All the students had been rushed to the Great Hall. Everyone was panicked and unsure of what exactly was going on. It was obvious that the castle was under attack, but there were rumors flying around as to just how bad the situation was.
Harry found Ron, Hermione, and Ginny fast and kept them close. They searched desperately for Professor Dumbledore or Kevin, but couldn’t find either of them. Ron and Hermione were pulled away to help with making sure that all students were present and to keep them as calm as possible.
Ginny led Harry to as secluded a corner as she could find. “Harry, I have something I want to ask you, and I want you to be honest with me.”
“All right,” Harry said.
“Are you going to fight today?”
Harry was not prepared for that. “Well, I don’t think that I’ll be allowed to, not with Dumbledore and Kevin both here. I’ll probably have to stay in the castle.”
“That’s not what I asked, Harry,” Ginny replied, her eyes hardened to show that she was not pleased with his answer. “I asked if you were going to fight.”
Harry took a deep breath. “If I have to, then yes, I will.” Ginny’s eyes started to fill with tears. He wrapped his arms around her. “That wasn’t what you wanted to hear either, was it?” He felt her head shake. “I can’t deny that they’re here for me, and I can’t let other people fight a battle that’s meant for me. If I have the chance, then yes, I will fight.”
As he held her close, Harry could see Kevin enter the Great Hall, followed closely by Dumbledore.
**********************************************************
The teachers huddled together at the front of the Great Hall. Dumbledore lowered his voice to ensure that he was not overheard. “The Ministry cannot spare more Aurors then we already have. Voldemort has launched attacks all over Europe. Our forces are stretched too thin. We are on our own.”
“Does the council not realize that the Dark Lord is leading this attack?” Snape asked. “It’s Potter he wants, as well as a few other people.” He leered at Kevin.
Kevin didn’t react. “Whatever he wants, we have to be sure he doesn’t get it. The first thing we have to do is keep the students safe.”
“We should send them to the dungeon,” Professor McGonagall said. “We can protect them better there.”
“Perhaps we should consider getting them out through the floo network,” Professor Flitwick suggested. “It would take time, but we could hold off the Death Eaters until then.”
Kevin shook his head. “They’ve cut off the castle from the floo network. We would have to get to Hogsmeade to use it, but they’ve already taken up position around the village.”
“The problem is that we need able wizards to fight,” said Snape. “There are too few of us to properly defend the castle.”
Dumbledore looked around the hall. “Perhaps there are too few adult wizards…”
Professor McGonagall put a hand over her mouth. “Albus, you are not thinking that we should have the students fight, are you? Suppose they are killed, how could we live with ourselves if that happened?”
“Minerva,” Dumbledore said. “This is what the students have been training for, to use their magical gifts for the protection of our kind. If we ask them to fight, some may die but if we do nothing, then we all will die. I will not force anyone to fight who does not want to, but I must give them that choice, or all our teaching has been for nothing.”
“I agree with the headmaster,” Snape said, much to the surprise of everyone. “My students performed far beyond anything even I could have hoped for. Their actions when they were taken hostage proves that they are able and willing to fight. We must give them that option.”
“But whom do we ask?” Professor Sprout asked. “We cannot expect the first years to defend the castle against trained Death Eaters, and surely the second and third years are not trained well enough.”
Kevin rubbed his chin. “The sixth and seventh years are obvious choices, but we can’t expect the students to fight one on one. They’re inexperienced at this, even if they can cast some powerful spells. What we need is an edge that the Death Eaters don’t have. We need a surprise.” He looked around at the students, and then turned to the flying instructor. “Madam Hooch, besides the Quidditch players, who are the best flyers in the school?”
*********************************************************
“What we are asking is for volunteers to help defend the castle,” Professor Dumbledore said, as he addressed the Great Hall. “It is not necessary that you be of age, but if you feel that you can properly fight against a trained Death Eater, then we ask for your help. If you doubt your own abilities then we ask that you remain in the castle. If you feel that you can be of use, then please come forward.”
Harry was one of the first to step forward. When he had told Ginny that he would fight if given the chance, he never thought that it would actually happen. He looked back to see how she would react to this, but she was not behind him. She was beside him. “Ginny, what are you doing?”
She turned her head to look at him. “I’m going to make sure you come out of this alive.”
Harry smiled at her. All the seventh year students and most of the sixth and fifth year students joined the teachers at the front of the Great Hall. He saw Ron and Hermione join the fighting group. About half of the fourth and third year students volunteered, but the rest of the school stayed where they were. It was more then Harry thought would join. He saw a healthy number of Slytherins as part of the group that would fight, Malfoy among them.
The students that didn’t volunteer were led out of the hall towards the dungeon. Once they had left, Dumbledore addressed the students once again. “Thank you all for your bravery. We have a plan that we hope will minimize any harm that may come to you, but I must say that there is a chance that some of you may be hurt, or possibly, may die.”
“If we die defending Hogwarts, then it will be worth it, Professor!” a seventh year Hufflepuff shouted.
The rest of the group started cheering and shouting their own uplifting phrases. Dumbledore raised his hands to quiet them. “Yes, but it is our hope that no one need die today. We have a plan to stop this invasion at its source.”
Kevin took Dumbledore’s place addressing the students. “Now the particulars are not important, but your ultimate goal is to distract the Death Eaters enough to allow us to get to Voldemort. One thing we are going to do is form an air strike. Those of you with brooms and flying experience are going to fly over the Death Eaters and try to break their ranks.” Harry saw every Quidditch player’s face break into a grin, his own included. Flying was something that he could do easily. “Death Eaters are not known for using brooms in their attacks, since they are seen as clumsy, but our experienced flyers will show them how useful they can be.”
He took out his wand and waved it. A transparent diagram of Hogsmeade village and the Hogwarts castle appeared. A large collection of red dots scattered across the village. “These represent Death Eaters.” He waved his wand again. “This is what we hope to accomplish.” A series of blue dots started flying across the diagram. “Those blue dots are our flyers. What needs to be done is for you to fly low and fast over the village. If you can, cast some spells to disorient the Death Eaters, otherwise just make yourselves a nuisance. Do not spend too much time, though. You may be moving fast, but Voldemort’s troops will eventually get you. They know enough spells to do it.”
With another flick of his wand, the moving blue dots disappeared and were replaced by stationary ones. “Once the flyers are over the targets, the ground forces will move in and work towards Voldemort himself. Once he is taken out, his forces will lose morale and will be easier to take out.”
“Sir,” a seventh year Ravenclaw raised his hand. “With all due respect, how will the downfall of…Volde…” He couldn’t say the name. “…of You-Know-Who hurt his forces. They are all still powerful wizards.”
Kevin nodded his head. “Good point. The Death Eaters are unorganized and need a leader to keep them together. Without Voldemort, they’ll disintegrate into chaos.”
A sixth year Slytherin girl raised her hand. “Sir, would it be possible to drop some wizards in the middle of the Death Eaters, so we could attack from within and without?” Harry looked over at her. It was uncommon for a Slytherin to be concerned about anything but his or her own safety. This attack had everyone scared.
“We’ve thought about that,” Kevin answered. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a way to do that. If we used our flyers to drop people, then it would slow them down and make them easy targets. It would take too long to tunnel underneath, and there is no way to sneak behind the lines.”
Harry heard the word “tunnel” and remembered something he had that could possibly help. He had hoped that he would never have to release this secret, but if he had to… “Professor Hall,” he said as he timidly raised his hand. “I think I know how we can get inside their lines.”
********************************************************
Harry stood in the castle courtyard with the rest of the flyers, awaiting the signal from Professor Dumbledore. This offensive squad consisted of forty students from all four houses. The majority of them were Quidditch players, but there were a few who had the expertise to fly, but had not had much of a chance to show it off.
Ron and Ginny were standing a bit away from Harry. He didn’t dare intrude on what appeared to be a brother/sister conversation. Putting his Firebolt over his shoulder, Harry started pacing around the courtyard. The rest of the students had formed little groups and were keeping their voices low. He was the only one standing by himself, but not for long.
“I’m surprised that you would let something that valuable out of your grasp.”
He turned around and found Malfoy standing behind him, with a smug grin on his face. “Are you talking about the Marauder’s Map?”
“Is that what you call it?” Malfoy said. “Well, whatever it is, it’s the most valuable thing that a student can own, and you let it out of your hands.”
“I was trying to help,” Harry shot back. “I didn’t see you offering any helpful advice.”
“I didn’t have anything that valuable in my possession.” Malfoy started pacing. “You do realize that the map is useless. It shows tunnels that lead into Hogsmeade before it was destroyed. Now, those same tunnels have probably been destroyed. There will be no way for anyone to get into the village.”
Harry was silent. He hadn’t thought about that. The fact that Hogsmeade had been destroyed and re-built had slipped his mind. He cursed himself inwardly for forgetting something like this. “Kevin can still use the map for something,” Harry said, trying to put some confidence in his voice.
Malfoy laughed. “I’ll bet he can.”
*********************************************************
Hermione stood with a group of students that were going through the tunnels into Hogsmeade. Kevin was examining the statue of the humpbacked witch that Harry had used on so many occasions before to enter the village without being seen. She walked up beside him. “Did he tell you how get into the tunnel?” she asked, trying to alleviate her own apprehension.
“Yeah,” Kevin answered. “I’m just wondering why the founders would have put an escape tunnel in such an out of the way place, and why they left no clue on how to find it.”
“Maybe they didn’t want overly eager students leaving the castle,” Hermione said with a slight chuckle. Kevin smiled as well. “Are you sure that this is going to work? The tunnel may have been destroyed.”
Kevin looked over at her. “The village was re-built almost exactly as it was before the explosion. The opening of the tunnel may be blocked, but we can cut a new one if necessary. Regardless, We should come out at Honeydukes. If something goes wrong, we still have the other group at the Shrieking Shack. Voldemort will still get a rude surprise.”
Hermione nodded. It would take almost an hour to reach the village through the tunnel. In all that time, she knew she was going to question this mission again and again in her mind.
She looked out over the group that was going through the tunnel. Kevin was the only adult in this collection of able-bodied students. Most of the Aurors were focusing on the frontal assault, while a few others had joined the group going through the Shrieking Shack. It seemed foolish for anyone to expect these inexperienced witches and wizards to fight head-to-head with trained Death Eaters, but if they had to…
That was what worried her most of all. She wondered if any of the Death Eaters would know that she was the one that had killed Antonin Dolohov, and if she would have to kill again. This whole operation was based on necessity, the same necessity that had forced her to use the killing curse in the cave just a few weeks ago. Would it be necessary for her to use it again?
Hermione shut her eyes and shook her head to push that thought from her mind. She would never do such a horrible thing again. She would never feel that kind of power of again, or the rush that came from it. Hermione had only admitted it to herself, but the feeling of using that kind of power had excited her a bit. A small part of her had wanted to feel that power again, but to do that she would have to kill and that she would not do.
Kevin finally took out his wand and tapped the stone witch. “Dissendium!” The hump of the switch opened up. “Everyone, inside!” The students started piling into the tunnel until Hermione and Kevin were the only ones left in the corridor.
“Kevin!”
They both turned and saw Sara walking towards them. Kevin ran to meet his wife. “What are you doing here? You should be in the dungeon with everyone else.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I had to see you before you left.”
He slid his arms around her waist. “Don’t worry. Everything will be all right. We’re going to win this.”
“I know you are.”
Hermione stood next to the statue and watched the adults comfort one another. It made her wish that Ron had joined this group, but he would be more useful as a flyer and she knew that. She wondered if they would be as happy one day as Kevin and Sara were. The professors finally let each other go, and kissed before Sara left towards the dungeon. Kevin walked back to the statue. “Let’s finish this.”
********************************************************
Golden sparks shot through the sky. The flyers mounted their brooms and soared into the air. They took up a diamond formation to adequately space themselves apart so they would be tougher to target. Harry and Ron were near the center of the formation, while Ginny was near the rear. Each student had their wand firmly in their hand and was ready to use it.
The plan was to make one quick pass over the village in the formation, and then they would all scramble and cause as much havoc as they could for a few minutes before leaving the village and landing in the Forbidden Forest. They would not go so far in as to be lost, but just far enough to get out of sight. After they landed, they would join the attack on the village.
Harry could see the village now, but he couldn’t make out any Death Eaters. He wasn’t expecting them to be lying out in the streets, waiting for someone to come along and attack, but he had hoped. As they got closer and closer, it seemed as though Harry could see something moving in the village, but he wasn’t sure. It suddenly hit…
“Camouflage!”
A series of red bursts of energy suddenly shot up at the flying students. Before it was time, the flyers scattered to avoid being hit by the spells. Harry turned into a dive and shot for the ground. He pulled out of it just above the roofs of Hogsmeade and sped across them. Using his free hand, Harry cast spell after spell at anything that could be a camouflaged Death Eater. It wasn’t the best cover, but it worked against students flying at break-neck speeds.
The original idea of the plan worked flawlessly. Death Eaters had a difficult time casting effective spells against fast moving targets. However, the reversal was true as well. Harry could not land a single spell against an enemy. He was moving too fast and the Death Eaters were well hidden, which made attacking a terrible chore.
Some students had found ways around this. The Ravenclaw flyers had worked to box a few Death Eaters into one area and cast a continuous series of spells that hit their intended targets. Several Death Eaters fell to the ground.
Harry kept an eye out for the real target of this offensive: Voldemort. The leader of this army was nowhere to be seen. Death Eaters seemed to be falling more frequently after the first few were hit, but more were pouring from the abandoned shops in the village. They had dropped the magical camouflage and were simply casting spells into the sky.
A shower of red sparks shot from over the ridge. This was the signal to leave. They flyers took their cue and soared off towards the Forbidden Forest. Landing in a clearing near the edge of the forest, the flyers abandoned their brooms and started running towards Hogsmeade.
The ground forces would be striking soon.
*********************************************************
Honeydukes suddenly erupted with spells being cast from the windows. The Death Eaters dove for cover wherever they could find it. Kevin directed the students to cast their spells in a wide pattern so that no one area was under too much pressure while another was under too little. Hermione helped keep some of the younger students out of the way of return fire.
An incendiary spell hit the back wall of the shop and started to burn. Kevin put it out with a wave of his wand. “Where’s a machine gun when I need it?” he said, to no one in particular.
Hermione was starting to doubt if having students fight was such a good idea. Her doubts were laid to rest as the group from the Shrieking Shack suddenly entered the village, wailing loudly and firing spells into the fray. The Death Eaters never expected to have to fight a battle on two fronts…
…make that three.
The group of flyers entered the village in much the same fashion as the other groups. Wands were flailing about with brightly colored spells shooting from the tips of them. Kevin motioned for his group to leave the shop and move into the streets. The Death Eaters had found hiding places around make shift barricades. There was an equal number of Death Eaters and Hogwarts students, but the Death Eaters had the advantage in talent.
Kevin saw more then a fair number of students fall to the ground, but the way they fell had him guessing. In his life, he had seen many people die, but the students that fell seemed more stunned then anything. Others were bound and couldn’t move. Not once did Kevin hear a curse uttered that would kill any of the students or Aurors.
Voldemort must still want them as converts or breeders, he thought with disgust. Kevin was still not able to understand the Dark Lord’s intentions.
He soon saw Harry, Ron and Ginny rushing through the streets. The students fought with a determination that Kevin had only seen in trained Aurors, even if their skill was less then excellent. Kevin directed the fighting to surround the Death Eaters and keep them pinned in the center of the village. Despite the minor casualties, it was almost as if the students had been enough to quell this attack. There was only one thing missing from the battle.
Voldemort and his sons suddenly appeared in the middle of the fighting frenzy. They cast a wide range-stunning spell, incapacitating any unlucky wizard that happened to be caught in the radius. Three-dozen more Death Eaters apparated into the village and did what the students had done just a few moments before.
In the face of the Dark Lord, many suddenly lost their will to fight. Students started running back towards the castle or for the Forbidden Forest. None got very far before they were brought down by a stunning spell. The new squad of Death Eaters had been waiting for this opportunity. Kevin was out of surprises, and Voldemort had kept one up his sleeve.
Harry could see the fight turning against the students. He knew that something had to be done quickly. Taking a glance over at Ginny, he ran off towards the center of the fighting. The love of his life followed with her eyes as Harry barreled towards the one man that had come close to ending his life…Voldemort.
“Harry, don’t,” she whispered to herself.
Harry let nothing stop him as he pushed through Death Eaters and students alike and got closer to the object of his obsession. He brandished his wand, and lunged at the Dark Lord. Voldemort turned in just enough time to see the young wizard barreling at him. He raised his own wand, and the tips made contact.
An ear-piercing screech filled the air, causing all those around to drop to their knees and cover their ears. The two wizards were locked together by the tips of their wands. A golden cage appeared around them, which pushed anyone near them away from the two wizards. Voldemort sneered at Harry. “Here we are again, Potter. Do you expect your pitiful parents to come and save you again?”
Harry took his eyes off of his adversary for a moment, and then grinned. “No, I have others to help me.” He yanked his wand away from Voldemort’s, and the cage disappeared. Voldemort was disoriented for a moment. He did not see the Animagi lunge at him, nor did he know what hit him when he was knocked to the ground.
Harry felt a pair of arms hoist him to his feet. Kevin dragged him off to one side. “Are you insane, boy?” he asked while carrying the young wizard. “You trying to get yourself killed?”
It was a rhetorical question, but Harry couldn’t answer if he wanted to. His eyes were fixed upon a menacing figure standing a few yards away. Griff was holding his wand out at arms length, pointing it at Harry and Kevin. “Accio Wand!” Both their wands leapt from their hands into Griff’s. “No more games, brother. No more.”
“Avada Kedavra!”
Kevin threw Harry to the side, and took the full force of the spell. Harry saw Kevin fall onto his back, his eyes looking up to the sky. He couldn’t believe it. But…he knew how to counter it…
Griff stood over the body of his dead brother. “Always the hero, aren’t you? Well, look where it got you this time.”
Harry couldn’t move. Griff took his eyes off his fallen brother and looked over at Harry. “Will you play the hero as well?” He raised his wand.
Ron and Ginny suddenly tackled Griff from out of nowhere. Ron had abandoned the use of his wand and was throwing fists at the Death Eater. Ginny was kneeling over Kevin’s fallen body. Tears could be seen in her eyes.
A large shadow loomed over them all. “Crucio!” Ron suddenly cried out in pain as the Cruciatus Curse was used on him. Ginny looked up and saw Voldemort leering at them. He had his wand trained on her brother, which caused her anger to boil to the surface. She took up her wand and lunged at him.
Voldemort turned his aim on her, but Ginny was surprisingly quick. “Expelliarmus!” Voldemort’s wand was thrust from his hand, but only for a moment. He flicked his wrist and it landed back where it originally was. Ginny stood dumbstruck.
Harry got to his feet and grabbed his wand from the ground where Griff had dropped it. He started running towards Voldemort. His face held all the rage he had kept hidden for the past years. Voldemort looked at him with a laughable gaze. He turned his wand towards him.
“Avada Kedavra!”
The next few minutes were a blur to Harry. One moment, he saw a green jet of light form itself at the tip of Voldemort’s wand, and the next his vision was obstructed by a mane of red hair. Something had jumped in front of him to take the power of the curse. It became clear that it was not something, but someone.
Ginny had leapt in front of him.
She was thrown back into his arms; her lifeless body nothing more than a clump of flesh in his grip. This had been the second time someone had taken a killing curse for him…no it was the third. His mother had been the first. He cradled Ginny’s body close to him as tears started forming in his eyes. “Ginny,” he said, quietly. “Why did you do it?”
Voldemort walked over to him. “And people blame me for the deaths of this world. It seems that more people die from being associated with you, Harry Potter. Don’t worry, though, I’ll be glad to keep anyone else from dying just because they are around you.” He waved his wand and brought Harry to his feet, causing Ginny to fall to the ground. Voldemort gave Harry a final, toothy grin. “Let’s see someone get you out of trouble this time.”
“Avada Kedavra!”
The spell struck Harry’s chest, but did not do any damage. The light seemed to stop just above his skin. It hovered for a moment. Voldemort’s earlier arrogance turned to fear. “This can’t be! That protection was removed!” The spell leapt from Harry and struck Voldemort, instead.
Harry collapsed to the ground. He looked up and saw Voldemort fly backwards from the force of the spell. When he hit the dirt, the ground seemed to shake. The Death Eaters that remained cried out in pain. Some dropped their wands, while others fell to their knees.
Harry didn’t seem to notice any of this as his eyes were elsewhere. Ten feet from him lay Kevin’s lifeless body, his arms spread out wide. He thought about Sara and their little baby, and how it would grow up without a father, like he did. He wondered if Sara already knew that her husband was dead, or if he would have to break the news to her. He could just see her on her knees, sobbing and crying out for her dead lover.
Harry then looked over at where Ginny’s body had dropped. Ron was already over there, holding her and crying over her. This was one casualty that he had hoped he would never have to see. His life, the one girl he had ever been truly in love with was gone.
Ginny Weasley was dead.
Author's Note: Be honest. You all hate me, don't you?