Wri g
gling around he cried, " Stupefy!"
and a red bolt of light shot from his own wand, cleaving a gap between the four pursuing Death Eaters as they sca t
tered to avoid it.
"Hold on, Harry, this'll do for 'em!" roared Hagrid, and Harry looked up just in time to see Hagrid slamming a thick finger into a green button near the fuel gauge. A wall, a solid black wall, erupted out of the e
x haust pipe. Craning his neck, Harry saw it expand into b
e
ing in midair. Three of the Death Eaters swerved and avoided it, but the fourth was not so lucky; He vanished from view and then dropped like a boulder from behind it, his broomstick broken into pieces. One of his fe
l lows slowed up to save him, but they and the airborne wall were swallowed by dar
k ness as Hagrid leaned low over the handlebars and sped up.
More Killing Curses flew past Harry's head from the two remaining Death Eaters' wands; they were aiming for Hagrid. Harry r e
sponded with further Stunning Spells: Red and green collided in midair in a shower of mult i
colored sparks, and Harry thought wildly of fireworks, and the Muggles below who would have no idea what was happening Ц
"Here we go again, Harry, hold on!" yelled Hagrid, and he jabbed at a second bu t
ton. This time a great net burst from the bike's e x
haust, but the Death Eaters were ready for it. Not only did they swerve to avoid it, but the companion who had slowed to save their unco n
scious friend had caught up. He bloomed su d
denly out of the darkness and now three of them were pursuing the moto r bike, all shooting curses after it.
"This'll do it, Harry, hold on tight!" yelled Hagrid, and Harry saw him slam his whole hand onto the purple button beside the speedometer.
With an unmistakable bellowing roar, dragon fire burst from the exhaust, white-hot and blue, and the motorbike shot forward like a bullet with a sound of wrenching metal. Harry saw the Death Eaters swerve out of sight to avoid the deadly trail of flame,
and at the same time felt the sidecar sway om
i nously: Its metal connections to the bike had splintered with the force of acceler a
tion.
"It's all righ', Harry!" bellowed Hagrid, now thrown flat onto the back by the surge of speed; n o
body was steering now, and the sid e car was starting to twist violently in the bike's slipstream.
"I'm on it, Harry, don' worry!" Hagrid yelled, and from inside his jacket pocket he pulled his flo w
ery pink umbrella.
"Hagrid! No! Let me!"
"REPARO!"
There was a deafening bang and the sidecar broke away from the bike completely. Harry sped forward, propelled by the impetus of the bike's flight, then the sidecar began to lose height Ц
In desperation Harry pointed his wand at the sidecar and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The sidecar rose like a cork, unstee r able but at least still airborne. He had but a split se
c ond's relief, however, as more curses streaked past him: The three Death Eaters were closing in.
"I'm comin', Harry!" Hagrid yelled from out of the darkness, but Harry could feel the sidecar begi n
ning to sink again: Crouc h ing as low as he could, he pointed at the mi
d dle of the oncoming figures and yelled, "I
m pedimenta!"
The jinx hit the middle Death Eater in the chest; For a moment the man was absurdly spread-eagled in midair as though he had hit an invisible ba r
rier: One of his fellows almost co l
lided with him Ц
Then the sidecar began to fall in earnest, and the remaining Death Eater shot a curse so close to Harry that he had to duck below the rim of the car, knocking out a tooth on the edge of his seat Ц
"I'm comin', Harry, I'm comin'!"
A huge hand seized the back of Harry's robes and hoisted him out of the plummeting sidecar; Harry pulled his ruc k
sack with him as he dragged himself onto the motorbike's seat and found himself back-to-back with Hagrid. As they soared upward, away from the two remai n
ing Death Eaters, Harry spat blood out of his mouth, pointed his wand at the falling sidecar, and yelled, "Co
n fringo!"
He knew a dreadful, gut-wrenching pang for Hedwig as it exploded; the Death Eater nearest it was blasted off his broom and fell from sight; his compa n
ion fell back and va n ished.
"Harry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," moaned Hagrid, "I shouldn'ta tried ter repair it meself Ц yeh've got no room Ц "
"It's not a problem, just keep flying!" Harry shouted back, as two more Death Eaters emerged out of the darkness, drawing closer.
As the curses came shooting across the interve n ing space again, Hagrid swerved and zi
g zagged: Harry knew that Hagrid did not dare use the dragon-fire button aga
in, with Harry seated so insecurely. Harry sent Stu n
ning Spell after Stunning Spell back at their pursuers, barely holding them off. He shot a n other bloc
k ing jinx at them: The closest Death Eater swerved to avoid it and his hood slipped, and by the red lig
ht of his next Stu n ning Spell, Harry saw the strangely blank face of Stanley Shu
n pike Ц Stan Ц
"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled.
"That's him, it's him, it's the real one!"
The hooded Death Eater's shout reached Harry even above the thunder of the motorbike's engine: Next moment, both pursuers had fallen back and di s
appeared from view.
"Harry, what's happened?" bellowed Hagrid. "Where've they gone?"
"I don't know!"
But Harry was afraid: The hooded Death Eater had shouted, "It's the real one!"; how had he known? He gazed around at the apparently empty darkness and felt its me n
ace. Where were they?
He clambered around on the seat to face fo r ward and seized hold of the back of Hagrid's jacket.
"Hagrid, do the dragon-fire thing again, let's get out of here!"
"Hold on tight, then, Harry!"
There was a deafening, screeching roar again and the white-blue fire shot from the e x
haust: Harry felt himself slipping bac k
wards off what little of the seat he had. Hagrid flung backward upon him, barely maintaining his grip on the handlebars Ц "I think we've lost 'em Harry, I think we've done it!" yelled Hagrid.
But Harry was not convinced; Fear lapped at him as he looked left and right for pursuers he was sure would come. . . . Why had they fallen back? One of them had still had a wand. . . .
It's him . . . it's the real one
. . . . They had said it right after he had tried to Disarm Stan. . . .
"We're nearly there, Harry, we've nearly made it!" shouted Hagrid.
Harry felt the bike drop a little, though the lights down on the ground still seemed r e mote as stars.
Then the scar on his forehead burned like fire: as a Death Eater appeared on either side of the bike, two Killing Curses missed Harry by millimeters, cast from behind Ц
And then Harry saw him. Voldemort was flying like smoke on the wind, without broomstick or the s
tral to hold him, his snake-like face gleaming out of the blackness, his white fingers raising his wand again Ц
Hagrid let out a bellow of fear and steered the motorbike into a vertical dive. Clin g ing on for dear life, Ha
rry sent Stunning Spells flying at random into the whirling night. He saw a body fly past him and knew he had hit one of them, but then he heard a bang and saw sparks from the engine; the motorbike sp
i raled through the air, completely out of control Ц
Green jets of light shot past them again. Harry had no idea which way was up, which down: His scar was still burning; he expected to die at any second. A hooded figure on a broo m
stick was feet from him, he saw it raise its arm Ц
"NO!"
With a shout of fury Hagrid launched himself off the bike at the Death Eater; to his horror, Harry saw both Hagrid and the Death Eater, falling out of sight, their combined weight too much for the broo
m stick Ц
Barely gripping the plummeting bike with his knees, Harry heard Voldemort scream, " Mine! "
It was over: He could not see or hear where Voldemort was; he glimpsed another Death Eater swooping out of the way and heard, " Avada Ц "
A
s the pain from Harry's scar forced his eyes shut, his wand acted of its own accord. He felt it drag his hand around like some great ma g
net, saw a spurt of golden fire through his half-closed eyelids, heard a crack and a scream of fury. The r e
maining Death Eater yelled; Voldemort screamed, " NO!
" Som e
how, Harry found his nose an inch from the dragon-fire bu t
ton. He punched it with his wand-free hand and the bike shot more flames into the air, hurtling straight t o
ward the ground.
"Hagrid!" Harry called, holding on to the bike for dear life. "Hagrid Ц Accio Hagrid! "
The motorbike sped up, sucked towards the earth. Face level with the handlebars, Harry could see not h
ing but distant lights growing nearer and nearer: He was g o
ing to crash and there was nothing he could do about it. Behind him came another scream, "Your wand, Selwyn, give me your wand!"

He felt Voldemort before he saw him. Looking sideways, he stared into the red eyes and was sure they would be the last thing he ever saw: Voldemort preparing to curse him once more Ц
And then Voldemort vanished. Harry looked down and saw Hagrid spread-eagled on the ground below him. He pulled hard at the handlebars to avoid hitting him, groped for the brake, but with an earspli
t ting, ground trembling crash, he smashed into a muddy pond.

Chapter Five Fallen Warrior

"Hagrid?"
Harry struggled to raise himself out of the d e bris of metal and leather that su
r
rounded him; his hands sank into inches of muddy water as he tried to stand. He could not understand where Voldemort had gone and expected him to swoop out of the dar k
ness at any moment. Something hot and wet was trickling down his chin and from his forehead.
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