Harry Potter And Bellatrix Lestrange

The battle was already raging when Harry and his group arrived back in the atrium. So far, Voldemort's troops hadn't managed to get past the defenders at the front gates, and when Harry stepped through the huge double doors that marked the entrance to the Ministry, he could see why. Rotan and Hiscophney had skillfully arrayed their troops, forcing Voldemort's army to fight an uphill battle as they climbed up the large stairwell that led to the building's front entrance, all the while taking fire from all sides.

Giants were leading the charge, using their large bodies and insane constitution to shrug off the curses and hexes the defenders were hurling at them and shelter the humans, vampires, and werewolves behind them from the brunt of the spellfire. An ice soldier arrived, giving Rotan a brief salute. "The primary barriers outside are holding, but Voldemort's mages have begun breaking down the wards that the sorcerers have put up. It will take them some time, but they are making progress. The southern flank is coming under heavy attack, and I was just about to send a company to reinforce them."

"Go ahead," Rotan nodded, glancing out at the battlefield. So far, the two frontlines were still well-drawn, and the defenders were at an advantage, hidden behind barriers and covered from enemy attacks as they were. However, a look over the totality of Voldemort's forces caused a shiver of fear to run down the aging general's spine.

The dark wizard had brought to bear innumerable troops, ranging from hundreds of giants that were able to just walk through whatever wards they had erected, to hordes of werewolves and vampires. Thousands of the dark creatures were spread out before the Ministry, and when a roar came from overhead, they looked up to see the sky darken as the sun was blocked out. Harry's blood ran cold as he recognized the familiar cold spreading through him, amplified by a thousand times as enough Dementors flew overhead to block out the sky.

"What the…" Harry stared in disbelief as the Dementors snarled angrily at the wards.

"What in the name of the Queen is going on here?" Rotan asked. "I thought these vile creatures were bound to the will of Lord Polairix!"

"They were… are," Harry gulped. "I went to Azkaban to check on Captain Nailoff and our defenses there just yesterday. The Dementors are still there."

"Then where did these come from? And in such numbers?" Rotan muttered, his throat dry. Giants, dark wizards, werewolves and vampires the aging general could handle. They were vulnerable to conventional weapons, and the Ice people had brought weapons that would decimate their ranks. Creatures that were impervious to anything but magic, on the other hand, were a different matter… and not just any magic, a specific brand of white magic, no less. That was something they weren't prepared to face, and certainly not in the thousands.

Hiscophney narrowed his eyes as he looked up in the sky. "Which books did you say were missing from the library?"

"Just our research on wards, and extra-planar magic," Harry replied, confused.

"Extra-planar magic, eh?" Hiscophney turned to look at Rotan and Harry. "Voldemort found a way to access another plane. He summoned these."

"What?" Harry cried in disbelief. He hated Dementors. Sure, he'd gotten used to the ones at Azkaban, but he had never fully gotten over his dislike of the creatures. They were something so vile, so dark, so… unnatural that he couldn't help but feel they weren't native to this world. He had less problems with giant spiders and basilisks roaming the field. Speaking of basilisks…

"What on Earth is that?" a soldier quailed, pointing out into the distance, where a giant snake was rearing its head.

"Dear Lord, he brought a basilisk ?" a second soldier muttered.

"So you're saying Voldemort went through the missing books that the traitor took, figured out how the ancestral Lords of Polairix managed to open a portal to another plane, and summoned what, a thousand Dementors?"

Hiscophney nodded at Rotan's assessment. "That would be correct. There is no other explanation. Dementors are not native to this plane; that much I know. There should only be a hundred or so in existence, stationed at Azkaban, all of them bound by blood magic to obey Lord Polairix. Therefore, we have to conclude that these have arrived on this plane just recently. There can be no other explanation for the sudden appearance of this many of these creatures."

Harry suppressed a shudder. He knew Voldemort was powerful, but even Bella and Hermione had never suspected anything like this to be possible. The possibility of opening a portal to another plane and summoning creatures had certainly never come up in any of their discussions. For him to be able to achieve this after just two days… the prospect scared Harry even more than the looming army of darkness. And he somehow had managed to transform Nagini into a giant snake, and the dark lord's pet seemed content to destroy anything in its path, crushing defenders and attackers alike under its fifty-foot long body. His blood ran cold. Any kind of plans they had made hadn't factored in Dementors, much less a thousand of them. They were virtually helpless against the soul-sucking creatures.

The Dementors were still kept at bay by the magical wards the Trazkabanian sorcerers had put up, but once those fell to Voldemort's spellbreakers, the Dementors would be free to roam their battle lines. As it was, their proximity and sheer number was enough to seriously affect everyone on the field. Harry grimly estimated the number of enemy troops at more than ten thousand. They were outnumbered almost three to one.

"Shacklebolt!" Harry shouted as the Dementors continued bouncing against the wards above them. The auror shouted back from his position on the north end of the stairs.

"We're a bit busy here, Harry!"

"Pull back all the aurors and have them do a Patronus ! We need to keep those Dementors away from us!" Harry ordered, leaving unsaid that once the wards failed, the Patronus charm would be the only thing standing between the defenders and a very quick death.

"Got it!" Shacklebolt belted out a few orders from his location, before retreating to stand with Harry, surrounded by a cadre of witches and wizards from the Auror department and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry's heart skipped a beat and he ruthlessly suppressed his anger when he saw Ron Weasley among them. Rotan and Hiscophney both left to take their command posts at the center and southern flanks, ordering the wizards they found along the way to fall back and conjure up the Patronus .

"I've got most of the wizards pull back behind the soldiers and sorcerers," Shacklebolt told Harry, "they'll be staying at a safe distance and will be throwing up the Patronus on your signal. These are the only ones I can spare to protect the inner defensive lines, I'm afraid."

Harry nodded in acknowledgement, then looked over the twenty-two wizards and witches the auror had brought with him. "All right, spread out and find some cover. I'm warning you right now that the front lines will most likely collapse soon, so find a place that's safe in case that happens. Your job will be to keep up the Patronus for as long as you can. When the wards come down, and they will, you're the only thing standing between our forces and those Dementors, so pull yourself together and cast the most goddamn powerful Patronus you've ever cast in your lives!"

Ron bristled at the commanding tone in his former friend's tone. "I don't take orders from you, traitor !"