Boom—!
Half of the Burrow's wall was blown apart, flying rubble smashing into the furniture inside.
Out in the swampy garden stood a terrifying-looking woman, a green snake coiled around her neck.
Behind her, several figures who clearly meant no good appeared with vicious grins.
"Kill them all!" Bellatrix gave the order.
Several more spells slammed into the Burrow, purple flames crackling as they raced across the ground.
Just before they reached the house, two voices rang out.
"Finite Incantatem!"
A black dog burst forward, transforming back into human form as a wand stabbed into the ground in his hand.
Lupin smashed through a window and vaulted outside as well.
Just before the flames touched the Burrow, they were stopped by a golden wall.
"Molly, take the children and get out of here!"
Mr. Weasley, his hair covered in dust, yelled at the house, grabbed his wand, and rushed outside. The explosion had nearly killed everyone in the Burrow.
If Harry hadn't given that warning, the consequences would have been unthinkable, leaving Mr. Weasley shaken with lingering fear.
Because of the Anti-Disapparition Charm, they couldn't Apparate away.
"Protego!"
Mr. Weasley deflected a spell, then used a Summoning Charm to pull a table from the house and hold it in front of him as cover.
Bill shoved his mother aside and shouted, "To the shed! Dad hid a car there. Charlie, protect Mum!"
At that, Charlie ran toward the shed. Ron and Ginny were both covered in dust and ash.
Harry wasn't much better, his head ringing and his face smeared with grime. The moment he saw the wand earlier, he'd realized something was wrong.
Ron cried out in alarm, "Is it Voldemort?"
"What?" Harry's ears were buzzing, and he couldn't hear clearly.
Ginny tugged at Harry's hair, pulling his head around toward her.
Strangely enough, the broom in Ginny's hands was still completely intact.
Molly hurriedly grabbed the three children and ran toward the shed.
The Weasley twins raised their wands and joined the fight outside.
Beep, beep.
Charlie drove the family car out, calling out the names of his family members.
"Quick, get over here!" Molly was afraid as well, but as a mother, she had to shield the children with everything she had.
Harry grabbed Mrs. Weasley and pulled her out of the path of a streak of green light.
Ron screamed, "Charlie!"
Harry looked up just in time to see an orange-yellow spell strike the ground in front of the car.
BOOM!
An explosion followed immediately, and before everyone's eyes, the car burst into flames.
"No!" Mrs. Weasley screamed in agony, trying to rush into the sea of fire to save her child.
"Molly, don't!" Mr. Weasley shouted.
A bat-like creature swooped toward them. Mrs. Weasley yanked out her wand and fired spells wildly.
The pain of losing her child drove her into a furious frenzy. The bat bit down on her finger, but she clutched it tightly and blew its head apart with a spell.
Her complexion darkened rapidly. Mrs. Weasley swayed, a wave of dizziness washing over her.
"Mum," Ron said, rushing over to support her.
Harry blocked another incoming spell, then fired back, striking someone hidden in the bushes.
With their means of escape gone, they now had no way out.
Harry caught sight of the Nimbus Two Thousand in Ginny's hands out of the corner of his eye and shouted, "Give me the broom!"
Ginny immediately understood and threw the broom over.
Harry mounted it and took off from the side, disappearing into the night.
The burning car had its door kicked open. Charlie, his body on fire, struggled to crawl out.
He had cast a Freezing Charm before being hit, but the explosion still knocked him unconscious for a short time.
"Fred!" George shoved Fred aside as a streak of silvery light grazed his left ear.
Blood sprayed out. Fred grabbed him, and the two of them rolled several times across the ground, narrowly avoiding the spells fired at them.
Sirius roared, "Arthur, I told you that pile of weeds should've been cut down earlier!"
It was already night, and with that mass of wild grass, it was nearly impossible to tell where the attackers were coming from.
Lupin deflected a spell, pointed his wand, and sent a fireball from a Blasting Curse flying out.
It was extinguished before it reached the tall grass, prompting even the usually mild-mannered Lupin to curse under his breath.
Since escape was no longer possible, Ron and the others joined the fight as well.
Ginny's Blasting Curse was sharp and practiced. With her excellent eyesight, she successfully hit one of the attackers.
Sirius said to Ron, "Cover me," then rolled to the side and transformed into a large black dog, darting forward at speed.
Spells struggled to track him as he lunged at a man with blackened teeth.
The man's scream tore through the night. Another attacker fired a curse at Sirius, which he dodged, the spell striking a wizard beneath it instead.
Already bleeding from the mauling, the wizard's body jerked once before he collapsed, dead on the spot.
Three wizards chased after Sirius. Just as they were about to catch him, a fast-moving figure dropped from the sky.
It was Harry.
With one hand controlling the broom, Harry drew his wand and spoke a spell.
"Sectumsempra!"
Invisible blades slashed out instantly, cutting all three of them.
Harry dove down, grabbed his godfather's hand as Sirius shifted back into human form, and cast Sectumsempra again.
The tall wild grass, as high as a man's head, was severed in an instant.
What had been a blur of shadows became clear.
"Well done, Harry."
Sirius swung his wand as well, casting a fire spell that ignited the grass.
Flames roared through the night, and the figures hiding in the weeds were immediately exposed.
Bellatrix raised her twisted wand, aiming it at the father and son in midair.
"Oppugno!"
A streak of blue light struck the broom, and Harry instantly lost control.
He and Sirius crashed to the ground. Fortunately, Fred threw out a Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder at just the right moment, letting them escape disaster.
Ginny's Nimbus Two Thousand, however, which she hadn't had for long, was completely ruined, snapping into several pieces.
Harry ran back toward the Burrow, his face full of guilt. "I'll pay you back, Ginny."
"Don't talk nonsense," Ginny said as she retreated into the Burrow.
Ron stood up to fire off a spell, then quickly ducked back behind the wall, bending over and retching.
Ever since he'd been hit by a curse earlier, he'd been like this.
Seeing that the enemy numbers had been exposed and weren't much greater than their own, Lupin said, "Push forward!"
As he spoke, he fired a spell into the burning wild grass, hitting one of them.
Mr. Weasley blasted a wizard away with a Banishing Charm. Bill flicked his wand across the ground, sending sand and soil exploding upward into a hail of stones.
But Bellatrix showed no fear at all. With a casual wave of her hand, beneath the frozen surface of the swamp that belonged to the Burrow, pale corpses began to rise one by one, breaking through the ice.
"Inferi!"
There were two Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers present, and they recognized it instantly.
Sirius shouted decisively, "Everyone, fall back into the house!"
At a glance, there were no fewer than a hundred Inferi emerging from the water.
What kind of insane things had Voldemort been doing during this time?
The Inferi surged toward the Burrow. Mr. Weasley, Lupin, Sirius, Bill, and the others jointly cast Protego Totalum, forming a curtain of light that shielded the house.
Among the Inferi were both men and women, each with a horrifying appearance, relentlessly attacking the Burrow.
Harry felt his scalp prickle, his grip on his wand tightening involuntarily.
The Burrow had now become an isolated fortress, cut off on all sides.
Charlie was badly injured, his back covered in burn scars.
George's left ear was bleeding, staining his entire left shoulder of his jumper a dark red.
The others weren't in much better shape. Ron was still vomiting, nearly retching his guts out.
There was a thin red line across Ginny's neck, and her hair had been sliced off at the chin, leaving it short.
Mrs. Weasley lay there, her complexion growing worse by the second.
"Harry, are you all right?" Lupin suddenly asked, leaving Harry momentarily confused.
He felt something wet on his leg. Looking down, he saw a chunk missing from his calf. His lower leg had been hit by the curse as well.
A piece of flesh from his calf had been blasted away.
"Uh..."
The pain reached his mind a moment later. The color drained rapidly from his face.
Lupin treated him, and with the help of magic, the bleeding was finally stopped.
Mr. Weasley tried to treat Mrs. Weasley, but failed.
In his panic, Bill slammed his fist into the floor.
Outside, the Inferi were still watching hungrily, their defenses being steadily eroded.
"How did Bellatrix end up here?" Lupin couldn't understand it. The sudden attack had come without any warning.
The Burrow had been placed under an Anti-Disapparition Charm, so how had they arrived?
Harry spoke up at that moment. "I saw it. It was from Stoat Hill."
Stoat Hill wasn't far from the Burrow, and from the Weasley home, you could see what was happening on Stoat Hill.
Harry had also seen a massive figure approaching from that direction.
"We need to break out," Sirius said. "If we stay here, we'll only be overrun."
They all understood the logic, but how were they supposed to break out?
The car had been destroyed, and the broomstick was broken as well.
At that moment, George spoke up. "Whizz—bang fireworks. We can use them to alert nearby wizards, and they can also drive back Inferi."
There were other wizarding families living near this village, including the Diggorys and the Lovegoods.
If they saw it, they would spread the word.
If Mrs. Weasley saw this, she would probably like the products the twins had stockpiled at the Burrow more than ever before.
Inferi feared light and fire, and fireworks were perfect for countering them.
Fred and George ran upstairs, their room on the 2nd floor.
After setting the ignition timing, they rushed back down and got ready.
Sirius said to the three students, "Practical lesson. How to defend against Inferi."
His wand flared with blinding light, making the Inferi shriek and recoil.
Seeing this, Harry and the others lit up their wands as well, forcing the Inferi apart and opening a path.
Everyone seized the chance and ran out.
Dozens of fireworks shot into the sky with sharp whizzing sounds, then exploded with deafening blasts and blazing light, driving the Inferi steadily backward.
Harry and the others ran in another direction.
Bill carried Mrs. Weasley on his back, while Ginny and Harry supported Ron between them.
Just then, heavy, shaking footsteps echoed in the distance.
They watched as a massive figure charged toward the Burrow they had just fled.
It was a giant.
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