The silence that followed was dense, pressing down on all the students and teachers and fighters of Hogwarts, even when the voice had ceased. All eyes fixed on Harry and Neville could feel his fear.
Then a girl from the Slytherin table pointed accusingly at Harry, and shouted to catch him; Neville experienced a unique feeling, somewhere in between anger and ashamedness. He did know, however, that this feeling was mutual with everyone down his table and even the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, for three-quarters of the school rose from their seats, each staring menacingly at the only Slytherin standing, who seemed to shrink slightly, wide-eyed, at the sight of this huge attack. Without thinking, Neville was drawing his wand, and others did the same around him, preparing to curse the pitiful students of the house they all despised of -
'Thank you, Miss Parkinson. You will leave the Hall first with Mr Filch. If the rest of your house could follow.'
Pansy Parkinson gulped as the rest of Slytherin hastily got up from their table, apparently glad to depart the battle as well as the scene and followed the caretaker from the Hall and into the depths of the dungeons. Professor McGonagall's thin mouth twitched.
'Ravenclaws follow on!'
Most of the Ravenclaws departed, though a handful of seventh-years remained.
'Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors follow!'
The Hall was filled with the loud scraping of benches as the younger students left. Colin Creevey and Jimmy Peakes tried to hide themselves behind Lavender and Parvati, but they were no match for McGonagall's hawk-like eyes.
'Absolutely not, Creevey, go! And you, Peakes!'
Then the man called Kingsley stepped up to the platform alongside McGonagall and spoke to the large mob of fighters that remained.
'We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast! A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest Towers - Ravenclaw, Astronomy and Gryffindor - where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile, Remus, Arthur and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organise defence of the entrances of the passageways into the school -'
'- sounds like a job for us,' said Fred, indicating himself and his twin, and Kingsley nodded.
'Alright, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!'
The deafening scraping noise reverberated around the Hall again as the students and adults got to their feet, as McGonagall rushed over to speak to Harry about something. Neville joined the back of the line as they approached the teachers and Order of the Phoenix members, wildly reminding him of when the Sorting had taken place all those years ago. Kingsley began dividing up everyone, rather randomly it seemed, and the line became shorter.
'OK - then let's have you five here with Minerva -'
'Oh no, Kingsley, I'll need Longbottom with me I'm afraid,' said Professor Sprout. 'Deals with my plants better than anyone I know!'
Neville blushed crimson.
'That's fine - you four join Minerva, then, and head up to Gryffindor Tower ...' amended Kingsley, gathering the four Gryffindor girls. The Ravenclaw girls were also with their Head of House and all the boys were split between Kingsley, Lupin and Ron's father.
'We'll need immediate protection,' Kingsley said, speaking mainly to the most skilled teachers at spells, McGonagall and Flitwick, who both nodded and beckoned their students out of the Hall.
'Come on then, chaps!' said Sprout, and Neville, Zacharias Smith, Hannah, Susan and two other Hufflepuff girls whose names escaped Neville followed her out the Hall, the packs of fighters hot on their heels. They all barged through the front doors, though the fighters headed off to the main grounds. It was fairly chilly but only because, Neville thought, the fear and adrenaline of the upcoming fight was sending shiver after shiver down his spine. The moon was full and bright but they lit their wands nevertheless as they jogged across the grass.
'Professor, I thought Kingsley said to go the Astronomy -?'
'Oh, we will Longbottom, but we need to collect our weapons ... Mandrakes, Devil's Snare,' she added in response to Neville's questioning look. 'Then it's just a question of actually attacking ... I suppose there's something in lobbing them over the walls, see if the Death Eaters know how to deal with them. What d'you think?'
'Sounds good, Professor,' Neville said with a grin. Sprout led them into Greenhouse Five, where, Neville knew, lurked the dangerous plants.
'Earmuffs,' Sprout said, pointing at the box of them, 'and everyone take a Mandrake, the fullest-grown. Remember to Spellotape their mouth, we don't want the innocent to be killed. We'll return for Devil's Snare, Bubotuber pus, Snargaluff pods, Tentacula ... you get the idea ... let's go!'
They ran through the front doors and up the school. They nearly trampled Harry down one corridor, who was jogging in the opposite direction.
'Mandrakes!' Neville yelled over his shoulder. 'Going to lob them over the walls - they won't like this!'
Panting, they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower and laid down the pots containing the Mandrakes, all of which were attempting, and failing, to scream through the Spellotape but only a tiny, almost non-existent, screeching noise could be distinguished.
It took an additional two trips to the greenhouse before they could catch their breath in the Tower again. Looking down, they could see the vast battlefront of Death Eaters, giants and Snatchers, slowly penetrating the dome-like area of protection. The dome was holding powerfully, but it was only a matter of time before it was broken; there were far too many attempting to break through.
And then Voldemort stepped forward, his face shining pearly-white in the almost total blackness, evidently standing just beyond the boundaries of the protective dome. The whole school seemed to hold its breath, and Neville could tell there wasn't a soul who hadn't noticed him. Lupin, Arthur Weasley and the rest of the fighters retreated a few steps, yet still holding up their wands in defence. Neville watched as Voldemort shook his head, as though disappointed by the teachers' efforts, and had Neville been closer, he was sure a sneer would be playing on his face. He raised his own wand and, with a blinding flash of white light and ear-splitting noise of explosion, the forcefield began to crack and splinter, before burning and fizzing.
'Good grief ...' muttered Sprout, as the dome slowly melted into nothingness. With the raise of a hand, Voldemort shouted something and an almighty roar echoed to the four corners of the earth it seemed, and the huge clan sprinted forward, brandishing wands, spears, maces and in the case of the trolls and giants, huge, wooden clubs. Neville lost sight of Voldemort as he bent down to retrieve his Mandrake, his heart thumping, his stomach churning.
'Brace yourselves,' said Sprout quietly, also clutching a rather fat, quivering Mandrake. They all watched tensely as the two fronts met; the air was suddenly full of bangs, shouts, lights and sparks as wands twirled and swirled, their victims crumbling or shouting out in pain.
'Now!' shouted Professor Sprout and they pulled on their earmuffs.
Simultaneously, they ripped off the Spellotape and launched the Mandrakes high into the air into the midst of Death Eaters, their screams that Neville couldn't hear piercing the air. In a wide arc, they flew and landed amongst the evil witches and wizards. A couple of them fell in seconds, dead, killed by the deadly scream of the fully-grown Mandrakes, while many were simply knocked out by the younger ones' screams.
'And again!' barked Sprout, and they repeated the process, though launching them with their wands instead to get more distance. But there were far too many of them and they had always outnumbered the Order of the Phoenix and DA members.
'Nice one, Longbottom!' said Sprout as Neville's Mandrake brought Selwyn down, his fingers in his ears.
And then the statues of Hogwarts came into view, stone and metal: suits of armour clanged and clanked, waving their swords and spears; stone animals, including lions, winged boars and falcons, shot forwards, scraping at Death Eaters with their claws. Some of the statues crumbled into dust and rubble as they were blown apart, causing a smokescreen to form in random areas. Spurts of fire erupted haphazardly and the giants sunk their huge clubs into the walls and towers of Hogwarts, the stone tumbling and crushing both innocent and non-innocent, and Voldemort's Army came ever closer to the school walls.
'OK - Devil's Snare!'
With a flick of the wand, Sprout sent a stream of the deadly vines into the battle arena. Neville watched in awe as it wrapped itself around Death Eaters' and the giants' necks and torso, causing them to splutter and writhe as they struggled for breath. Neville spotted Bill Weasley fighting Stan Shunpike, Ron's parents with the werewolf Greyback, Luna and Ernie in combat with -
Neville's heart dropped like a stone. Luna was too young to be fighting and there was no way she could match the woman with black, straggly hair and sunken eyes that were wide with excitement.
Without another word, Neville dropped his two Snargaluff pods and raced down the spiral staircase before Sprout had even realised. He wrenched his earmuffs off and dropped them too as he drew his wand. The corridors were largely empty, but Neville knew they would soon be full with battle cries the moment the Hogwarts front was breached. His footsteps echoed as his heart bounded. He simply had to get to Bellatrix before something disastrous happened.
He entered the grounds, illuminated by a combination of the moon, the billowing fires and the lights issued from all wands. Shouts of panic, pain and instructions pressed against Neville eardrums as he scanned the area for Luna. Holding his wand tightly, he spotted her and Ernie and ran over - Bellatrix had gone and they were now fighting Crabbe's father; he keeled over as Ernie and Luna successfully Stunned him at the same time.
'Nice one, Ernie!' shouted Lupin, who was immersed in a fight with Dolohov.
'Who's afraid of the big bad wolf, Loopy?' jeered Dolohov. Lupin continued to assail him, the latter's evil grin dispelled as a gash flashed across his cheek, replaced by a snarl as he recovered himself.
'Avada Kedavra!'
Lupin was never ready for it: he had dropped his guard the moment he'd cut Dolohov. The flash of green light would have been the last thing he saw and Neville, Luna and Ernie watched, in spite of themselves, as their ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher fell forwards, his legs and arms splayed at every angle, unmoving, eyes staring.
'NO!'
A young woman with bubblegum-pink hair came rushing over as Dolohov cackled. She shot a spurt of red light at Dolohov, who creased and fell, blood spurting from his face and through his robes.
Another cackle rent the air, a cackle that sent shivers down Neville. Bellatrix had returned.
'Say hello to Sirius, Dory!' she screeched to the young woman. 'Avada Kedavra!'
The pink-haired woman dropped as Lupin had, their bodies completely parallel, hands an inch from each other. Neville was frozen in shock and anger, and the rest of the battle was severed from his eyeline. Bellatrix hopped away, not noticing Neville, leaving nothing but an echoing, triumphant cackle behind.