They didn’t mention their conversation again as they spent the rest of the day half-heartedly practicing spells. Both seemed lost in their own thoughts, and while John could guess at what was going through Elizabeth’s mind, he could barely focus his own thoughts on one emotion.
He found himself struggling between excitement and fear. He finally had a name, a name that had more of a past than John Doe. However, try as he might, the name brought with it no memories. And on top of this new information he had to ponder, there was the ever looming battle. A battle that he knew now he did not believe in, but that somehow he had to look as though he did.
On the eve of the battle, John was among the first to arrive at the house but it didn’t take long before the room was full. Elizabeth was one of the last to enter, flashing John a weak, but reassuring smile. As on the first night, Eric began the meeting.
“The time has come. Our preparations are complete and the plan can now be revealed. Marcus if you will.” Eric sat down and Marcus stood.
“Our plan is to attack from all sides. We will split into four groups and each group will attack from a different side of the city. Once all are situated a small band will create a special explosion in the center of this town. This will draw the Muggles out of their home. On Eric’s signal we will then begin our attack.” Marcus sat.
“Perfect,” Eric said as he once again stood. He split them into groups. Elizabeth, John, Justin and three others were to be with Eric on the north side of town.
“Are we ready?” Eric said a half hour later. “Remember this is our day for glory, our time to shine. This is our chance to show the Muggles that we cannot nor should not be hidden away, afraid of who we are. And now we attack. Remember to wait for the signal.” The room echoed with pops as many of the wizards disappeared. Seconds later only John’s group remained.
“So this explosion will only draw out the Muggles and not the rest of the town?” John asked Eric. This was a question that he had decided to ask hoping that it would convince Eric that John was not onto their real motives.
“Yes, it is only detectable by those who know about magic,” Eric said with an odd smirk that let John know he too had been prepared for this question.
“What’s the signal?” John asked.
“I will send up green sparks.” Eric responded. So that was it. Green to start and red to switch sides. John wasn’t sure he was really ready, but he followed the others outside.
They stood at the end of the street and waited. All eyes were watching the center of the town. The seconds crept by and with each one John’s fear increased. He wasn’t ready for this. Mere weeks ago he knew nothing of the existence of magic and now here he stood on the edge of a battle. An evil battle, he thought.
He looked over at Elizabeth hoping to gain confidence from her, but she looked just as nervous as he did. Finally, a loud bang erupted from the center of town as the whole sky lit up a brilliant orange.
It worked as planned. Immediately the front doors flew open as people rushed to the middle of the street, trying to figure out what was going on. They didn’t even notice the band of wizards, wands raised standing behind them.
Eric stood motionless, waiting as more Muggles came out of their homes. And then with one word green sparks flew from his wand and the battle had begun.
Eric attacked first, stunning a small child 50 yards away. The rest followed suit. And quickly jets of red light filled the air. The Muggles never stood a chance. Most stared in both fear and shock as the band of wizards made its way down the street.
Elizabeth was the fastest moving of them all. She was running down the street stunning Muggles left and right. John tried his hardest to keep up with her. He figured this was a part of her plan. He managed to stun one Muggle, but the look of horror on his wife’s face stopped him short.
“Hurry up, John.” They were half way through town when John spotted them. It was a band of wizards coming the other way up the street.
He heard Eric yell, “How the bloody hell did they make it through town so quickly?” before he saw Elizabeth’s sparks. It was time.
John stopped and turned right where he was. “Stupefy!” He yelled and Justin hit the concrete.
Quickly John darted behind a parked car, narrowly missing a spell Eric had thrown his way.
“I should have known!” Eric shouted as yet another of his crew went down.
Elizabeth was fiercely dueling one of the other of their original crew and the third was battling the few ministry wizard’s who had reached their spot.
That left Eric to duel John. From behind the car John shot off every spell he could think of twice. All missing Eric who dodged left and right.
“Come, on boy, I saw your training. You can do better than that,” Eric mocked.
John realized that he wasn’t going to stop Eric if he remained behind the car. So in a daring move he jumped out from behind the car and shouted “Stupefy!” The spell hit Eric square on the chest and he fell to the concrete, a look of shock etched across his face. John then helped the ministry wizards stun the rest of the north group.
When all was quite in their end Elizabeth and John left the other two aurors to deal with the Muggles as they headed to the rest of town.
“You did well,” Elizabeth said. “We’ll head to the southern group now, they were the second strongest.”
They walked through the center of town and John saw a large pile of wood still burning from the initial explosion. Several of the surrounding shop windows were broken.
Immediately after they past the burning pile, they came upon the southern group in an intense battle with Ministry officials. Elizabeth jumped right in the battle, stunning two of the Wizards’ Society before anyone realized they had joined the fight. John managed to hit one witch with a body bind curse before he had to dodge out of the way of stunner.
John spent much of that night running all over Burwell, doing his best to stun and curse the various members of the Wizard’s Society. Finally he made it to his own neighborhood in the east part of town, and he was just in time.
A tall dark haired wizard was just getting ready to stun a very shocked Mrs. McGrath when John stunned him first.
“What’s going on John?” Mike asked from his own doorway.
“There’s really not time to explain. Just get the McGrath’s inside, and stay there,” John hollered as he narrowly dodged a curse Marcus had sent his way.
John ducked behind a tree in the McGrath’s front yard to avoid another spell. Cautiously he peaked out from behind the tree searching for Marcus. He saw him peaking over the hood of a car. Daringly John rushed from behind the tree and yelled “Stupefy” at Marcus’s head.
It happened as the curse made its way towards Marcus and John dove back behind the safety of the tree. He was fighting this battle, here in Burwell, but his mind took him back to a different battle.
It was his dream all over again, but finally everything was clear. He was at Hogwarts firing his first killing curse. He heard screams. They were his friends’ cries as both his and Voldemort’s curses met. They rose in the air, but he didn’t care. He tried with all his strength to get his curse to hit Voldemort.
Then she appeared. The girl with red hair. Slowly her face came into view and instantly he knew who she was: Ginny Weasley, but even as his mind said it he knew it was wrong. No, it was not Ginny Weasley, but Ginny Potter. And he was back on their wedding night just days before the battle they had so long dreaded. He was holding her in his arms for the first time as his wife, as his lover. They were just about to kiss when the world went black.
John Doe and the Wizards' Society by hallie_p
Chapter Notes: Just one chapter to go! I really hope that you enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review!