Chapter 31: Politeness is essential
"Uh-oh," Ginny could be heard from the Entrance Hall as the others rounded the corner and stepped onto the stairway.
"What is it?" Tonks asked as she guided the stretcher down the stairs.
"Ooooooh shit," she answered her own question as she slowed down to a halt on the middle of the stairs.
"What is it?" Henry echoed Tonks' phrase as he came around the corner.
"The door bars are locked," Remus explained.
"Can't you open it? Something like an 'open Sesame' spell? Or simply blasting a hole in it?" Henry asked as he realized the problem.
Remus shook his head. "No. We'd need a lot more wands to do that. If the bars are engaged, then the Headmaster has locked down the castle. There is no way in or out of it unless he wants to."
"What about the hunchbacked witch?" Tonks asked as she lowered Margret's stretcher to the ground.
"The same - she's locked down as well. The tunnel under the Whomping Willow is still open and would get us past the gates if we need to, but as we want to get to the lake, it's not our problem. Still, for now, we are locked in here."
"Can we get help from the outside? Maybe the twins? We could send them an owl, maybe?" Henry asked as he leaned against a wall, resting Hermione's weight partly on it.
Remus hesitated for a moment, but Tonks denied the idea. "The Owlery is closed off, as well. We can't even send a Patronus messenger out - Hogwarts is warded against every known means of communication when it is locked down, to prevent somebody collaborating with the attackers."
"Well, then we will have to resort to an unknown one, won't we," Remus said with an extremely smug smile, before he walked over to Ginny and whispered something into her ear that made her eyes widen gradually as he spoke on.
"You want to do WHAT?" she asked, obviously less than pleased with his plan.
More whispering. It didn't seem to be very convincing.
"I would be WHAT? Seriously, WHY?" she protested.
Once more, Remus whispered in her ear.
"Could you two stop this secrecy thing?" Henry sighed, getting frustrated.
"Ok, makes sense. But why me?" Ginny whined.
More whispering followed. After some time, Ginny shot Tonks an amused glance. "Really? That bad? I'd love to see that," she chuckled.
"I do believe we will have to have a chat as well, fleabag," Tonks growled in reply.
This time, Remus was the one who cringed.
"Ok, I get why Mister Granger is out, but why has it to be me?" Ginny continued their discussion.
Remus again started whispering. A bit into his explanation, Ginny gave Luna, who was currently using her wand and a lumos spell to make shadow animals, a very brief look, before finally looking at Neville.
"What about him?" she asked, resigned, but still somewhat hopeful.
Remus blushed brightly when he started to explain the reason.
At first, Ginny was listening with interest, until it clicked with her what he was referring to. "You're kidding me?"
When Remus looked straight in the eyes and shook his head, her blush intensified quite a bit. She whispered back, sketching a nod at Neville. Remus whispered a bit more, and this time, her cringe was much more pronounced as Remus whispered an answer into her ear.
"Fourteen? Alright, that's a lot," Ginny said, cringing. "Ok, I'll do it," she said with a sigh.
Neville finally had enough. "What do you want her to do, Remus?" he demanded.
"If you tell them, the deal is off!" Ginny interjected hotly before Remus could reply. "Let's get moving before I chicken out," she said and stormed off, Remus shrugging and quickly falling into step with her.
"Sure I can do this? I never sent a Patronus message before," Ginny asked warily as they started going back up the stairs.
Neville wanted to repeat his question, but Luna grabbed him by the arm and shook her head at him.
"I'll show you later," Luna whispered into Neville's ear, before she returned to her shadow puppetry.
"Nah, your Patronus is solid, sending the message is easy, you only have to..." was the last you could hear from Remus, before they vanished up the stairs, leaving the more or less confused group behind.
ooOOoo
"What is it, Kingsley," Dumbledore asked after he had put his wand away as secretly as he had drawn it earlier.
Harry was irritated by the interruption, but noticed that the man was reading something on his badge. It took him only a moment to realize that there seemed to a kind of protean charm on it.
"The bodies have been retrieved," Kingsley recited, before he tapped his badge with his wand. Immediately, the script vanished.
Only to reappear promptly. "M with F, S called," Kingsley read out loud.
"Malfoy has arrived at the Ministry, and is having an audience with the Minister. They have sent for Scrimgeour," he translated only moments later.
"That was quicker than I thought," Dumbledore frowned as they heard the news. Obviously, Lucius hadn't wasted much time to mourn his son.
"What exactly do you mean?" Arthur cast the question all of them were currently thinking of.
It took a moment for Dumbledore to give the explanation.
"I would lie if I said this comes unexpected. We all know that the unfortunate death of Mister Malfoy would have repercussions," he started.
"This is a farce, and you know it. He was a Death Eater," Harry harrumphed.
Dumbledore frowned as he leaned his head to one side, then to the other, as if he were pondering the question.
"So you say, but the evidence? He might as well be the victim of an Imperius curse, and Lucius will insist vehemently on this version.
"And monetarily," Arthur grumbled. "Harry, he already owns Fudge and Scrimgeour - he will not rest until he has Hermione in Azkaban for murder, and her mother obliviated to a vegetable," he called out as he realized the scope of the problem.
"Well, that means that I need to cut this short," Harry said as he rose from his seat.
"You are not going anywhere until we are done," Dumbledore said with finality, his steely gaze locked with Harry's eyes.
"We are done," Harry said. "I told you the story, and I have nothing to add."
"Of course you did, but now, we have to decide what kind of truth we should present the public," Dumbledore said. "This is a historic moment, and we have to take care to maximize the benefits to our cause," he appealed to his audience. "And to protect your beloved ones," he said with a nod towards Harry.
This didn't sit too well with the recipient.
"Explain yourself," Harry growled dangerously, his temper simmering.
"Harry, my boy, you must be aware that you and your family are facing serious charges. The deaths of Bellatrix and Riddle are legally justified, as they were dangerous fugitive criminals, but the other casualties will have to be thoroughly investigated," Dumbledore continued, seamlessly switching to his friendly grandfather routine.
"And? Cut to the case - I want to be gone when Fudge makes his entrance," Harry barked.
"That won't be a problem, my boy. By the time he is here, all problems will be resolved, but you need to do something for it," Dumbledore spoke cryptically.
"Sounds good to me, but could you be a bit more precise?" Harry asked.
"Your duties concerning Lord Voldemort are far from over, Harry. There is still one sacrifice you have to make," the Headmaster continued, still beating around the bush.
"What? I just killed the bastard for the second time! What more do you want?" Harry hissed through clenched teeth. This was grating on his nerves. All he wanted was to get into bed and sleep, while Margret's miracle injection took care of the after-effects of the Cruciatus.
"While you have disposed of him again, he has already proven his ability to come back from death," Dumbledore stated firmly. "I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I am positive that you are also one of his Horcruxes. So even with all the others destroyed, as long as you are alive, Lord Voldemort will be able to return."
Dumbledore halted his speech at this point, focusing intently on Harry. The still battle-worn boy's eyes narrowed as he had a very bad feeling that he wouldn't like what comes next, not at all.
"Harry, for to kill Voldemort irrevocable, you need to die," Dumbledore spoke with a grave voice. Harry could hear Arthur inhale sharply.
"Are you taking some funny potions? You don't expect me to fling myself out of your window right now, don't you?" Harry huffed, while Arthur gaped openly at the old man.
"I knew that you would have a hard time to perceive the necessity of this. I am very sorry about that, but it is for the greater good, it's your duty to wizarding Britain to ensure that he can't return another time," the Headmaster said with a sigh.
"The wizarding world can kiss my ass! For years I've been either lauded as hero, or vilified as the next Dark Lord. I have been attacked by pardoned Death eaters, their children, escaped convicts, magical beasts, politicians, a Dark Lord and Dementors. All the time, the public and the Ministry sat on their fat asses and claimed it was my duty to help them, so they could continue to twiddle their frigging thumbs! I am fed up! And now you sit here and tell me to die?" Harry ranted, his pain forgotten for a moment as his anger kept spilling out of him. The way the Headmaster had spoken to him goaded him into a fiery rage.
"I am done with this fucking country. If they want to be saved and have sacrifices made, they shall start doing it themselves, I'm done with Britain! That said; I am out of here, old man!" Harry said, and stood to leave.
Before he could take even one step towards the door, Kingsley had positioned himself to block the way.
"You are not going anywhere, Mister Potter," he said, his hand at his wand.
"Dumbledore's dog, as well?" Harry growled dangerously.
Kingsley ignored the insult, replying in an even voice. "It's for Britain, nothing personal."
"Albus, you can't be serious," Arthur Weasley spoke up, finally having shrugged off the shock.
"I know that this is a huge shock to you, Arthur, but there is no other way," Dumbledore tried to put some lipstick on the pig. "In the night back then, Voldemort accidentally put a piece of his soul into Harry, and as long as Harry lives, Voldemort will live, as well."
"You don't understand," Dumbledore continued as Arthur tried to interrupt. "Voldemort already possessed Harry, once, and this piece of him will not rest until it manages to take control. I simply cannot sit around a second time and watch the problem being handed down to the next generation," he explained his rationale to the Weasley Patriarch, before addressing Harry, again.
"It would also keep your family safe, Harry. With you dead, we could claim that you killed everyone during the fight, managed to rescue everyone, but succumbed to your injuries in the infirmary. Malfoy can charge you as much as he wants, but he can't touch the Grangers. I'll personally vouch for your legal marriage, they will inherit everything. And we know that they will be safe on the Black Island, wherever that is located," he proposed.
"Your cunning plan has a slight mistake, Headmaster," Harry harrumphed. "I would be dead. And that's an experience I don't want to repeat."
For a short moment, Dumbledore lost control of his facial expressions. He recovered much quicker as the other wizards present.
"Yes, you heard right," Harry said with a smirk, savouring the moment a little. "While your theory about me being an Horcrux might be correct, it is superfluous. When Hermione managed to break the blood bond you put on me, it killed me."
"And still, you reside amongst the living?" Dumbledore replied, his voice heavily laced with doubt.
"According to her mother, I was dead for two or three minutes before she brought me back," Harry replied.
"That's impossible. Even the darkest magic can't bring people back," Dumbledore insisted. "Not even Death himself can," he affirmed his statement.
"The Muggles can. I had no pulse for more than two minutes. I was dead," Harry insisted as firmly.
ooOOoo
"I can't believe I am doing this," Ginny lamented from inside the stall.
"I can assure you that I'm as uncomfortable with the situation as you are," Remus tried to console her from the basins.
"There is NO way you could feel as uncon..." Ginny barked back at him, but changed into a high-pitched shriek.
Remus was at the door, immediately. Before he could ask what happened, a nagging voice rang out. The reason why they chose this bathroom was that there were almost no visitors. Sadly there was one inhabitant that made up fully for this.
"Why are you doing this in my toilet?"
"GET OUT!" Ginny shrieked in return.
"This is my toilet. Do I go to your dorm for such things?" Myrtle ranted, ignoring the protests of the girl in front of her.
"Myrtle - get out!" Ginny hissed, trying to cover herself with her cloak.
"No! But it's alright, she's a ghost, it's not as she'd miss those things," Myrtle went on without pause.
"Myrtle, leave her alone," Remus tried to help. He only jerked slightly when Myrtle's head suddenly came through the door. It vanished back inside just as quickly.
"With a teacher listening in? My, my, aren't you an adventurous one," he could hear her whisper in an awed tone.
"He's not a teacher!" Ginny protested forcefully, out of her wits.
"Well, that changes things a bit, I guess - so you have a thing for older men?" Myrtle chatted on like it were a visit for tea.
Remus suppressed the urge to laugh and decided to end this. "Myrtle, I still know these exorcism spells," he said casually.
Again, an ethereal head popped out of the door, staring him down, angrily. "Fine, but I'm going to tell everyone about you two," she shrieked, before flying up and diving into the toilet.
"You will teach me those spells," Ginny demanded coldly.
"Later, ok? We're in a hurry," Remus replied.
"Doesn't make this easier. I was almost done," she said, angrily. "Yeach, bloody hell, ow!" she cursed, a moment later. "Ok, ready," she called out. "And if I find out you pulled my leg," she growled.
"Ginny, I'd never," Remus protested. "It's a hex designed to disable someone. Turn him into a chicken or whatever and grab his stuff before he turns back."
It wasn't surprising that Remus knew an animal transfiguration spell that only worked for about half a minute instead of being permanent. He always knew some obscure stuff, Hermione had told her a lot about it.
Funnily enough, he also knew a way around the problem that she'd drop her wand.
"How did you find out about, you know... That must be hell of a story," she asked, her curiosity still superseding the awkwardness and discomfort of the situation, but only slightly. People always talked about doing this, but the reality was definitely worse than the fantasy implied.
"I don't think, this is the right time for this, Ginny," Remus spoke awkwardly.
"Alright, but you'll tell me later, understood? Now let's get this over with, it's not comfortable, at all," Ginny ranted back and unlocked the door.
"Ready? Are you standing..." Remus asked, carefully.
"Yes, I'm standing on the bloody toilet! Now get in here and hex me or I'll hex you!" Ginny shouted at him.
Remus erased the smile this comment has cast on his face, and opened the door to the stall a bit, sticking his wand arm in.
"Is my aim correct?"
"Yes, go on!" Ginny whined.
"Ok, it will be confusing, but you must remember that you need to go to the surface. Only this - the surface," he told her.
"I know, I know, can we please, please go on," she pleaded.
Remus had mercy and simply hexed her in reply. Opening the door completely, he stepped over her discarded clothes and spied into the bowl, finding a small bass swimming in it.
"Bon voyage, and good luck," he said as he flushed.
ooOOoo
Contention. All was fine. A small swish of her tail made her surge forward. The water ended here. Randomly, she turned right and found the path open, as long as she kept turning right. "Surface," she remembered, "Go to the surface."
Right then, the world started spinning and she felt herself being pulled away. It became dark, and she was bouncing against a shore everywhere as the water had become small, out of a sudden.
Just before the confusion could turn into panic, she found herself in big water again. Right in front of her, the bottom had some tasty looking weed, and she automatically started swimming there.
She was halfway there before she remembered that something was on the surface. What could that be? Maybe bugs? Bugs were much more tasty than weed. Changing her course, she started ascending.
10 seconds later, a gasping Ginny broke the surface.
ooOOoo
"Ow, ow, ow," Ginny lamented with every step she took as she jogged up towards the castle. "The things I do for them," she sighed as she stopped and re-casted the numbing charm half the witches in Hogwarts knew by heart, dealing with one part of the problem.
Her mood wasn't brightened by the knowledge that Remus had been right. Luna would never had managed to fight down the animal instincts of her new form, and would probably have drowned somewhere in the Lake. Even though that spell only lasted half a minute, Ginny only barely fought off the urge to swim off into the deep.
The soreness gone, she pulled the robes she had transfigured from some driftwood closer around her body and fell back into her trot. They didn't fit her too well, and the shoes she made from stones were feeling as hard as their base material suggested. Her old clothes were much more comfortable.
But on the other hand, if she'd worn clothes, she'd likely have drowned, anyway, so she shouldn't complain too much.
She just hoped these Puffs near the cove she made landfall at, simply enjoyed the show and won't go telling everybody like Myrtle certainly would. Either way, it wasn't as if her reputation at Hogwarts could get any worse.
Suddenly, a white spectre appeared next to her. She had barely time to recognize it as Fred's Patronus chipmunk before it spoke, bouncing happy circles around her.
"Hey Snapdragon, we're lifting the Revenge, get everyone away from the doors. Far away."
Increasing her pace as the core of the message hit home, Ginny once more cursed her sloppy transfiguration work.
ooOOoo
Albus Dumbledore was deep in thought as her tried to calmly return Harry's smirk. It was hard to believe what he just heard. The Muggles had made some very interesting developments lately, some of which Albus freely confesses are almost as good as magic. But for them to have stumbled across a way to bring back recently deceased? It might have something to with electricity - Albus distinctly remembered a book about early experiments in that field, back when Albus was young. While the result of the works of that man - Albus believed he was a German - was little more than an intelligent inferi, they might have built up upon these works since that time.
Still, Albus had no means to discern whether Harry truly had been dead, if the Horcrux had died, or if it came back along with Harry. If it was gone, it would be over - they'd only have to deal with Malfoy. But deep inside, Albus had sincere doubts. If Harry really had been dead, what had happened to his soul? Had it been damaged by it? Was that the reason why Harry had changed so much, had become so ruthless? Could he take a chance? The last time he did, it had grave consequences.
Dumbledore didn't like what he would have to do, but this was his burden, his duty. His legacy. He had to make sure that this chapter of history was closed for good.
He knew his time was running out fast, and he might not live long enough to finish that task. Every day, he could feel his powers waning, ever since his arm was injured as he destroyed the Gaunt ring.
He even had made arrangements in his will for others to continue the quest for the remaining hidden Horcruxes, detailing what he knew about the remaining pieces of Voldemort's soul. This might be obsolete, now, but he needed to have the pieces found and checked. Probably destroyed wasn't good enough. Not even for government work.
This need for clarity was what made his decision.
It was essential that Harry died to destroy that Horcrux, but he also knew that if Harry didn't sacrifice himself willingly, it was very much possible that no one would be able to kill the boy. The boy had improved vastly during this year, and was already too good a fighter for almost anyone else to take him on; and to Dumbledore's taste much too close to turning dark, himself, from all the things he had experienced.
Dumbledore always had feared that the ever present influence of Voldemort's soul fragment might push the boy over the edge over time. And true enough, the boy in front of him was anything but a shining beacon of light. Coupled with the fact that Mister Potter knew about Horcruxes and how to make them, there was a risk of history repeating itself.
Determined to not let another, probably even stronger Dark Lord emerge under his nose, he pushed his qualms aside and drew his wand.
"It has to be done. Diffindo!"
Harry was too tired and too distracted by his anger to react properly. When Dumbledore suddenly stood and extended his wand at him, all he could do was to raise his hand and casting a Protego shield with all the power he could muster.
The cutting curse slammed into his shield with enough momentum to topple him over, taking his chair and Kingsley with him. With a metallic clang, the curse ricocheted off his shield and back at the Headmaster, who had to jump aside in order to dodge his own spell. His ornate chair, lacking the mobility and awareness to do so, took the spell and had his backrest split in half, the cotton stuffing flying all over the office, making it look like an oversized snow-dome.
Dumbledore was shocked when the boy produced a wandless shielding charm of that power. That feat was nearly unheard of, even he himself was only able to do some parlour tricks wandlessly. Albus was now even more determined of his course of action. The risk of the boy staying alive was just too great.
Because of the severe beating the Harry had received by Voldemort's lackey only a few minutes before, Dumbledore was the first back on his feet. Frowning, he lined up his wand once again.
"ALBUS! HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Arthur roared. He had drawn his wand and put himself between the Headmaster and Harry.
Harry would have been cheering him on if he weren't that busy lifting his carcass onto his feet. He gritted his teeth and ignored his muscles groaning from moving far faster than their battered state allowed. Harry couldn't help but to smirk when Kingsley's eyes rolled up as Harry's stunner knocked him out. Part of the satisfaction was the fact that Harry used a punch in the face to deliver it.
ooOOoo
"Arthur, please, step aside. It has to be done," Dumbledore commanded, trying to circle the man in order to get a clear shot.
"Albus, you can't!"
"Can't you see it? This isn't Harry Potter we know, anymore. Can't you see that he was corrupted by the part of Voldemort residing within his body? How else could he block a spell like that?"
Although he didn't believe this was possible, Harry's respect for Arthur Weasley grew even further when he immediately told the man in front of him off.
"Albus, you are delusional. This young man is every bit the boy I learned to know and love. He always was an exceptional wizard for his age."
"He's manipulating you - look how he has divided your family," Dumbledore tried another angle.
"Don't you dare to bring my family into this!" Arthur barked. "We were being manipulated for a long time, by the greatest puppeteer of all. But these days are over, Albus. I no longer follow you. The Weasleys stand proud again, and we stand with Potter-Black!"
"There you have it. He is tearing the light side apart! We have to prevent that from happening," Dumbledore continued, ignoring everything not consistent with his world view.
"Over my dead body!" was the hissed reply as the man glared at the ancient wizard.
"If it can't be helped..."
ooOOoo
Ginny shouldered her path through the crowd in front of the entrance, ignoring all protests.
"Move on, get away from here! You are in danger!" She huffed, a bit winded by the run back to here.
"What is the meaning of this?" Professor Sprout spoke out from next to the door.
"Ginny, I seriously hope you have an explanation for your behavior," Molly could be heard somewhere behind her.
"Why did you do this?" Ron also had a question.
"Dumbledore locked the doors to capture Harry Potter's family. They'll break out, soon," Ginny briefly addressed Sprout's question, before drawing her wand.
"Sonorus," she whispered as she pointed it at her throat.
"Ginevra M..." Molly started a rant, but was overpowered.
"REMUS?" It was amazing how loud her voice became using this spell - she couldn't even hear her mother.
"GINNY! GOOD JOB!" A shout answered her call.
"GET OUT OF THERE, NOW! THEY WILL USE THE REVENGE TO OPEN THE DOOR."
ooOOoo
"The Revenge? They wouldn't!" Henry gasped as the implications registered fully.
"It's the twins we're talking about," Tonks replied. "Shelling the castle is probably quite high up on their list. And what else should they do? It's the most appropriate tool."
"Stop talking, start running!" Remus commanded, his voice back to normal. "Tonks, grab onto the other side, carrying is faster," he said as he rushed to the stretcher.
"Great Hall, the anteroom next to the teacher's table. We'll have the stairs between us and the door," he said as they lifted it.
A few paces brought them through the door.
"The castle is under attack," Remus barked at the few students lounging about in the hall. "Take shelter in the room over there!"
Due to the fact that he was running, carrying a stretcher and they still remembered him as a former teacher they respected, most students instantly complied. The rest did so a couple of moments later, albeit in a much less orderly fashion, and with a lot more screaming.
ooOOoo
"Miss Weasley? Revenge can't open this door, only the Headmaster can," Sprout remarked.
"Why did you hit me?" Ron complained, oblivious to everything else going on.
"Oh, she can, believe me. EVERYBODY, GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" Ginny shouted, ignoring her brother completely.
"GINEVRA WEASLEY! YOU WILL," Molly Weasley started anew, only to be shouted down by her daughter.
"SHUT UUUUP! SHUT UP! SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP! " she shouted, all her anger finally venting.
Molly was standing in the crowd, strongly resembling a carp, with her wide open eyes and her mouth opening and closing with no word coming out.
"WOULD YOU, JUST ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, SHUT YOUR TRAP AND LISTEN? I'M TRYING TO SAVE LIVES HERE!" Ginny screamed.
The whole crowd was too surprised by that outburst to do anything but listening as she once more addressed them.
"Listen, everybody - in a few moments, all hell will break lose around this door. If you want to live to tell the tale, you better get as much distance between yourself and that door," she told them.
By that time, the surface of the lake had already started bubbling, and the mast tips were just breaking through the surface. With a loud splash, the Revenge popped out of the water, bouncing like a cork for a few seconds until the huge waves dissipated.
"What in Merlin's name is that?" somebody yelled as the wooden behemoth came around to a profile view.
"Is that Durmstrang?" Somebody else asked, although the difference should have been obvious.
"No, that's the Revenge," Ginny called out, slightly shocked by the size of the boat, herself. She only had seen the town's boat, and even that had seemed quite dangerous. This boat was easily four times as big. She had only one thing left to say.
"RUUUUN!"
Most people stared incredulously at the girl that took off in a sprint, not moving the slightest bit.
The bewilderment increased when, dot by dot, two series of black dots appeared on the side of the ship, as the twins readied their decks. By the time they were halfway through, the Knut dropped with some of the Muggleborns and Halfbloods.
"Holy fuck!" some Ravenclaw yelled, following Ginny in a full sprint.
"Are they running out their cannons?" Dean Thomas asked, observing properly, but not really computing the facts, yet. About five seconds later, everyone with blue trim on their robes started running, proving that they indeed were the smartest lot.
Their flight triggered the instinctive reaction to flee along with the herd. Even then, if someone were to observe closely, you could spot the moment when someone connected the dots. It was when their efforts to get away doubled.
Professor Sprout, Molly and Ron, along with some students, by means of standing in the middle of the dispersing crowd, were the last to realize what was about to happen. By the time they did, a distant thunder sounded, along with a lance of fire erupting from one of the many, many, dots along the ship's side.
Only a couple of moments later, a huge crash sounded when the ball smashed into the roof of North Tower. It punched a neat hole, rushed through centuries of cobwebs and stuck a strut on the way out.
For a split-second, the whole side of the roof ballooned, before the strut gave way to the ball's energy and broke. The upper half followed the impulse of the impact, and swung upwards as the ball broke through, sending a spray of shingle fragments raining down on the courtyard. It also sent Trelawney sprawling as the whole tower shook and a chandelier came down.
Moments later, the strut coming down again from his swing was too much for the fastenings that had held for almost a millennium. It came loose and crashed into the roof's interior space, along with an avalanche of shingles that suddenly were without support. A cloud of dust, which had accumulated since the time of the Founders, rose above the spot, marking the impact site for all to see.
ooOOoo
"Makes one Galleon, and dibs on the first broadside," a smug Fred said.
"You barely scratched it! I can't even see the hole," George protested.
"You dared me to hit north tower, and I did. Pay up."
"Later, don't have my purse on me," George grumbled. "Did it work, though?"
Fred leaned forward and spied out of the gun port with a looking glass. "It seems that we have sufficiently stated our intentions. The stragglers have started running. Seems mum and Ron are amongst them, by the way they are running."
"Mum? Bugger! Oh well, there's nothing to do about that. In for Knut, in for a Galleon - let's be polite now."
"Polite?"
"Let's knock on the door," George chuckled.
Fred groaned as he buried his face in his hand. "Of all door-related jokes, you had to do this one?"
"Oy! It was a good one - you're just jealous that I thought of it first," George protested, while adjusting the elevation of the next gun.
ooOOoo
It was so one-sided, it wasn't even funny. Dumbledore attacked so quickly that Arthur had barely time to raise a shield to block the disarming spell. Dumbledore's next spell pulled the rug out from under his feet. Literally - it rolled up in high speed, knocking into Mister Weasley's heels, and continued rolling up as he was sent flying. Dumbledore's ropes and a follow-up stunner hit him just when he hit the ground.
Harry had barely managed to get on his feet by the time Dumbledore had worsted Mister Weasley so definitely.
"You'll not get away with this," Harry recited the almost traditional phrase for such a situation. "Do you really thing this won't come out?" he challenged the man, trying to buy time for his friends to come true.
Luckily for Harry, Dumbledore was someone who'd rather talk than get things done.
"Harry, my boy. You would be surprised how much the public is willing to accept if there is at least superficial evidence," he told him.
"A small spell that causes a bit of internal damage, a few memory charms, and everyone will willingly lap up the tale how the Boy Who Lived rescued his wife and mother-in-law, and insisting everyone else be treated first. When he finally collapsed due to internal injuries, it was too late to save him," he explained his plan.
"That will never work," Harry replied. "By now, the truth is already spread too far for you to alter it."
"By whom?" Dumbledore laughed. "The few students you talked to? Who would believe them over an official inquiry by an Auror and me?"
"My friends," Harry replied, but Dumbledore cut him off harshly.
"Are confined to this castle, just like you. Don't worry, no harm will be done to them, just as I promised you. But they have to be told the proper version of the truth before they leave, you surely understand."
"They'll never agree to this," Harry spat. Just as he said this, he could hear the familiar thump in the distance, followed by the distinct whistle of inbound artillery.
"And what, would you think they could do against me?" Dumbledore retorted as a distant crashing sound could be heard. They might be good, but I'm fairly positive that I still have enough tricks in my sleeve."
Harry couldn't help but smile at the bragging man when he heard a series of thumps and whistles, each ending with a crashes, that drowned out all other sounds, and occasionally seemed to shake this tower. Dumbledore was definitely out of his comfort zone when a couple of instruments in his shelves started screaming, along with a good portion of the portraits.
"So do we," Harry spat, springing into motion.
ooOOoo
The twins had done quite a number on the entrance hall.
The first ball impacted quite a bit above the door, smashing through the wall and exiting through the roof. It glanced off the main tower, before it dropped onto the roof of the west wing. By the time it did so, the twins had already adjusted and fired the next gun.
The upper left third of the door suddenly sported a head sized hole when 24 pounds of iron smashed through its ancient wood, showering the room in splinters while the ball crashed into the right staircase, burying itself, and an unfortunate suit of armour in the wall.
While the first two hits had only caused the students to listen up a bit, the next one sent the ones within the Great Hall into a full panic. Striking the door at a re-enforced part, it was deflected to the side. It struck the right wall of the Entrance Hall at about fifteen feet height, and at a shallow angle. This resulted in having it dig a gouge into that wall, until it was caught by a corner. The ten foot strip of mortar that broke off the other side of the wall, showering Slytherin table in dust and small stones, made it all too clear that Ex-Professor Lupin hadn't been exaggerating.
The reactions varied. Some rushed into the antechamber, following Remus' orders, while a couple hid under tables or huddled in the far-away corner. Two firsties actually made a rush for the doors, but got intercepted by a Hufflepuff prefect who yanked them back by their robes.
Screaming was an universal reaction, though.
ooOOoo
"Where am I?" Hermione suddenly queried from her place in her father's arms on the floor. The last impact had been loud enough to wake her from her exhausted slumber.
A quick look around revealed a few things to her. She was lying on a stone floor, her father hovering protectively over her. Her mother was nearby on a stretcher, Luna, Neville and Tonks were standing in front of them, wands out. The shimmer let her believe they were casting shield charms. Remus, along with some older students, was casting impervious charms at the wall in a frenzy.
"Where is Harry," she asked her surprised father, just when the next ball struck.
That one hit rather low, bouncing off the outer stairs before hitting the door. It barely broke through, as it sent one of the heavy re-enforcement bars flying through the hall. It took out a good yard of the main stair's handrail when it spun into it.
"And why are the twins shooting at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked. It was the only theory that made sense.
ooOOoo
"What is going on," Dumbledore demanded as Harry started moving. Harry had to forgo drawing his wand as he had to dive under the ropes flying at him.
His lunge brought him right at the feet of the Headmaster. Conserving his momentum, Harry spun around, trying to kick at the man's feet.
Astonishingly nimble for his age, Albus jumped over the attack, and brought some distance between his foe and himself before whirling around into a duelling stance.
That time was enough for Harry to roll up on his knees and draw his battlewand, though, creating a situation well known as a Mexican standoff in muggle tv.
Meanwhile, another couple of crashes had shook the building.
"What is going on?" Dumbledore asked coldly, his wand pointed straight at Harry's face.
More than one painting in the office reported back in various degrees of panic and outrage. The general picture was clear, though.
A ship in the lake was bombarding the castle.
Flitwick's first training session sprang to Harry's mind as he rose, slowly. Not starting a duel won't win it, but most duellists relied on the opponent to attack in order to give them an opening. In this case, it was a good way to draw this out for some time. Long enough to let the others get away.
"The cavalry's making their entrance," Harry teased back, staring over his own wand, both waiting for the other to make a move they could exploit.
ooOOoo
The next couple of shots had wreaked havoc on the door, and the interior. Ball after ball had punched through, leaving the left door in tatters, but still mainly intact, which couldn't be said of the room behind. The left staircase had in part collapsed, and the Ravenclaw counter had come down, littering the room in sapphires to brighten up the general rubbish.
A couple of shots had missed the door, altogether, and hit the surrounding walls. In particular, they'd taken out the left window, and quite a bit of the wall around it. As the twins were aiming for the left door, the right door only sported two holes, while the right wall was still almost comically pristine.
"Would you check, brother dearest?" Fred said while he fired the current gun, and tapping it to reset it in ball firing mode.
George, who was acting as loader due to his lost bet, dropped the ball into the barrel before he leaned out of the gun port. Pulling his glass - which was two inches longer than his brothers, as he liked to tease him with - out of his belt pouch, he surveyed the damage.
Pulling himself back in, he frowned.
"We're not doing enough damage. Let's try blasting shots to finish it off, and we'll switch targets for my turn," he called out. "I'll inform our little Snapdragon."
"Fine with me," Fred replied, putting a ball into the wall next to the door that caused a good portion of the upper window frame to come down, adding to the rubble.
He tapped the gun for blasting curse charge, and went to unload the next gun in the quickest way possible. The shot went a bit wide, hitting the wall right to the door, embedding itself in it.
"Got any idea what you'd like to shoot at? It's quite hard to choose," he chatted back, tapping that gun, as well.
George took another look out of the gun port, smiling wide as he turned back to his brother.
"I think you'll like what I've come up with," he said with a chuckle that sounded like music to Fred's ears.
Chapter 32: How to leave with a bang...
The sheer extent of the damage was mesmerizing.
Although it would have been prudent to get away as far as possible, the students found themselves inching closer towards the epicentre of destruction. The group had grown steadily, as students who found the view from the towers and parapets insufficient, had joined them.
There was a suppressed collective shriek when the by now accepted picture changed. While the impacts of iron balls had been impressive, the magic projectiles were a wholly different kettle of fish.
When the red bolt of the first shot impacted, it was as if an angry god had spat on the door. A good dozen square feet simply ceased to exist as a fine shower of splinters and sawdust was equally distributed in what was left of the entrance hall. With a wailing screech, the top quarter of the door, now only supported by one hinge, slowly swung inwards and bent downwards until its lower edge came in contact with the rest of the door.
The next shot hit the wall, taking out a good cubic yard of stone, which led to one of the gargoyles coming down in a steep dive. The stone wings failed to provide any lift as it followed a trajectory shared with bricks, anvils, pianos and other heavy objects, shattering on the stairs.
With their next try, they finally hit the door perfectly. A complete corner of the door, easily six or seven feet high and half as wide, snapped off and cart wheeled through the entrance hall, where it split a couple of stairs in half before it came to a rest in a heap of sapphires.
Another shot struck the wall, digging a crater and scorching it, before a long silence interrupted the now so familiar pattern of distant booms and nearby crashes.
By the time everyone, or at least most, had realized that it was over, Ginny already had a white visitor bouncing around her.
"All clear, we're creating a diversion for you," it squeaked.
As she started running, she was wondering whether Hogwarts would survive the day.
Wondering strongly enough to miss that she was being followed.
ooOOoo
The situation in the anteroom was dire.
Not because of the bombardment - they were safe from that by virtue of a load bearing castle wall and a marble staircase between them and ground zero.
Some would prefer being out there instead of in here with an irate Hermione, though.
"You left him with them?" she hissed at her father, not even flinching when another impact could be heard outside. She had gotten more and more restless while she was brought up to speed, and at one point had jumped up and started pacing in front of the wall everyone else gave a wide berth.
"It wasn't as if we had a choice, he gave us very specific orders," Henry replied calmly, wisely refraining from calling the pacing witch "Pumpkin" in public.
"And he was right - we were in a very bad tactical situation and nothing to bargain. Also, he has Arthur with him," Tonks helped him out.
"He's not bad, and his presence will help moderate their actions, as well," she added when Hermione stopped pacing and gave her a doubtful look.
Instead of replying, Hermione resumed her pacing, much to the relief of a couple of students, who were already fearing a wand fight breaking out in here.
A couple of tense minutes later, a glowing white rodent gambolled through under the door, heading for Hermione.
"Get out, we're covering your retreat," it squeaked while somersaulting around, then dispersing in a cloud of sparkles.
Hermione turned on her heels, storming out into the Great Hall before anyone could react.
"Follow her, I get Margret," Remus called out, being the first to read the situation.
Not needing to be asked twice, Henry rushed to the door, Tonks not far behind.
But instead of having to chase after a running girl, they found Hermione at Slytherin table, waving her wand over something, with nothing happening.
Looking up as they approached, Hermione let out a sigh. "Tonks, adapt this for me," she said, stepping away from the broadsword she'd taken from one of the suits near the wall.
Noticing Remus levitating the stretcher in, followed by the braver part of the still scared students, she approached him and started going through her mum's bag.
"There you are," she called put triumphantly when she pulled out Margret's pistol. Quickly checking the lock, she put it into the waistband of her jeans.
"Dad? You got yours with you?" she asked.
Startled, Henry patted his side, nodding as he found it under his jacket. Not that he needed to check, but it was human nature to do so when asked.
"You go with Tonks and Remus, get mum out of here. When someone points a wand at you, aim for center mass," she commanded, while retrieving another sword from a suit that got toppled earlier by the flight of the students.
"After that, the pointy end goes into the bad guys," she said as she handed it to her father, who drew a face at her, but took it, anyway.
"And you?" he asked in return when Hermione retrieved the smallsword from Tonks.
"I am going to get Harry," she replied, her face hardening into a mask of resolve.
That face didn't last for long, as Luna started to roar with laughter.
"What?" Hermione growled at her, quite irritated.
"Sorry, but I never thought that you, of all people, could botch up a sentence like that," Luna replied, giggling profoundly.
"Luna, there was nothing..." Hermione replied.
"Oh, you silly," Luna interrupted her. "It is 'we are going to get Harry'," she said, still giggling as she pulled her wand, Neville doing the same, just a moment later.
ooOOoo
Deep down in the dungeons, Severus Snape was frowning profoundly as he stirred a pot of Skele-Gro potion. He was almost done with it, and he'd soon need to add the lightning bug asses to the reflex potion for the Slytherin team, before tending to the wood polishing he needed to fortify the lab tables against first year morons. And Longbottom.
All over the classroom, he had pots with various projects set up, organized that he'd simply have to step from one to another in order to stay active and maximize production. That was one of the harder parts of being a potion master. Every buffoon could make potions one at a time.
Deep inside, he was fuming with anger, but his disciplined mind kept him right on the recipe as he finished the last stirs. He briefly hesitated to add the dried lizard guts, quickly adding an extra pinch of marinated toad lips to make the taste worse than he normally would make it.
He allowed for a small smile as the thunderstorm outside seemed to intensify. He was almost tempted to open a window and watch how the students tried to escape the torrential rain ruining their Hogsmeade day. But at least one of the potions on his chain would react less than positive to sunlight exposure, so he'd have to be satisfied with tainting his batch of pepper-up with extra cayenne for added fire.
He had just progressed to the scorch mark reverser, sprinkling the skin de-coloring solution with mulberry leaves as he passed that station, when the thunder struck so close that Severus imagined for a second that the whole castle had shaken.
Shaking his head in mirth at the thought of soaking wet students, freezing in the cold, he put some sugar into the tea he had set up here, next to the cauldron, to have a short break until the solution became silver colored.
The concentric circles in his teacup convinced him that the castle indeed had shaken when the next thunderbolt cracked, even louder than the last one. Puzzled, he put down his cup and went to a window to check.
Opening the wooden inner blinds, he was quite surprised to have sunlight flooding the room. He had been convinced that it would be dark outside, with the intensity of the storm. He almost winced when he heard the true nightshade roots he was pickling for later use sizzle as they were ruined by the light. That would set back his projects, and purse, quite a bit.
When another distant bang could be heard, he almost immediately made out the source. The ship was hardly something you could not notice, especially with the flash from the gun deck.
With the prejudice of an angry giant, a piece of the cliff, about twenty feet below of where the potion classroom had been carved into the rock, was crushed, a spray of ejecta marked the impact of the projectile. Severus didn't need to think twice to mentally identify the three culprits, but cursed only one of their names.
"POTTER!" he screamed as he hurled himself to the floor.
ooOOoo
Meanwhile, Harry had earned the right to claim he had lasted five minutes in a duel with Dumbledore, simply by doing nothing.
"I wonder, how are you planning to spin this story," Harry asked innocently, teasing his former Headmaster.
Albus' frown changed only marginally, but the comment seemed to have spurred him on to break into action.
Harry had been awaiting this, and had little problems dodging the stunner and the follow- up body binding curse, although he could still feel his muscles protesting under the strain as he forced them to perform. He certainly wouldn't be able to keep his usual level of agility up for long.
Still, he almost smiled as he realized that even though Dumbledore planned to kill him, he still stuck to his non-lethal duelling style. Old habits die hard, indeed.
As the slowly melting section of the bookshelf could testify, Harry was less quaint in terms of spell selection. Even Albus' robes sported a few fuming holes where acid splatters had hit him.
When Albus started animating the desk, Harry simply blasted it apart. Instead of counterattacking as intended, he finally began using his brain. Tonks would be proud of him to see him starting to shape the battlefield to his advantage as he started to vanish the rubble, and subsequently, the interior.
Well, at least she'd not call him stupid, this time.
ooOOoo
Albus was more than displeased with what was going on. The boy's opening shot had cost him a couple of very hard to replace tomes, and ruined his twenty-third-most favourite robes.
Animating the desk only to see it blown to smithereens was as disappointing. His plan of using the rubble to animate a cloud of shards was blown out of the water when Potter started vanishing it, and everything else in the room. The boy obviously remembered the battle at the Ministry, it occurred to Albus, and was doing the logical thing, trying to deprive him of transfigurable material.
That was unfortunate, since his duelling prowess was in part an effect of Albus' superior situational awareness. Most people knew that he was famous for disabling combatants by the dozen. What they didn't know was that while he was a fairly good duellist, in battle, he usually depended on using allies or animated objects to swarm the enemy, distracting them, while he picked off those who were currently distracted.
As his mobiliar disappeared, this would force Albus to rely on spells, which put him on equal grounds with Harry, or conjuration, which would mean that he'd need to use up his magical reserves too quickly.
On the other hand, Harry had already fought a battle today. His opening gambit was a powerful elemental conjuration of an acid stream, and vanishing solid objects wasn't exactly cheap, either.
Confident that he'd see the boy collapse within a few moments, he animated the rug that had been Arthur's downfall, and commanded it to wrap around the boy.
Moments later, it almost evaporated in a fireball that was hot enough to set a couple of portraits nearby on fire. The inhabitants of the pictures all over the office decided that they'd rather hear about the result than to witness it, and vacated their frames, immediately.
Albus shrugged the loss off. The attack was only designed to make Harry use up his reserves faster, and anything Harry did to destroy the objects was more power intensive than the parlour-trick of animating it. And he didn't like that carpet, anyway.
Determined to drive Harry to exhaustion, he cast another animation spell at the toppled chair, which sprang onto its legs and into action. A short-lived, at least.
That one hurt him more. He really loved that chair.
For a moment, he thought about using the books, but decided that he'd draw the line here, before the boy destroyed something that was irreplaceable.
Somebody trying the door, followed by two unmistakeable booms reminded him that time had become an issue.
Casting a body bind spell, he went into the offensive.
ooOOoo
Panting slightly, Hermione and her entourage arrived at the staircase to the Headmaster's office. All thoughts of catching a bit of their breaths evaporated at the sounds of spell fire from above.
Rattling at the doorknob, she almost creamed in frustration when she found the door at the top locked.
"Neville! Blast it open!" She called out, sharper than necessary, still mentally cursing the fact she still was too exhausted, magically, to do any spells on her own.
"Step back, I've got this covered," Neville said, levelling his wand.
There was a loud bang when his reductor spell slammed into the door, doing exactly nothing.
Frowning, Neville concentrated, almost doubling the intensity of his next spell, to the point the back blast almost threw him down the stairs.
Cursing under his breath, he took a deep breath and took aim, again.
A dainty hand pushed his wand down as Luna stepped around him.
"Men," she muttered as she stepped past him. "Always trying to push harder, instead of using finesse," she ranted absentmindedly.
"Evanesco, evanesco, accio door," she incanted, vanishing the door's upper hinge, the lower hinge, and then pulled the door towards her.
Still held by the enchanted door latch, it shuddered slightly, before the latch slipped free. Almost in slow motion, the door toppled towards them. A quick swish of Luna's wand later, it leaned neatly against the right wall, granting them a view into the room.
Hermione wasted no time. Stepping through the doorway, her pistol almost flew into her hand - Neville would later claim it actually did - and the trigger pull was simply a reflex once the target and the muzzle were lined up.
Dumbledore had luck beyond measure. He was rather slim, wore wide robes and was moving. This added up with the fact that those guns ignited slow, and their smooth-bore barrels allowed for enough windage that you could miss at ten paces.
Barely one inch was all that saved him from being hit. He could feel the ball passing through his robes, and in combination with the loud bang, it was enough to break his concentration, letting his spell go wide. He barely managed to spin to the side as Harry cast a banishing curse back at him when the boy noticed he didn't need to dodge.
The sudden addition of a girl trying to convert him into a shish-kabob, on top of her boyfriend trying to curse him made Dumbledore chuckle briefly. It strongly reminded him of a tale of his younger days. Minus the hangover.
ooOOoo
When Luna and Neville entered the fray, it actually worked to Dumbledore's advantage. The number of adversaries was now sufficient to make it hard to engage him without friendly fire incidents.
Hermione was his worst enemy, right now. Much to his chagrin, in all his studies, he never encountered any spell work to deal with an opponent in close combat. During the whole history of magic, it was the standard practice to use magic to not let any enemy advance to this range, or to shield against projectiles until you were in spell range of the combatants.
But any deflection shield, while sufficient to deflect a volley of arrows or a burst of bullets, wouldn't work against the higher momentum of a sword. Wizardkind simply never saw the need to counter a sword with anything but a sword. Especially as he wasn't able to hit her with anything, for every time he extended his wand in her direction, she simply started to attack the appendage.
He noticed her using a dress sword, just like one of those the fops in his younger days used to carry around in his younger days. Other than those, Hermione actually knew how to use it, it rapidly occurred to him when she suddenly twirled out of his line of casting. Pushing his arm out of the way with her left hand, she reversed her thrust, and stabbed at him from behind her back, nicking him at the shoulder. Only the fact that this method reduced her reach vastly saved him from a deep, penetrating wound.
Not waiting for him to recover, she turned fully and extended her arm, trying to slash across his face, but only stabbing through his beard, not achieving anything.
Once more, he tried to bring his wand to bear, but quickly pulled it back, before he'd lose a hand. Doing so, he still casted a stunning spell that ricocheted off the boy's shield at Longbottom, who happened to be in the general direction.
That last attack made one thing clear to him. All he could do was to dodge her thrusts and slashes, while casting spells at the others whenever they crossed his line of sight, hoping he could keep up with the young girl long enough.
ooOOoo
You might say that you can best judge the true character of a person when you see them in a fight.
Hermione was relentless and methodical. If it weren't for her sprained knee, Albus would be in real trouble. Still, she had a tendency to forget her surroundings while chasing her goals, with the result that others had problems contributing to the fight.
She was just lunging at Albus, who escaped with a quick series of steps that had a striking resemblance to a dance, when Neville's banishing curse clipped her blade, disarming her. His aim would have been true, if her lunge had not driven Dumbledore out of the way of the spell. For a moment, Hermione instinctively cradled her bruised wrist, but that moment of inaction was enough. Albus banished her into a wall, hard enough to knock her out, and preserving his free space to move around.
Harry barely controlled his impulse to rush to her side, and instead heeded Tonks' orders to take care of the fight, first. His covering hail of fire actually forced Albus to shield himself as Harry drove him away.
Neville showed his true colors, too, as he wasted not a single thought to step over Hermione, shielding both her and Luna, who had stopped casting at Dumbledore and began waving her wand over Hermione in a diagnostic pattern.
Seeing Hermione being cared for, Harry could focus on fighting. This was needed, for without Hermione, Dumbledore had far too much time at his hands.
ooOOoo
Albus had mixed feelings about the outcome of his successful attack.
The fact that the steel poker was no longer in his face or ruining his robes was a definite positive, he had more than one scratch from when the blade scraped him when it came too close for comfort. For his age, he wasn't exactly limping, but he wouldn't have kept up with the girl any longer.
On the negative side, without the girl, the others had clear line of casting at him, and Mister Potter surely was determined to make the most out of it. In hindsight, he already knew that harming Miss Granger in Harry's sight was a bad idea, but this was ridiculous - the boy had cast three bone exploding curses and two organ liquefiers at him in less than ten seconds!
Albus was quite sure that this had to be the influence of Voldemort cohabiting poor Harry's body - the boy would have collapsed already under the magical strain.
He ducked under a brain boiling curse, quickly cursing the fact that the boy obviously had perused the Black library, almost slipping. Less than graceful, he turned his momentum into a spin to evade a spleen extractor and a lilac curse he didn't recognize by sight. The fact that it turned the stone wall it struck into a black goo made him less than keen to have personal experience with it.
A second glance revealed that he lost his footing due to a spread of marbles, no doubt a gift from Miss Lovegood.
While the boys had been somewhat predictable, her erratic style was driving him crazy. Occasionally, she'd slip in a simple household spell, which he at first had ignored in favor of not being blown apart by Longbottom or faring a worse fate by Potter's hand.
But after a color changing charm that turned his glasses almost opaque, a sewing spell that had tightened the robes around his ankles and a waxing spell that cost him a ten square inch strip of hair on his wand arm, he made it a priority to step clear of her spells.
Out of annoyance, and seeing her back at work on Miss Granger, he sent a stunning spell at her while dodging some bright pink beam from Potter, which went straight through the window, leaving a neat hole with molten edges.
His spell got blocked by Longbottom. Albus noticed that the boy had ceased adding spell fire, but simply shielded the girls, probably feeling the onsets of exhaustion, already.
Which was good, for he had more than enough at his hands with Potter. Hopefully, the anger-induced spell frenzy - another sign of the Horcrux taking control - would cause the boy to collapse before his robes gave way to the many near misses, leaving him to fight on in his unmentionables. Which would be soon, because the amounts of magic used by the boy would have Albus panting, already.
He cursed himself for goading lady luck on when Miss Weasley barged in, taking one look at her bound father and at the downed Hermione and screamed like a Harpy as she cast an almost ancient spell at him. Even with his almost encyclopaedic knowledge of spells, Albus only barely remembered that one. It was a nonlethal, but highly distracting - not to mention extremely gross - animal creation from nasal mucus, he believed, but he hadn't seen it cast for almost a century.
Where the hell did she learn that one?
When the girl started to cast reductor cursed like throwing candy at a parade, causing serious crossfire and widespread destruction on his bookshelf, he decided that enough was enough. He was too physically exhausted to fight the young, powerful athletes, and watch out for pot-shots, as well.
He needed to control the whole group, at once. Another quick glance around revealed that there wasn't much left he could destroy, so his decision was easy.
ooOOoo
All planned motions in the room instantly ceased when Albus turned around his axis, creating a fire whip while he did so. Within the confines of the office, it was almost filling the whole room with its twirls.
The first pass caused Ginny to stumble, singing a good portion of her hair as it flowed behind her fall. The close call also caused some blisters to form on her cheeks, just by the intense heat alone.
Harry only barely stopped casting his current spell, in order to rise a shield, being the main target. His shield held up, even though it sparkled and fizzled all the time it took for the full length of the whip slide across it.
While Dumbledore hadn't really aimed for them, the erratic tip of the whip was a danger to everyone in the room. Neville managed to raise a shield in time, only to have it fizzle out of existence at the first touch of the whip. It seared his robes as it passed across his arm, on its way to a second pass at Harry, still cowering behind his shield.
As Dumbledore twirled, the whip grew larger, creating an almost closed circle which erratically raised and descended, putting everybody in harm's way. It passed over Ginny, who was huddled on the ground where she fell, covering herself with a shield that dissolved in a hiss when the fiery whip licked at it. Instinctively, Ginny threw her arms over her head to protect herself as the heat drove the air from her lungs.
Luna was too distracted by Hermione coming around under her ministrations, concentrating on caring for the coughing girl, as to realize the danger when the whip dipped lower on the second pass.
Again, Neville showed his true colors when he simply dove at Luna and Hermione, shielding them with his body.
His scream was loud as a lion's roar when the stream flames scraped across his back, his robes bursting into flames at the edge of the rip.
ooOOoo
Molly was wheezing when she finally made it to the Headmaster's office. She certainly wasn't in good shape. Certainly not good enough to chase after a fit girl one third her age, across rubble and staircases.
A loud, painful yell from the office made her double her efforts to climb the stairs.
When she stepped in, she found a horror scenario. Her husband laid at the floor, bound and petrified, Kingsley unconscious next to him. In a corner, the Longbottom boy was lying across some girls.
She immediately knew that he had been the source of the scream when she saw the horrible gash across his back, and the smell registered with her. Obviously, he had protected them with his own life.
The pale girl, which she only now realized to be her daughter's friend Luna, frantically tried to pat the fire on his robes out, still buried under his bulk, while an extremely bruised Hermione only moaned in pain.
In the middle of the room, Albus was standing, using a spell that obviously was the source of the boy's injuries, with Harry trying to shield himself and another girl from the swirling flames.
It took her a moment to realize that the girl in fetal position at the floor was Ginny, her hair almost gone, the rest molten into a frizzy mass.
Her reaction was predictable.
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BASTARD!" She yelled as she pulled her wand and started sending cutting curses at Albus, her mother bear instincts thoroughly triggered.
Her curses were weak, and aimed badly, but they distracted Albus enough to make him lose control over his spell as he suddenly had to evade that onslaught.
Harry used that moment to drop his shield and used the stream of magic he'd started channelling to hold the shield against forces it wasn't designed for, to power the biggest stunner he could muster.
There was a blinding red flash when he let go, a stunner of almost a yard in diameter racing across the five or six yards distance. The magic accumulated was so intense that people could feel their hair raise as the air became static.
Dumbledore, still in motion from evading a spell, tried to drop down under that monster. He almost made it, but the sheer size made sure it clipped his shoulder as it passed over him, knocking him out clean.
ooOOoo
"What the bloody hell was that?" Molly asked, still trying to blink the after-image away, and far too stunned to mind her own language.
"A stunner," Harry replied absent-mindedly as he approached Dumbledore at wand point.
"Oh my," Molly sighed, before reminding something important. She hurried over to her daughter, who was already slowly getting to her feet.
"Are you alright?" She asked, gasping when Ginny turned around. She was a wild sight, the left side of her head all but shaved, the molten mess crumbling away to leave uneven stubbles behind when Ginny touched the spot.
Ginny flinched as she did so, for her left cheek and temple were covered in small blisters, the rest of her face completely scarlet red, as if she'd fallen asleep in the sun.
It was an awkward scene when Molly reached out to touch her daughter's shoulder. "Don't worry, that can be put right in no time," she said. "The hair will grow back to a proper length, soon," she added, picking some more burnt hair from Ginny's head, frowning.
Ginny recognized the look Molly sported as she did so. She'd frowned the same way when Bill grew his hair out. Obviously, her new look was kind of cool. Looking around, she found that a few shards of a mirror had survived the battle. "I don't know," she said, picking at the stubble, and brushing her hair back with her hand. "I kind of like it - a bit of cleaning the edges and it's fine. Sure easier to care for," she replied, not even lying. She hated washing her hair.
The gulp and stammer behind her cemented her opinion.
Before Molly could try to argue, Ginny noticed something in the mirror and whirled around, rushing to assist Luna and Hermione.
"Nevvie, please, stop trying, Ginny's here!" Luna cooed, trying to keep Neville from moving too much. He was bravely gritting his teeth, but the wound on his back prevented him from lifting himself up. Which didn't keep him from trying. Luna and Hermione had stopped trying to free themselves in order to keep him from injuring himself further.
"Ginny, could you please levitate him up a bit? Just enough to let us crawl out?" Hermione pleaded.
Ginny quickly complied, but when she wanted to lower Neville back, Molly stopped her.
"Wait a moment!" She called out, just finished vanishing the ropes on her husband. Quickly casting the counter to the petrification spell on him before stepping over.
"We need to clean this up, first," she spoke, vanishing the dust, shards and ashes on the floor as she spoke. "So, now you can lower him. Carefully!"
"We need some potions for him," she stated as she vanished a big part of his robes to gain access to the wound. "But we need to get the dirt out of the wound, first," she spoke as she started casting small spells to clean up the area, bit by bit.
"Could someone check for Kingsley, please?" She said, rocking back when someone tied said man up with a rope charm in response to her request.
"Checked," her husband replied, cheekily. "He's in with Dumbledore, trying to kill Harry. They think he's Voldemort in disguise, of all things." He said as he passed her, stepping next to Harry, who had meanwhile kicked Dumbledore's wand away. Kneeling down, Arthur checked the man's pulse.
"Is he..." Was Hermione's question as she joined them, having stopped only to pick up her sword.
"No, but he's not well."
"He got lucky my stunner only clipped him," Harry spoke gravely.
"What are you going to do, now?" Arthur queried, demonstratively looking at their weapons, which both were still aimed at the downed man.
"He'll never leave me alone," Harry stated sadly. "His mind is made up, and nothing will ever change it."
"I'll try to work on him. He got his facts wrong, but is good at heart," Arthur said. "Trust me, he won't be in any position to harm you after this. I'll take care that people hear about this. Most probably already have - they simply can't cover this up."
"If it suits them, they will," Hermione huffed. "They'll jail us for killing Death Eaters or for damaging the castle, get rid of my parents, memory charm everyone and cater to Malfoy and his surviving friends. Dumbledore will cash in a few favours and come after us. Nothing will ever change - they'll do anything to preserve the status quo!" she spat, her face livid.
For a moment, Arthur was sure she'd kill Albus, right now. Everyone watched tensely, even Molly stopped cleaning up Neville's wound while watching, but not daring to speak.
Hermione loomed over Dumbledore for a couple of seconds before she slowly lowered her blade. She made moves as if to kick him, but never did.
"I can't." She sighed, her shoulder's slumping.
"Me neither," Harry said, slowly lowering his wand. "Not like this."
Hermione was desperately needing a vent. Glancing around to find something she still could destroy in the devastated office, she found what she had been looking for. With a couple of quick steps, and a screech of rage, she stomped on Dumbledore's wand, snapping it under her heel. All three Weasleys gasped in unison as Hermione performed the most insulting thing possible in the wizarding world.
"What?" Hermione hissed as she saw the accusatory glances.
Harry sighed, turning away from the man he once looked up to. Slowly, his muscles reminding him that this was the second fight today, he moved over to his girlfriend.
While Harry put his arm around Hermione, Arthur addressed the issue at hand. "I'm proud of you two. You did the right thing."
"Of that I'm not sure, but for what it's worth, killing him would probably make them hunt us even more," Harry chuckled with dark humor.
Arthur tried to ignore that statement, true as it might be. "Alright. I guess the next step is to get you all out of here. We have to get you to a safe place. I guess you still have your place to hide, where you stayed during summer?" he asked.
When Harry nodded with a smile, Arthur beamed with joy.
"Excellent, now we need to get you out of here, and to your London place. The Ministry can't reach you there, and we can wait until the worst dust has settled. Any ideas how to smuggle you out?"
Hermione nodded. "We actually have a better plan. We didn't expect something like this, but we planned for a quick escape. We need to get to the boat shed."
"Where the first years arrive?" Arthur asked with confusion visible on his face. "Why?"
"For transport," Hermione smiled at the kind man. "We need to get onto the Revenge."
"Hermione, are you alright?" Arthur asked, eyeing her concerned. Maybe the girl had been hit harder than everyone had thought. "You can't get on revenge. It's not tangible."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, not revenge - The Revenge! It's Harry's ship. It's at the lake, waiting for us. Once we're aboard, we will sail through the underwater passage to a safe place."
"Oh, really? Now that would solve everything quite handily." Arthur replied. "Let's go, then."
Molly spoke up at his proposal. "Arthur, I'm staying. This boy needs medical assistance. I can only do so much without any potions. We need to bring him to the infirmary, or St. Mungo's, and to a real Healer!"
"I'm staying with Neville," Luna said, adamantly, never ceasing to stroke said boy's shoulder.
Arthur contemplated the situation briefly, before addressing Harry.
"I think I need to stay, too," he stated. "I need to start explaining this to the teachers, and spread the word in the Ministry, and the Prophet, before someone can put a spin on it. But maybe I can create a diversion to let you sneak out."
"Seems like Fred and George got that covered," Ginny noted when another gunshot could be heard.
"Fred? George?" Arthur inquired. "What do they have to do with all this?
"They are using the ship's guns - that's how we got in," she explained.
"Guns? Oh, so that's this thunder outside?"
"Yes, they smashed the doors to the entrance hall," Ginny giggled.
"Fascinating."
Molly harrumphed as she'd have used a different word for this mayhem. Suddenly remembering something, she spoke up.
"Harry, I know I am not in the position to ask anything from you, but you need to take Ginny with you," she said. "She's not safe here, anymore."
"What? Why?" Ginny protested, out of habit. Not that she'd be averse to moving to the island, but she didn't like others making decisions on her behalf.
"Ginny, people saw that you were part of the attack," Molly argued. "At least, they'll expel you."
Ginny's eyes widened for a moment at the realization set in. "Oh bugger," she gasped.
Harry and Hermione only exchanged a brief glance to come to a consensus. Expulsion was a given. Even though this would de facto bar her from doing magic, it would be the least of her worry. With no one else available, she'd be the scapegoat the Ministry needed. Azkaban wasn't entirely out of question.
"Of course, she'll always have a place with us, if she wants to. The whole Weasley family does. Just in case, if you get into trouble, you can use my London home to seek shelter," he replied.
"Once I adjusted the wards, of course. I guess I could do this within the day, if we stop at the coast on our way out - I'll let you know. You'll be quite safe there, just don't bring any others with you - the wards are set to lethal."
"And that's not even the worst setting they have," Hermione added.
"Thanks, I guess," Arthur replied. "I doubt this would be necessary, but you never know."
"Drawing Ginny into a hug, he took a deep breath.
"Ok, let's go. Give me a minute head start, I'll try to lure the Professors out of your way."
ooOOoo
That task turned out less complicated than Arthur had feared. The corridor down to the entrance hall was almost empty, save for some students lolly-gagging. Not even Filch was seen. On the other hand, he would probably have a coronary if he'd seen the damage.
Arthur snuck back up the stairs and waved the others,
Waiting until the kids had snuck past him and down the corridor to the boats, he went after the students hurrying down the stairs and out if the castle. Out there, he found a huge crowd of students, with some desperate teachers - amongst them Minerva and Filius - trying to herd them back into the castle.
By the time Arthur had approached them, two more shots from the very impressive vessel in the lake had impacted with the cliff on the other side of the viaduct. Under cheers from part of the student body, sizeable chunks of rock sprayed into the air, a fine cloud of dust wavering near the point of repeated impacts. Vaguely, Arthur could make out a couple of windows in that area, which caused him to briefly contemplate what kind of room could be located there.
Being out of Hogwarts for so long, it took Arthur too long to form a theory to what his sons were shooting at.. In fact, since his potions class were held at the second floor, he'd never realized on his own. But then, a third shot struck the target area, this time seemingly vanishing without chipping the rock.
The crowd briefly expressed displeasure with the lack of visual hit confirmation with this one, when suddenly, huge explosion occurred within the cliff itself. With a boom that shook the ground, several jets of flame sot out of what once were windows of what obviously has been a potions lab or storeroom.
Almost feeling the heat from the hundred or so yards distance, and his ears ringing, he stared in shock at the huge fireball that erupted from the new cave in the cliff.