Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story, they are all JK's, and I also include a fair amount of her dialogue in this chapter, which is also hers, believe it or not. Anything else I have to say?
Author's note: This is my first story, so I'm not really sure about what I'm doing yet... I have begun a story that I don't know I will finish, but I wanted to post this to see what people think of it and whether they have any ideas about what could happen after the Battle of Hogwarts...?
EDIT: I've cleaned this chapter up a little bit, I think, so I've reloaded it. Hopefully it has worked and you are reading this message...
Chapter 1: Fighting
"Isn't it great Dean? We're going back to Hogwarts, back to Hogwarts, and Harry's there, and we'll overthrow the Carrows at last!" Dean was excitedly hurrying down the dark corridor after Luna, her perfect blonde hair trailing behind her as she turned back around to face where she was going.
"Is this really going to lead us to the DA? I mean, doesn't Snape have all of the secret passageways sealed?"
"I think this one's different Dean... Neville told us to go this way. I like Neville." The trust in Luna's voice was comforting to Dean. He knew how much the DA meant to Luna, as well as just having friends like Neville and Harry. And him, he guessed now.
Soon they came to a door, just like the one hiding behind the portrait of the girl in The Hog's Head. He could hear Neville's voice now, talking seriously: "...loyal to Dumbledore, loyal to you."
"Isn't this exciting?" Luna pushed the door open, and shouted, "We got your message, Neville! Hello you three, I thought you must be here!"
"Dean!" The bruised, bloodied and swollen face of Seamus was one of the first Dean saw – it was horrifying, but he was delighted to see his friend after so long rushing up to him and hugging him warmly.
"Seamus! What happened to you?" Dean looked around the room; it was large and well furnished, with hammocks hanging around the edges under Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff banners, and a generous supply of sofas and armchairs. The room was crowded with students, many displaying similar injuries to Seamus (particularly Neville), and all of whose attentions were fixed on Harry Potter, not many looking as happy as they ought to, with their only hope in their presence.
"Oh, just a few scratches from the Carrows... but it's OK, Harry's here now, and we'll... we'll get rid of them." Seamus sounded a lot more uncertain than Luna, and indeed, it seemed that Harry did have other ideas... Dean had thought as much, from what Harry seemed to be doing in the past few weeks. Dean wanted to know how all of these students were here, in Hogwarts, in this wonderful room away from the Carrows, but there was clearly some sort of argument going on presently.
"Listen," Harry said to Luna and Neville, who had been talking to him, looking flustered, "I'm sorry, but that's not what we came back for. There's something we've got to do, and then-"
"You're going to leave us in this mess?" demanded Michael Corner, and it seemed many of the other occupants of the room were thinking along similar lines.
"No!" said Ron, stepping forwards from behind Harry. "What we're doing will benefit everyone in the end, it's all about trying to get rid of You-Know-Who –"
"Then let us help!" shouted Neville. "We want to be part of it!" Dean wanted to help, too, but also wanted to give Harry his chance to do whatever he needed to do first. However, any further argument was stopped by the re-opening of the door to the passageway by which they had entered, and in came some more familiar faces: Dean's ex-girlfriend Ginny (he still felt a little uncomfortable as Ginny stepped onto the floor beside him, looking at Harry), the Weasley twins and their friend and Potterwatch host, Lee Jordan.
"Aberforth's getting a bit ratty," said Fred cheerily, raising his hand in welcome as he clambered in. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station." No sooner had he said this than another DA member, the small, Chinese girl Cho Chang, entered the room, smiling, holding up her replica of the galleon, and saying, "I got the message." She went to sit on a sofa, next to fellow Ravenclaw Michael Corner.
"So what's the plan then, Harry?" said George eagerly. Harry looked yet more flustered, positively faint, and clutched at his forehead.
"There isn't one!"
"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favourite kind," said Fred.
"You've got to stop this!" Harry said angrily to Neville. "What did you call them all back for? This is insane-"
"We're fighting, aren't we?" said Dean hopefully, amazed that Harry was not expecting this. He took out his galleon too. "The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight!" A sudden thought struck him, stupidly. "I'll have to get a wand though-"
"You haven't got a wand -?" began Seamus. Dean looked at him, sadly.
Then Ron spoke again. "Why can't they help?"
"What?" asked Harry, still looking dazed and confused. He did not look well.
"They can help," said Ron, and started murmuring to Harry and Hermione.
"You haven't got a wand?" asked Seamus again.
"Yeah, no, I got caught by a bunch of Snatchers, and-"
"You got caught?" asked his friend, looking horrified. Dean thought about how much had happened since they had last met, to both of them if Seamus' appearance was anything to go by.
"Yeah, I did, and they took my wand, but Harry and Dobby got us out-"
"You were with Harry?"
"Right up till this morning... it's a long story."
"Did you know he was going to break into Gringotts?"
"He did what?" asked Dean. He hadn't had a chance to see Bill that afternoon, and there was no other way for him to have heard anything.
"OK," said Harry over the noise that had broken out, and Dean grew excited again. "There's something we need to find. Something... something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here at Hogwarts, but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw." Harry looked around the room hopefully, and Dean wondered what it was that Harry wasn't telling them. "Has anyone ever heard of an object like that? Has anyone ever come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"
Luna, who was sitting with Ginny, said earnestly, "Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember, Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it." Dean remembered something about a tiara that was one of Xenophilius Lovegood's current projects, as a passing comment from Luna in the last few weeks.
"Yeah, but the lost diadem," said Michael Corner rudely, "is lost, Luna. That's sort of the point."
"When was it lost?" asked Harry, desperation showing in his face.
"Centuries ago, they say," said Cho. "Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked, but nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?" she checked with the other Ravenclaws. Dean could see the disappointment in Harry's face.
"Sorry, but what is a diadem?" asked Ron.
"It's a kind of crown," said Terry Boot. "Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer."
Luna began to agree with him – "Yes, Daddy's Wrackspurt siphons-" she started hopefully – but was interrupted by Harry, not caring to hide his impatience.
"And none of you have ever seen anything that looks like it?" Harry was really getting cut up about this diadem. The Ravenclaws shook their heads, but Cho said,
"If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I could take you up to our common room and show you, Harry? Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue."
Harry clutched his head again and said something to Ron and Hermione, then looked at Cho, and turned back to them. "Listen, I know it's not much of a lead, but I'm going to go and look at this statue, at least to find out what the diadem looks like. Wait for me and keep – the other one – safe."
Dean knew Harry had to keep something secret, but he was being frustratingly mysterious. Cho was about to lead him out, when Ginny said, fiercely, "No, Luna will take Harry, won't you, Luna?"
"Ooh, yes, I'd like to," said Luna happily, leaving Cho looking obviously disappointed. Dean, who had been about to turn back to Seamus to find out what had been happening since he'd been out of the loop, looked up at Luna.
Harry then asked Neville, "How do we get out?"
"Over here," Neville replied, and showed them over to a cupboard in the corner. Luna watched excitedly as Neville opened the door to reveal a staircase. "It comes out somewhere different every day, so they've never been able to find it. Only trouble is, we never know exactly where we're going to end up when we go out. Be careful, Harry, they're always patrolling the corridors at night."
"No problem", said Harry. "See you in a bit." He led Luna hurriedly up the staircase, and Dean felt a strange pang for having to let her out of his sight.
"Any idea what that was about?" asked Seamus, looking worried.
"Not a clue, mate... oh, it's good to be back I guess." Dean gave his friend a smile, and they sat down on a free sofa under the golden lion hanging on the wall. "He wouldn't tell us anything he was doing at Shell Cottage... I think he reckons he's got some secret job Dumbledore needed doing."
"What?" asked Seamus, trying to figure out what Dean was telling him. "Come on, Dean, how've you been? I was dead worried when I heard what they were going to do to muggle-borns..."
Dean looked at his best friend's mangled face, and sighed. "Well, we're going to fight now, aren't we?"
"I hope so..." They looked across at Neville, who was talking with Fred and George in the middle of the room. Ron and Hermione were sitting beyond them, talking quickly in hushed tones. At that moment, Hermione gasped and said something about "...the chamber... bathroom!" and immediately ran across the room, grabbing Ron by the wrist, and up the stairs. Dean stood up, and Neville shouted, "Where are you going?" but they continued up the stairs.
"What was that about?" said Seamus, rising too. Dean did not reply, but walked over to Neville instead.
"Are we doing this, Neville?"
"You bet!" said Fred and George together.
"Yeah," said Neville, "We're sending the message to the rest of the DA, you know, Alicia, Angelina, everyone else who's left-"
"I'm sure Aberforth will love that," said Dean, thinking of the grumbling he had received upon apparating into the poor man's living room.
"And hopefully we can get loads of people in here," Neville continued. "Voldemort needs to know he's got competition." He grinned grimly.
Dean turned to Seamus, who was also grimacing. "Hear that?" he said. "We're fighting at last!"
They sat back down as Neville worked his fake galleon.
"So where are we?" asked Dean, trying to get a hold on the situation in the momentary respite. "How did you get a safe place, where you can't be found? Wait – is this the Room of Requirement?"
"That's right Dean, Neville came here to hide from the Carrows, and he realised it had everything we need in here, and he's great at getting it to do exactly what we want, it's brilliant!" Seamus beamed at him.
"Bloody brilliant," agreed Dean. "Seriously, what have these Carrow people been doing to you?"
Seamus told him about the reign of terror to which Snape and the Carrows had been subjecting them, and the punishments given to those who stood out against them.
"The Cruciatus curse?!" asked Dean in horror, when one of the Death Eaters' "methods" had been mentioned.
"Yeah, well, it's not bad after a while. You sort of build up a resilience to it." Dean just looked horrified. "I guess that's what we've been doing, fighting the Carrows like a curse. If we just let them get on with it, they'd have a lot more power."
"But they've driven you into hiding?" asked Dean, not meaning to insult.
"Well yeah, the Carrows got a bit desperate about the whole situation, and after they started going after Neville's gran-"
"Neville's gran?!"
"Oh yeah, they thought that'd be the only way to get at Neville, he's been the ringleader all year. Anyway, it's just about up to boiling point now, and yeah, most of us have been forced to hide up here, but the more desperate they get, the more the Carrows are hated. It's all Neville's idea, of course."
Dean was impressed and horrified at the same time. He had had no idea these things were going on at the place he had always believed to be the safest place in the world...
"But what about you, Dean?" Seamus asked nervously. "I was... I was really worried..."
"Look, I'm fine Seamus. You know I couldn't have proven any blood status, and they were going to come and find me, weren't they? So yeah, I was on the run, and-"
"And then we heard on Potterwatch, on Neville's radio... they said that maybe, maybe you had..." Seamus, again, could not finish his sentence. Dean grew cold, though, because he knew to which night Seamus was referring, and remembered Ted Tonks telling him to run as he and Dirk Creswell fought...
"Hey, look, as I said, we're fighting now, Seamus. Fighting. This can end at last. I reckon Harry's going to do something, he's got a plan, and we can defeat You-Know-Who." Dean felt he had to keep repeating it before he could believe it, almost persuading himself rather than Seamus, who looked a little brighter again now, although it was hard to tell through all the injuries and scars.
The mood between the two of them grew lighter as more people began arriving; the Order of the Phoenix had somehow been informed, and Oliver Wood came too, after Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnett and Angelina Johnson arrived with their galleons in their hands. Soon, Arthur, Molly and Bill Weasley had arrived with Fleur Delacour, Remus Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt, and the room became crowded and boisterous. There was clearly some sort of nervous tension around the room, but everyone was very glad to have something happening at last.
After a while, Harry and Luna came back into sight running down the stairs, Harry slipping the last few as he took in the room.
"They're back, Seamus!" Dean called immediately.
The dishevelled, scruffy but very excited Lupin rushed over to Harry. "Harry, what's happening?"
"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school – Snape's run for it – what are you doing here? How did you know?"
Fred Weasley explained, but Dean looked over to Seamus to see the look of exhilaration on his face – this was it, Voldemort was coming. He must be, if Harry was saying the name.
"What first, Harry?" called George. "What's going on?"
"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organised," Harry said. "We're fighting."
The room exploded around Dean, and everyone rushed to the staircase at once, the entire might of Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix hurrying to save the wizarding world. Dean saw Luna in the corner, and quickly grabbed her hand – even now, with all the adrenalin coursing through his body, it gave him butterflies – and called, "Come on, Luna!" She raced after him and they all squeezed up the secret stairway together. Dean noticed as he was forced up the stairs by the throng that Harry and the Weasleys were not moving towards the exit, Ginny with her arms crossed looking fiercely at her mother.
It was a race to the Great Hall. Students in their night clothes, with dressing gowns or travelling cloaks, were all going in the same direction, a growing conglomeration of excited teenagers, now filling up a corridor, now flooding a moving staircase, now bursting into the entrance hall, now exploding into the Great Hall. It was lit by a multitude of floating candles, mirroring the myriad pinpricks of light in the black canvas above that served as the enchanted ceiling. Spectral, translucent figures were appearing out of the tapestries, through the walls, to take their place as spectators around the edge of the auditorium. Centre stage, a tall, severe witch, wearing a tartan dressing gown and a tight bun to her auburn hair, strode up to the raised dais upon which stood the ornate oak chair.
The benches quickly filled, and the staff were lined up behind McGonagall, along with several Order members. Dean was seated between Luna, who had come to join him at the Gryffindor table, and Seamus, as they waited in fervent anticipation. When all the seats had been filled, McGonagall stopped her conversation with Professor Sprout, straightened herself up, and began to speak with a magically magnified voice.
"Students of Hogwarts." A nervous hush fell about the hall. "As you may now be aware, the school is in danger. He Who Must Not Be Named, Voldemort-" a few gasps "-is on his way. We are all now in grave peril, and Death Eaters may break into Hogwarts at any moment. However, there is a secret passageway remaining open by which you can leave Hogwarts and return to relative safety. The evacuation will be overseen by Mr Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organise your house and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point."
Dean could see many students looking terrified, but was glad to see Ernie Macmillan stand up and shout, "And what if we want to stay and fight?"
A few people clapped.
"If you are of age, you may stay," said Professor McGonagall.
"What about our things?" called a young Ravenclaw. "Our trunks, our owls?"
"We have no time to collect our possessions," said McGonagall solemnly. "The important thing is to get you out of here safely."
"Where's Professor Snape?" shouted a girl at the Slytherin table.
"He has, to use the common phrase," McGonagall's lips twitched slightly, "done a bunk." This brought many cheers from the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and Dean chuckled along with Seamus.
"I bet he was duelling McGonagall," said Seamus with a smile.
"We have already placed protection around the castle," continued Professor McGonagall, as people began to whisper and turn towards the figure of Harry, walking down the Gryffindor table, clearly looking for something, "but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects-"
But she could not continue as she was interrupted by a high, clear voice that suddenly seemed to come from the walls of the Great Hall themselves, echoing around the room. It was loud, cold, clipped and unmistakably Voldemort's, and with this realisation there were screams of shock and fear.
"I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood.
"Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.
"You have until midnight."