you, Tom," Dumbledore said coldly, streaking a streak of blazing hot green flame at Voldemort. "How many innocent and defenceless wizards and witches have you ambushed? Killed? Tortured?"
"Only those who deserved it! I judged them unworthy to live in my world, and delivered justice!"
"If you say so," Dumbledore responded in the same, cold tone. As Blake teamed up with Moody, taking a 3v2 versus some Death Eaters he didn't recognise, he could easily understand why both of these wizards stood at the pinnacle of wizardry.
I couldn't do what they're doing even if my life was on the line, he thought, heart sinking. How are they this strong?
It was everything, not just sheer power - endurance, processing speed, reaction time, instinct, creativity, tactical awareness - they were truly in a class of their own. Completely wordless, too.
Blake gritted his teeth.
If I'm going to catch up, he thought, sending one of them flying into the rubble, I seriously need to up my game. I've barely fought anyone strong in my whole life.
But, what better chance am I going to get than right now?
He searched the battlefield, looking for any competent Death Eater. There!
There were three Aurors battling one Death Eater in a near corner of the graveyard, and Blake recognised him immediately.
Lucius Malfoy.
"Leave him to me!" Blake commanded loudly, making his way towards them. One of the Aurors looked at him incredulously, which Blake couldn't exactly blame him for, given he was only 15.
"Reducto!" he shouted at a nearby building - wait, I'm in a graveyard - is that a Church? Ah, sh*t, he thought, wincing as the entire building exploded into dust.
Sorry, Jesus, he prayed quickly.
Seeing the vast building explode into dust, both sides turned to look at him, buying Blake the second he needed.
"Expulso!" he yelled, wand pointed squarely at Malfoy's chest. The man's eyes widened in surprise as he moved to defend him, deflecting the explosion onto the ground nearby.
Other Death Eaters tried to take the opportunity to bring down Blake once more, but as expected, the three Aurors previously battling Malfoy pivoted, forced to protect Blake and now engaged the other Death Eaters.
"Foolish boy!" one shouted. "He'll kill you!"
"You!" Malfoy snarled, venom dripping from his voice. "Oh, how I'm going to enjoy bringing your head back to Draco."
"Oh, that's right," Blake said conversationally, dodging a Killing Curse from the man. "Malfoy Jr's in hospital, isn't he? I heard he had 8 fractures, a split skull and a bruised liver. Doing alright, is he?"
"You'll pay for his pain with your life," the older man hissed. "Crucio!"
Blake dodged the curse again. "Aguamenti! Incendio!" The spells collided, creating an explosion of steam that caused Malfoy to stumble back, clutching his eyes from the heat. Blake rushed forward to the left, taking the opportunity to strike.
"Diffindo!"
Malfoy screamed as a deep gash cut into his left arm, blood spurting from the wound.
"Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!" he cursed again and again, impressing Blake with the raw malice, concentration and stamina needed to effectively spam the curse.
"Confringo!" Blake yelled.
"Bombarda!"
The two spells collided in mid air, knocking both of them back, but Blake landed on his feet. Decent, he thought. He managed to cancel out the spell mid-air. It was decent work, I can use that. He probably wasn't accounting for the strength of my spell though.
"All of you!" Voldemort's voice suddenly cried out, anger and frustration flowing through his voice. "Fall back! Now!"
One by one, beginning with Voldemort, each Death Eater gradually Apparated out of there - at least, the ones that could still move - but they grabbed anyone they could on the way out.
Blake saw Scrimgeour and Moody each grab a Death Eater hostage, preventing them from Apparating, and the other 5 Aurors managed to catch two between them. That's Crabbe, Goyle, Avery… I don't recognise the other one…
He heard a groan nearby.
"Not so fast, Malfoy," he said coldly, pointing his wand at the man groaning on the floor, his wand far away. "If your son visits you in Azkaban, tell him I said 'Hi'."
"Damn you, mudblo-"
"Stupefy."
Malfoy collapsed fully onto the floor, Stunned, and Blake bound him with ropes.
"Is everyone okay?" Dumbledore asked immediately, rushing over to some of the injured Aurors - wait, all of them are injured.
Blake hadn't noticed it before - perhaps because he'd been too far away - but not a single Auror had managed to make it out unscathed. Even Moody and Scrimgeour, both of whom Blake could tell were excellent combatants even by Auror standards, were both bleeding and bruising in various places, and one of the younger Aurors' arm was very clearly broken. He felt a pang of guilt in his chest. How didn't I notice?
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