The Army Note: I can't really describe the plot here, but anyway, there is some very, very slight romance in here. And not between Harry and Hermione, or Hermione and Ron, or Ron and Harry, or anything you see a lot. Unconventional. (Well, Ron and Harry romance would be unconventional, but also extremely ... ugh.) If you read the story and don't see an inkling of romance, I explain it in another note.
Disclaimer: The only characters that belong to me are Queen Antas, Chaidi, and the rest of the army. Everyone else belongs to J.K. Rowling. I don't mean to steal her characters, I'm just borrowing them for the time being and making them do stuff I want them to. :)
Chapter 1
The huge tent sheltered fourteen beings.
"Don't do that!" bellowed one of them. The owner of that voice marched up to another being and punched him very painfully in the nose.
"Ow!"
Two other beings giggled.
"So handsome," one whispered.
"He likes me though," said the other.
"No, he likes me!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
They wrestled each other.
"Silence!" a witch from the other end ordered. Immediately calm was restored ... though the faces on the other thirteen beings didn't reflect it. Each of them bit their fingernails or trembled as they turned their attention to the speaker.
"Is this how you will act when we face them?" hissed the witch leader, her pointed, pale face menacing.
All thirteen other faces were shamefaced. A low murmur of denials filled the tent.
"I should hope not," she sneered. "Now, a few notes.
"First, we must remember to keep together. When we reach the battlefield I shall draw a line like this --" her hand, clutching a wand, pointed to the ground and a white streak formed across the surface "-- and none of you shall cross to the other side. This spell requires thirteen of you on our side to ensure that we win. Even if just one of you crosses over, we will be deeply handicapped. There are hundreds of students and quite a few teachers skilled in their art. Do you hear me? Just one of us lost, and we will probably lose our lives. I may be the greatest witch in the world, but against the best school of witchcraft and wizardry, even I cannot do much.
"Also, we have a few main targets. These photos should help you."
Though the thirteen gigantic beings were all more than twice their witch leader's height, they treated her as their goddess. The one closest to the leader bowed as he received the photograph.
As the pictures were passed around, voices muttering, "Teeny weeny little toys, too easy," and other things along that line could be heard quite clearly.
Only one troll had something else to say about them.
"We have to kill them?" she inquired, miserably.
"'Course," snarled a fellow troll sitting next to her. "Chaidi, you're so stupid. Why else do we fight?"
"But they don't look mean," Chaidi wailed. "Look at this boy. He's so small, and he has a nice smile. He can't be that bad, can he? And this man looks kind."
"Well, they are bad. Haven't you listened at all to Queen Antas?"
"Why're they bad?"
"She never says."
"They don't *look* bad. I don't like killing. I hate this."
"What did you say?" said Queen Antas, striding over to Chaidi with a rather nasty smile.
Chaidi winced and her shoulders hunched up.
"I hope I never hear it again," the witch said, still smiling, and she walked back to the end of the tent. Chapter 2
The screaming and panic was contagious. Even teachers like Professor Trelawney and Professor Flitwick tried to escape from the Great Hall.
"The sides divide here, followers!" a woman unknown to Hogwarts shouted. She pointed her wand at a suit of armor and immediately a white line formed there, growing longer until it reached the other end of the room. Thirteen blundering trolls advanced towards the Hogwarts students and teachers.
Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley were in the middle of the crowd, unnoticeable. Poor Neville Longbottom was in the very front, standing rooted to the spot. The troll nearest him didn't seem to know what to do. Her eyes just flickered around the people of Hogwarts. "I don't like this, I don't like this," she said sadly.
"Don't kill me, please!" Neville squealed.
The troll caught sight of him and began running towards him, as if ready to attack. Neville's eyes were wide with fear as he saw her arms reach out ... but she just flung her arms around his neck (as it was the easiest spot to reach, she being eleven feet tall) and cried onto his shoulder.
Neville fell down backwards. The troll refused to let go of him.
Five first-years jumped on a different troll and grabbed his neck. He stumbled and fell to the ground, unconscious. More students followed their example. It wasn't very easy to knock out a troll (the troll that the first-years had defeated was a very old one) but by hanging onto their necks, they confused many of them. The witch was standing in the middle of all the trolls, protected on every side. But then she caught a glimpse of the knocked-out troll.
"Why isn't the spell working?" she asked herself desperately. But then, a short way from the troll, she saw Neville -- or more importantly, the girl troll on top of him. A troll had crossed the line.
"Chaidi, come back!" she screeched. But Chaidi didn't hear her. She wouldn't let go of Neville.
After many attempts in vain to retrieve Chaidi, she gave up.
"Retreat!" she yelled, and when the trolls didn't understand her she tried again. "I mean, come back! Turn around and get away from them!"
All of the troll army got off the Hogwarts grounds ... except Chaidi. She wouldn't stop sobbing.
Professor Snape came forward.
"Out!" he spat. "Didn't you hear your leader? Out, you filthy creature!"
Chaidi stopped sobbing for a bit and looked up.
"I don't like Queen Antas," she said. "Queen Antas likes killing."
By now students were slowly filtering into the hall again.
Professor McGonagall's sharp voice pierced the silence. "Professor Snape. This girl needs rest. I suggest we let her stay the night here. She can sleep in the Gryffindor house."
After the rather interrupted dinner, students scattered to their houses. The Gryffindors were all sitting in their common room, along with the still weeping Chaidi. They fired questions at her and, when she didn't answer them, they tried Neville. He didn't help much.
Then Chaidi finally finished crying. "But you're all against Queen Antas, right? 'Cause I can't stand her."
"Who's Queen Antas?" was everyone's question.
Chaidi looked appalled.
"You don't know Queen Antas?"
"No," Neville said flatly, and Harry said, "Are we supposed to?"
"'Course! She's the greatest witch in the world, probably greater than the greatest wizard!" The Gryffindors muttered disapproval.
"She can't be greater than Dumbledore," insisted Lavender, as Parvati nodded approval.
"She's the greatest witch in the world," Chaidi insisted.
"How do you know?"
"She said so."
"Ahhhh. That explains."
"But why was she trying to kill us?" asked Hermione nervously.
"Not you," sniffed Chaidi.
"Who, then?" Dean demanded.
For a while Chaidi didn't speak, and nobody else broke the silence as they watched her stuff her giant hand into a pocket of her clothing and pull out something ... but what was it?
Then they stared at the two photos in her hand. Slowly, every head turned towards Harry. Well, he had expected it. Too many people wanted him dead, already.
"You," Hermione whispered.
"To be expected," Harry muttered.
"And Professor Dumbledore." Chapter 3
The next day, teachers and students both were in shock. Professor Trelawney forgot to pretend to cry when she looked at Harry, even though this time he really was in danger of dying. Professor Snape didn't even take points off Gryffindor when Neville spilled bat blood over his robes. Professor Dumbledore alone looked calm.
Then they had Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid was less affected by the previous incident than the other teachers, though not as calm as Dumbledore. His eyes darted towards Harry and Neville at odd moments.
The class was interrupted when one of the phoenixes in the field started singing and flew into the face of Dumbledore, who had just appeared on the field.
"Good afternoon, Rubeus," he said to Hagrid, still dignified even as red feathers floated in front of his crooked nose. "Do you mind if I have a little talk with Longbottom?"
Neville's scared eyes looked from Dumbledore to Hagrid, and back again.
"Er -- all right, sir," Hagrid mumbled as he stared curiously at Neville.
Dumbledore motioned for Neville to follow him, and they walked towards the castle.
"I'll be needing to speak with you first," Dumbledore said. "You, no doubt, remember yesterday's battle with the trolls."
"Yes, sir," Neville squeaked.
"Good, good. The reason I chose to talk with you is that one of the trolls is strangely attached to you."
Neville blushed slightly.
"This troll -- does she show any signs of wanting to attack any other students?"
"No," Neville answered quickly. "She says she hates her leader."
"Who is her leader? The witch we saw yesterday?"
Neville nodded. "Queen Antas, she called her."
"Okay. And did she tell you what the purpose of the battle was?"
Just then, they heard a loud stomping. Chaidi was walking out of the castle. Then she noticed Neville and started running.
"Uh-oh," Neville barely had time to mutter, before he was thrown to the ground.
"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said, beaming. He tapped Chaidi on the shoulder. She didn't move. He tapped a little harder. Still no response. Then he rolled her over so Neville could breathe.
"Good afternoon, young lady," he greeted Chaidi. "Would it be too much to ask for your name?"
Chaidi blinked, obviously not comprehending.
"What is your name?" Dumbledore clarified.
"Chaidi."
"So, Chaidi, do you know why your leader wanted to fight us at Hogwarts?"
"Queen Antas?"
"Yes."
"She wanted to kill you and another boy."
Neville closed his eyes. He had almost been glad when Chaidi had fallen on him, as she had saved him from answering Dumbledore's question. Now she had gone and answered him anyway. At least he wasn't the one who had to break it to Dumbledore, he thought.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Dumbledore's face had gone from cheerful to serious.
"And who was the boy?" he asked gravely.
"The boy. The boy with these things." She brought her hands to her face and indicated glasses. "Black hair, green eyes. Nice smile."
Dumbledore blinked.
"Harry?" he questioned Neville.
Neville nodded miserably.
Dumbledore just stood there for a minute. Neville, unable to bear the silence, asked him very quietly, "Professor, may I join the Care of Magical Creatures class now?"
"Of course," Dumbledore replied. Neville left, looking relieved. Still Dumbledore stood, thinking. There were only two people who could possibly want to harm both Harry and himself. One was the obvious thought, Voldemort, perhaps sharing a body with a female follower. The other was ... but it had been over fifty years ago. It couldn't be ...
"Albus?"
Dumbledore whirled around and saw the amused glint in Professor McGonagall's eyes.
"Er -- hello, Minerva," he said.
"What are you doing standing here all by yourself?"
"Just thinking, just thinking," Dumbledore muttered.
"About the invasions?"
"That's it."
Professor McGonagall looked suspiciously at Dumbledore. "Perhaps we can discuss it in the staff room. There has to be a way to block them from the grounds. We probably need Professor Snape's help -- after all, he knows much more than I, and maybe even you, know about the Dark Arts."
Dumbledore allowed himself to smile grimly. "Brilliant idea," he commented. At least it would give him a break from thinking about who could possibly want him dead. Chapter 4
Another attack.
This time, the teachers had prepared as best as they could. Professor Snape, as suggested by Professor McGonagall, offered much advice to the other teachers about charms that were hard for even powerful Dark magic to pierce. Guard dragons were placed at the edges of the Hogwarts grounds. Hagrid found some comfort in this.
Still, the army found their way in. And there was no way to break the Dark spell the witch had cast, at least, none that any teacher or student knew. None of the teachers knew very much about the Dark Arts, not even Professor Snape, who knew the most. The Restricted Section in the library was their best source of information. However, two days is not a very long time at all to research, especially when they had to teach classes.
The trolls marched into the Great Hall. Once again, the witch that led them drew a white line across the room. Spears were thrown and the students foolish enough to cross the white line alone were lifted from the floor and found themselves zooming towards the walls. Chaidi cowered behind Neville, or tried to, at least. Once she accidentally knocked into Malfoy, then squealed, "He -- he looks like Queen Antas!" before crouching at Neville's feet. Spears were flying everywhere. One hit Parvati in the back when she wasn't looking, and she screamed, then ran for the hospital wing.
Suddenly Neville had an idea.
"Chaidi," he whispered, "do you know how Queen Antas wants to win? Did she say she would use any kind of -- spell?"
"Queen Antas will win," Chaidi said with a depressing certainty. "She has thirteen of my kind on her side, so she will win."
"Thirteen -- thirteen trolls?"
"Yes, she needs thirteen on that side." She pointed to the white line on the floor. Neville had to duck to avoid a spear that had been thrown in his direction. "Thirteen trolls on that side and they will never die."
"Then help me!" he hissed. He went right up to the white line, a little further, maybe, and started pulling on another girl troll's arm. "Pull!" he instructed Chaidi. She helped him out with the other arm (so it was she who did most of the dragging). Another troll tried to pull the girl troll back.
"Help!" Neville shouted to the Hogwarts crowd. "Pull -- pull this one ..."
Seamus grabbed the same arm Neville was clutching and the troll moved towards them by one inch.
Lavender, not being able to reach either arm, grabbed Seamus instead. Seamus blushed, which was very inappropriate for the situation, but he wasn't used to girls grabbing him around the waist.
Another troll pulled the girl troll back by two inches. Two trolls (three, if you counted the girl troll in the middle) versus a troll and three students. The girl troll who served as the rope in this tug-of-war was slowly moving backwards, towards Queen Antas's side.
Then Hagrid joined the students by heaving all three of them with the girl troll's arm.
Soon enough just about everyone was involved in the tug-of-war. Thirteen trolls tried to pull against hundreds of students and teachers. Hogwarts was winning ...
All of a sudden, everyone except Queen Antas and Dumbledore had disappeared from the Great Hall.
"Where are the other students?" demanded a bewildered Harry. He found himself sitting on an armchair in the Gryffindor common room, which was very off-putting.
"Probably in their houses," answered Professor McGonagall, who had also appeared in the Gryffindor common room looking dazed. "I suppose the teachers should be off to the staff room by now ... plotting strategy ... take care of yourselves ..."
And she left. Chapter 5
"So nice to talk to you again, Albus." It had been a long time since Queen Antas had spoken without iciness. "Do you remember who I am?"
"No," Dumbledore muttered as he turned away. He could guess at who she was, but he wouldn't.
Queen Antas's eyes narrowed. "I should have known," she muttered, her voice cold again. Then she brought out her wand and pointed it toward her face.
Suddenly she was transforming. Where the shoulder-length, silvery golden hair had been was now a dark red-brown mass that hung from her head to her waist. Her face's pointed features were gradually softening. The purple eyes were turning blue, and soon enough a completely different person was in front of Dumbledore. He looked in her direction again, and Queen Antas was pleased to see that he was definitely stunned.
"Larelle?" he said.
Larelle laughed. Her laugh was real, not a cold cackle disguised as one. "Yes, Larelle." Then she quickly transfigured back to Queen Antas. She was free to truly be a Dark witch in this form. It was more ... fitting. Larelle's body was too inclined to giggle for her taste.
"I always wondered where you were," Dumbledore muttered. "You disappeared for a while, didn't you?"
"Yes, and in isolation I made myself great."
What could he have been thinking when he first fell in love with Larelle? She was beautiful, maybe. But he should have seen it in her ...
"So, Albus, Harry Potter now goes to your school. Famous Harry Potter. Harry Potter who took the powers away from Tom." Dumbledore flinched. "Well, I should think you're quite proud of him."
"He is an excellent student and Quidditch player," said Dumbledore through clenched teeth.
"That too. Well, you are proud of him. After all, you always hated Tom, even in his school days."
"I did not hate Voldemort. I just knew that I could not be his father. And I was right. Look at him now!"
"You knew. You were so sure of yourself, so sure that you left me just because I wanted to adopt him after our planned marriage. What were your words again? I believe they were, 'I can't be with someone who is in league with that Tom Riddle.' Isn't that right? Well, I am not in league with Tom. I just happen to love him as a mother loves her son. I knew he would turn out well. He had all the potential to become a great wizard ... and he did, until little Harry Potter came along. And you've helped him. You've helped him! Well, now you'll find out how stupid you've been.
"So, let's see how the powers of the greatest wizard in the world, besides Tom, compare with the powers of the greatest witch in the world."
"But Larelle --"
"NOW! Let's get this over with, so I can move onto that Harry Potter. He should be quite easy to get rid of."
They both whipped out their wands. Dumbledore was trembling, but he knew he had to do this.
"One ... two ... three!"
"Expelliarmus Combusti," muttered Dumbledore weakly, trying to concentrate harder, but it was enough. A small fire shot out of his wand, aimed at Queen Antas. At the same time, she screeched, "Petrificus Totalus!" In the split-second that followed, Dumbledore thought, "The Full Body-Bind? Surely a Dark witch can cast a more complex spell than that!" But it didn't matter how simple the spell was. He was petrified. And Queen Antas grabbed the fire that Dumbledore had shot at her. With a sneer much, much worse than any of Snape's or Malfoy's expressions, she threw it at Dumbledore's heart. He felt a burning pain in his chest, but it hadn't progressed that far yet.
"You'll die slowly, Albus," she murmured. "Much better."
This can't be, he thought desperately. Someone's going to help me.
But would there be enough time? No teachers were around and -- a sickening sensation engulfed Dumbledore. None of them dared to come near Queen Antas, anyway. None of them had the bravery to help him. And Queen Antas was ready to cast her next spell ...
"COMBUSTI!" she screamed, and this was the real fire spell, not one to disarm, but one to kill. But the woman's voice was different, somehow. Another screaming followed, but it was one without words, and it was the voice of Queen Antas ... Larelle? Was that Larelle who was writhing in agony, arms frantically beating her back? And who was it who walked toward him, wand outstretched, ready to perform the Full Body-Bind's countercurse? "Albus, wake up, please ..."
Dumbledore's eyes snapped open. Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall looked apprehensively down at him.
Slowly he started to remember.
"Who -- who killed Larelle? Who?" he asked urgently.
"Me," Professor McGonagall answered simply. "I hope you don't mind."
"And who brought me out of my petrified state?"
"Me."
Dumbledore thought for a moment. Then a smile of relief broke out over his face. "Thank you," he managed to say.
"Well, I suppose you should get your rest now," said McGonagall stiffly, back to her normal self. "Madam Pomfrey's healed your burn, but I do say, after that event, you need some more sleep. You've only slept an hour, and that was because you were unconscious, anyway."
"You'll be able to get back to work this afternoon, if you take a nap," Madam Pomfrey assured him.
Dumbledore nodded, and realized that he really was tired. He closed his eyes and drifted away to a pleasant dreamland. Nearly everyone had heard the news of the duel between Professor Dumbledore and Queen Antas. Nobody really knew the details, though; they just knew that somehow or another, Queen Antas had died. And none of them learned that in truth, Queen Antas was more powerful than Dumbledore, and it was only by Professor McGonagall that he had lived.
In the afternoon, like Madam Pomfrey had promised, Dumbledore was up and about. He was in the middle of answering three new letters from Cornelius Fudge that were now at the top of a stack of many when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
Professor McGonagall entered the room and took one look at the papers on his desk.
"You're doing too much work," she informed him critically. "Why don't you have a break now? You can have a cup of tea in my office." She was trying to look stern about his workload, but the disguise was quite transparent.
"Why not," said Dumbledore with a smile, and he stood up. They walked out of the room together.
Well, there's two romances in here. A one-sided one between Chaidi and Neville, and one between Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. (Hey, she did save his life.) Like I said, nobody would notice it ...
Anyway, if you're wondering, Queen Antas's name is an anagram of Satan, and she's not really Satan but I just couldn't think of anything else evil-sounding. Chaidi comes from this Thai phrase, chai dee, and it literally means good heart. People use it when referring to a kind person. And don't ask me to speak any Thai, I can't. I just know bits and pieces and I understand some.
An explanation for the last part, for those who didn't get it: Larelle is Queen Antas, and Larelle was Dumbledore's girlfriend. They were going to get married, but Larelle wanted to adopt Tom Riddle after they were married, since he was an orphan. Dumbledore refused and broke off their engagement. After that, Larelle disappeared and grew more powerful, much more powerful than Dumbledore, but nobody knew about her because she was hidden for fifty years or so. That's why she was so powerful as to be able to break into Hogwarts.
Please, please review this. I really want reviews, to see what people think of my stories. I know I don't write anything particularly deep or funny, but I still want to know what people think.
