Fenrir Greyback was among the Death Eaters, fighting in his human form. He still retained his werewolf strength, however, and he grabbed Amelia Bones while the Minister was fighting off three others. He grabbed her chin in preparation to snapping her neck, but then he froze, hearing a low, rolling growl behind him. He cautiously turned his head to look over his shoulder and had just enough time to recognize Remus before the werewolf was upon him, tearing his throat out.
Sirius, now fighting as a wizard, went down under a Crucio. Even through his agony, he saw McGonagall's cat form leap onto another Death Eater who was readying an AK for him. She shredded through the man's robes and mask, and his screams distracted the one using the Cruciatus on Sirius, breaking the spell. Sirius managed to get to his knees just as the Death Eater flung Minerva off.
She gracefully converted the fall to a roll and came out of it already in her human form. She snapped out "Castrato Explosivo!" just as the other Death Eater hit her from behind with a bone blasting curse.
Sirius dispatched her assailant and rushed to Minerva's side, where he was relieved to see that the curse had caught her in the lower leg, not the spine. She was in great pain, but the injury was not life threatening. Then Sirius turned to the first Death Eater, wanting to ensure that the wizard was no longer a threat.
When he had finished sicking up, Sirius turned a pained look onto Minerva. "That's just evil," he managed to gasp.
Despite her pain, she smirked at him. "Let that be a lesson to you, Mr Black. Always be a gentleman when dealing with witches."
Sirius shuddered and turned to look for the next threat, but to his mingled relief and disappointment, Shacklebolt and a detachment of Aurors had already arrived, and the remaining Death Eaters were either trying to flee or cowering in a fetal position.
-##-
The mopping up operation was over relatively quickly. On the side of the Light, Mad Eye Moody was dead тАУ mortally wounded by Rabastan LeStrange even as he uttered his own killing curse. There were other injuries as welclass="underline" Bones' arm had been nearly severed; McGonagall's leg was badly damaged; Bill Weasley had been knocked down by a blasting curse while protecting his brothers, and he was concussed and temporarily deafened; Flitwick suffered some nasty burns while dealing with a transfigured salamander, and Lucius had been in bad shape from prolonged torture even before the battle began. Sirius and Molly each had some ugly cuts and bruises, but those were the worst of their injuries. The house elves, despite having been very firmly instructed ahead of time not to stay and fight, had of course done so. They had all escaped harm in the dim light, being so low to the ground, and while it was unclear how much actual damage they had done to the Death Eaters, their high pitched shrieks of fury had served to unnerve the already demoralized foe.
On the Dark side, Voldemort was dead тАУ finally, definitively, and permanently тАУ as were all of the LeStranges, Dolohov, Greyback, and Alecto Carrow. Amycus had lost a lot of blood but might survive long enough to be Kissed, and at least a dozen of the other Death Eaters were either seriously wounded or dying.
Remus, his wolf unleashed by all the violence, began eating the Death Eater dead, deaf to the cries of the Aurors who were trying to preserve the crime scene. Finally, one Stunned him just as he started to gnaw on Bellatrix/Voldemort. "I know, I know тАУ Shack told us he was on our side," the pink-haired young Auror trainee defended herself when Sirius remonstrated with her, "but he was destroying evidence. Besides," she pointed out, "just think what diseases he might catch from this lot. I mean, blech! Do you want to think about what Cousin Bella has been up to?"
Dumbledore and Shacklebolt apparated to St Mungo with the badly wounded, and Charlie, only slightly singed from helping Filius dispatch the salamander, volunteered to take the unconscious Remus to his dragon preserve in Romania. "He'll be safe there until we figure out if he can change back to human," Charlie pointed out. "Even if he tries, his teeth won't make much of a dent in dragonhide, and any human stupid enough to be wandering around a dragon preserve deserves to get eaten by a werewolf."
Sirius sadly agreed, patting his good friend's pelt while Charlie made the necessary arrangements. "You'll send me daily updates? As soon as I find some experts, I'll send them out to help."
Charlie grinned and nodded. "And send plenty of Wolfsbane too, just in case."
Harry had a headache, and his behind still smarted a bit from the Weasley wallops, but he was otherwise fine after the battle тАУ until Snape grabbed him. Then he began to worry that his ribs might be cracked from all the hugging. "Harry, Harry." Snape couldn't believe it. He'd seen the AK hit with his own eyes, and yet here was Harry, hale and healthy. "Are you all right?" he demanded when he could speak again.
"I'm fine, Da. Honest," Harry promised, but no sooner were the words out of his mouth, than Molly seized him, and then Sirius and so on and so on until Harry was certain he was going to need Skele-Grow for his battered ribs. He couldn't help the big grin on his face though тАУ if he had ever needed proof that people cared about him, he had it. Ha! Take that, Uncle Vernon, you big fat walrus. Shows how much YOU know.
A pop augured Dumbledore's return, along with a battered-looking but mostly-healed Malfoy. "I'm pleased to report that Madame Bones, Bill Weasley, and Professor McGonagall will be fine within a few days. And now, shall we leave this site to Auror Shacklebolt's team and return to Hogwarts?"
Now that the wards around the graveyard were down, it was no trouble for them to apparate to Hogwarts. They made it about twenty yards onto the grounds before being surrounded by a group of trigger-happy centaurs who refused to believe they weren't Polyjuiced Death Eaters. It wasn't until Hagrid arrived to vouch for them and escort them into the castle that the centaurs reluctantly admitted they might be who they claimed.
Harry, his shoulder still firmly grasped by his da, was then treated to more rib-creaking hugs from Uncle Arthur, Professor Sprout, and his friends. The house elves provided plenty of cocoa and snacks while each side filled in the other. Draco was there, sitting next to his father who looked worse than the boy had ever seen him and yet was more openly demonstrative than Draco had ever experienced. Lucius had actually greeted his son with a fierce embrace, and Draco was trying to figure out what had happened to his father and whether the pleasant change might actually last. All five of the younger Weasleys were there, hanging off Molly, and nearly incoherent with pride that their mum had played such an important role in defeating You-Know-Who. Davidella Jones was sitting with them, flattered to be included, but increasingly respectful of her boyfriend's mother.
"Oh, Harry, are you really all right?" Hermione asked, as Neville listened eagerly for details.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Harry promised. "What about you guys? What happened here?"
"It was exciting, Harry! Almost as soon as you and Professor Snape disappeared, the students were all ordered into their towers, just like when that troll was loose," Hermione explained. "Then Hagrid and the professors started patrolling the halls, and they let some of us help тАУ mostly because they figured we'd sneak out if they didn't," she admitted. "Draco and Ron went with Hagrid, and Hagrid got his friends in the Forest to help."
"Yeah, we met the centaurs!" Harry exclaimed, shuddering at the memory.
"Oh, you're lucky then," Hermione assured him. "Hagrid managed to get the Acromantulas patrolling too."
Harry's eyes widened. "No!"