"English"

*"French"*

Chapter 4

First Encounter

Harry stood on a hill in Oceania, a tall hill that was much higher than the surrounding forest. A month had passed since Hogwarts fell. Since then, there numbers had grown incredibly. Those students who had originally not cared about either group had suddenly shifted to one of the two alliances. Some of the parents had joined as well. The Tide had grown to almost five thousand people. Its banner- a black wave, curled and foaming at the top with tentacles coming from it and a moon blocking out sun above it- flew from pennants all around the city of Oceania.

The sounds of chopping and cutting were going on all around, with the occasional tree falling with a solid "whump". The Chimera Unit, which had also grown, was constantly moving the trees or cutting them down. Harry's army was busy chopping down the Dark Forest tree by tree, clearing enough space to build a city. Harry planned on this being the site of his castle, the Jester's Keep. He gazed down now, looking at his workers. Already a lot of space had been cleared, but Harry wanted as much forest gone as possible. Keeping trees near a fortress was a great way to let spies watch you at will in their leaves, and Harry wasn't a fool. A jester yes but a fool was not what he was.

Wearing the black bands of the Tide on their forearms, the workers moved in the heat of the summer. Fall was coming soon, though, and an occasional chill breeze would blow through, reminding them to work quickly. They needed something far more permanent than tents when winter rolled around, and they set as strong a pace as they could. Every one of them had either a staff or an axe. Those with axes, which were enchanted to help them cut into anything whether that be it a head or wood, were chopping the trees down; those with staves were either casting spells to chop them down, or using a levitation spell to lift them and move them to another group of workers. These were casting spells to split the wood into usable planks and boards. Already several buildings had already been erected, and more were under construction. The buildings weren't homes, however. Those would be built later.

What buildings had already been made were what Harry deemed the most vital to the military. Two were watchtowers, and at the top of these wooden constructs two Marauders, a Purger, and an Elementalist stood guard. The towers were built on opposite sides of a road that Harry was planning on building in the winter. A gate would be erected between them soon enough. Each Marauder had a bow and arrow with them, and all were good shots. The Purgers were the best at aiming their Skull-masters even with kick-back that they caused. The Elementalist in each tower was equipped with staves. Padma stood watch in one, her Earth magics ready to wreck havoc on anything that approached. So far they had been busy; scattered groups of centaurs had attacked, and twice Aragog's children had rushed them. They'd lost a few men in the last battle with the spider beasts.

The reason for Aragog's attacks was inside a strange, dome-shaped building that lay almost in the exact center of Oceania. Immediately inside the front door one was greeted with three windows. Looking straight ahead, the first thing one saw was a glass-enclosed room containing a bloated brood queen, a member of Aragog's race. Another room contained her much smaller mate, and in the third, pale eggs pulsated slowly. Aragog's race of giant spiders was different from most species; most of its members were neither male nor female. They were sterile, which kept the race from overproducing and eating itself to death. Aragog was one of only three males in all the Dark Forest. Females were just as rare, and capturing these two had been one of the greatest triumphs of the Tide. Seamus himself had led the small army that had captured these two. A special set of runes that Cho Chang had personally drawn on the bloated egg-sac of the brood mother resulted in spider children that obeyed the commands of anyone wearing the matching rune-set, which Harry ordered carved on the armor of every member of the Tide. The first batch of spider servants was to be born the next spring. Harry couldn't wait for it.

Another building, the oldest one in Oceania (it had been built two months before, when Harry had been creating Whipstitch) was the Enchanters' Guild. Inside were housed the black smithy and various tools for carving, drawing, and weaving the enchantments that were ordered by the Black Tide. Cho lived here, in a small tower above the two story building. They along with some Necromancers made the Chimera units. Cho also helped Terry build Skull-Masters. Smoke was always pouring out from its chimney, and heat rolled off of it like water from a lake.

The last building here was the largest of them, easily three stories tall and spread out wide. Made of wood and some stone (scavenged from Hogwarts), the building was a combination barracks, supply depot, bar, and butcher shop. Dubbed simply "The Barracks," animals (hunted in from the Forest) were brought here and made into edible meals. Various supplies were stored here as well, as well as the bar (called the Laughing Mug) that Seamus frequented. A vault was contained within as well, guarding the treasures that the Tide had won. Four loyal guards protected this safe, deep within the Barracks.

Several small houses were beginning to go up, and above it all sat the foundations of the Jester's Keep. Harry's fortress wouldn't be completed for at least another half a year to two years, if they ran into trouble but that was okay.

He had time. He had all the time in the world.

Hermione looked up into the night air. Cold... it was so cold at Durmstrang. No matter what time of year, Durmstrang was nothing but ice and frost and the biting wind. She shivered and bunched up her shoulders for protection.

[Still,] she thought, looking on the bright side, [Harry and the Tide are far away from here.]

And that was true. Harry's Black Tide was too far away to hurt them at Durmstrang. And here, she had Ron. She didn't do much in public with him, since Viktor might turn them out if he thought Hermione didn't like him, but in private...

She smiled, thinking of him. She was starting to fall in love with him, and even though she thought it was bad timing on her part, she felt the way she felt. But thinking of him also made her sad. Ron had aged a lot in the past few days, matured and grown sadder, more adult. They all had, really. Ron had learned of his father's death from the Daily Prophet and his mother, and they all knew who had done it. Not Voldemort.

Harry.

Ron's tears had flowed when he saw the paper. He had went to his room and cried, his hand held to his eyes. Hermione had put her arms around him to comfort him, and his tears eventually trickled to a stop. Replacing them was rage.

"Damn him!" he swore fiercely, whispering as Hermione held him. "Damn him! Why? How could you, Harry? We were friends..."

His fist had clenched and unclenched constantly. His hatred of Harry became almost an obsession. He had taken up sword training, and every day could be seen practicing his thrusts and counters. He meant to pierce Harry's heart with his sword.

Hermione herself had begun learning even more magic, skipping things like Arithmancy to learn more Defense against the Dark Arts spells. She had been training the White Shore (now consisting of five thousand members- neither Harry nor Hermione knew it, but they were now opposing commanders of equal forces) and she had also begun taking command classes at Durmstrang. The heads of Durmstrang had believed her, and with Fudge's death had withdrawn from the wider wizarding world. The resistance to Harry had to start here. They would have to face off, and soon.

Hermione shivered again. The wind was cold. And on it, she could smell blood coming from the south west. They had only one unit for their soldiers, It was currently lead by Hermione and Ron and it was simple the Sand. They were the warrior of the White Shore.

Months Later and miles away.

Ron stood up from his seat on a log by a fire. The soldiers of the White Shore, their silver armor glinting in the light of the fire, gathered about him. Those sitting down looked at him when he cleared his throat. He had become their leader, and when he spoke they listened.

"Men," Ron began, his voice taking a tone with authority behind it, "tomorrow we meet the Tide. It's been a hard journey back to England. We have tried to alert the Ministry, but they will not listen. They refuse to aid us." Mumbled grumblings and complaints among the crowd at this. The Ministry's rejection had stung them badly. "But we do not stand alone. Durmstrang stands with us." Hearty cheer, the men had wintered at Durmstrang, and despite the bitter cold had enjoyed the chance to practice and train. They needed all they could of both to defeat the Tide.

"Durmstrang's spies have recently found Harry moving further south. He is heading towards France. He plans on taking over Beauxbatons and forcibly impressing the students there into his army. We have to stop him."

Ron pulled out his broadsword from its scabbard. It made a slight hiss as metal rubbed metal, and when it was free Ron used it to draw a map in the air with his magic. The map showed France and the surrounding area.

"Madame Maxine has divulged the location of Beauxbatons to us," Ron continued, and on the map a glowing blue dot appeared near the northern area of France, next to the French Alps. "And we are now moving to defend it. We are here," another glowing dot, white in color, appeared about five miles west of Beauxbatons, "and Harry's army is here." A third dot, black in color and glowing ominously, appeared north of Beauxbatons. It was about 10 miles north of the school.

From the crowd around him, a soldier asked, "If Beauxbatons' location is secret, then how does Harry know where to go?"

Ron shook his head. "That's the bad part. Harry had a spy in Beauxbatons, a girl he met in the Triwizard Tournament. Over the Christmas break she went back to Hogwarts to see how her fellow champion was doing. We aren't for sure what happened, but from the girl's diary, found in her room at Beauxbatons after she fled a week ago, we can guess. Apparently, an honor guard of Black Tide members greeted her at the rubble where Hogwarts once stood. She was taken through the Black Forest into Harry's main camp, which he is calling Oceania. There, she and Harry had a discussion that led to her being inducted into the Tide."

"Her name is Fleur Delacour. She revealed the location of Beauxbatons to Harry, and in doing so gave Harry the lives of everyone in Beauxbatons on a silver platter."

Shaking his head, Ron finished. "We will fight him here," he said, and a fourth and final dot appeared on the map just north of the school. "We make our stand here, and hopefully it's the last one we must make."

The men shivered as they looked at the map. The dot glowed red in the night. It pulsated slowly, as if in contemplation of something.

It was death, waiting. And the question on their minds was, for whom?

The Tide, or them?

Harry's army got up before dawn and began packing. Most of the troops complained about the conditions. Travel through the French Alps, even for wizards, was unpleasant business. The wind was bitingly sharp, even in spring which they were in. Snow, remnants of the winter just past, clung to the peaks and made travel difficult.

Harry woke up before dawn as well. He lay in his sleeping bag of fur, and he thought. He had waited all winter, building his strength, for this chance. It was now spring, and it was time for him to make his move. The camp was the last before the battle. He would need a queen soon. He thought over the members of his Ebony Flame. After all he needed someone just as insane as him.

The thought sparked Harry's laughter, and it echoed in the mountain. The Ebony Flame woke up at the sound, being the most sensitive to it, and seeing that it was time to travel, got out of their bags. After packing they moved over to Harry, Blaise was the first to arrive.

"When does it start?" she asked, her voice barely containing her excitement. Harry could hear the undertone of desire that flowed below it. He smiled. She wanted this battle too.

"Soon," he whispered back "Very soon."

Soon was right. The battle happened at 12:00 p.m. that day, Noon, a proper time for a showdown between the two armies.

Hermione and Ron, having planned their defense of Beauxbatons by looking at past wizard battles, were waiting in an open field, swords, wands, and staves out. They were planning on meeting what they felt would be a blind charge by Harry.

Unfortunately for them, Harry had other plans. Harry, who had never actually studied wizard history, looked to Muggle warfare for advice. And in this, at least, the Muggles were the geniuses and the wizards were the fools.

There have been two recorded wizard "wars" that have raged across the world. Both were in ancient times. Both were also classic examples of bad leadership. Warfare was never quite developed by wizards, who tended to solve matters with one-on-one duels. Even the war against Voldemort was more of a guerilla style battle than real open warfare.

Muggles, on the other hand, have fought with each other for centuries on end at some times. They learned how to fight and wage war on levels that wizards weren't even close to, nor would be for many years if the progress had stedied like that. This is why Ron and Hermione expected a full-out charge in an open field. They thought Harry would throw all his forces at them. They readied an impressive defence of their front, but failed to do so well on the sides and rear. This mistake would soon be their undoing.

Seamus, who Harry had chosen as a general, earned his nickname "The Black General" in this battle. Having studied Muggle Warfare under Harry's orders, he had struck on a brilliant idea. He split the army in four pieces, one led by him, and two others by Spithe and Vicks. His unit would wait while Spithe led the smallest unit to attack the front. At this point, his army would attack from the west side, and at the same time Vicks would engage the enemy on the east side. The resulting pincer would trap the enemy in crossfire. To keep anyone from leaving the south end, the last division, which was led by Cho and consisted almost entirely of Purgers, would then open fire on the bottleneck this created, burning any White Shore soldiers who tried to escape. The Ebony Flame was divided mostly in the three units. Blaise, Luna, Harry and Neville were with Spithe, well Draco, and Terry with Seamus, and The Chimera squad, except Whipstitch, with Vick. Ginny would be flying around during the battle.

Vicks and Seamus led off their portions while Harry stayed with Spithe. He wanted to attack from the front. He became the Jester, and then surveyed the battlefield. In the distance he could hear the sounds of an army approaching. Ginny landed beside him, her light feet pattering on the ground as her wings eased her down. She looked at him when he turned and said, "It's going to be a slaughter."

"I so hope so," Harry said. He soon started his maniacal, insane, and maddening laughter.

Ginny smiled and took to the air. Far away, she heard horns blowing. The battle was beginning. She soon joined him in his laughter.

Few soldiers of the White Shore escaped that day. It is regarded in wizard history as the moment that Harry revealed himself to the world, and also eliminated the threat of the White Shore for a while. It wasn't the end of the White Shore, but it was close.

Harry's frontal assault was greeted with a hail of spells and arrows. The Marauders lifted their shields, shrieked their war cries, and struck back. Harry and the Ebony flame with him was in the middle of it all, claws, weapons, and spells flashing in the sun as he struck his foes. His companion the whole while Blaise, striking at the enemies he couldn't reach, and protecting his back as he did hers. In later battles they would be named the "Madness' Couple" Or the "Jester Nobility". Beside them, a White Shore soldier was suddenly grabbed by the body of his companion; the zombie reached up to the screaming soldier's face and crushed it. In the air above, Ginny watched her new servant and laughed once more. Her high-pitched, girlish laughter rang clear over the battlefield. It sounded like mad or insane laughter to the White Shore soldiers. To the Black Tide it sounded like laughter filled with mirth. Nearly all of the Ebony Flame joined her in her laughter sounding just as mad or insane, just as beyond human as she.

Ron and Hermione, both in the thick of things, noticed that the army wasn't big enough for what they'd guessed his strength at. Both were too preoccupied to worry about it much, though. If they had any idea what was coming next, they would have worried plenty.

You see, the eggs of the brood queen Seamus had captured had hatched. The little spiders inside had grown enormous, almost as big as a horse and much stronger.

Harry had designated a unit of Marauders to ride them. The spiders responded quite ably to this (the runes on the Marauders armor controlling them) and proved better than horses. What horse can climb walls, spin webs, and fight just as hard as its rider or was excellent in tight spaces? Harry called the spider-riding company the "Dusk Knights". The company rode with Seamus, who had mounted one himself. Riding these foul creatures, the Dusk Knights were the first soldiers to strike the western front of the White Shore. The soldiers, fighting Spithe's unit, never looked at them once while the Dusk Knights slaughtered them. On the east side, Vicks led his forces forward with the five members of the Chimera unit walking along with him. And in the south, Cho rode upon Whipstitch's shoulder and urged her troops on.

The battle was horrific. One White Shore soldier, attempting to strike a wounded Marauder, was grabbed by a Dusk Knight's leaping spider. The creature's fangs, dripping venom, ripped into his shoulder and jerked him backwards. His jugular ripped open, the last thing his dying eyes saw was the monster's gaping maw, feeding upon his vital fluids. Another was caught in the jaws of one of the many heads of the fourth 'addition' to the Chimera unit, his limbs were torn to pieces as the many headed Bull-like, in both body and heads except the teeth, beast attacked others with its teeth, by trampling, or horns.

Another soldier was fighting Harry and Blaise when several fallen soldiers about him grabbed his legs. He screamed and hacked at one's face. The zombie, undeterred by the loss of most of his skull, kept his hold. Harry ended the soldier's screams with his claws. Twin claw gashes were carved into the soldier's face and brain. He fell dead, and then rose up to join the fight. Ginny circled above him, a hellish vulture over a nightmare battlefield. Blaise grabbed an arrow out of the air and grabbed a bow from one of the fallen and fired right back. The arrow pierced the head of the original archer and the person behind him.

Ron, who had seen the charging Dusk Knights by a lucky chance of fate, screamed for retreat. He, Hermione, and a small portion of the White Shore army escaped before Cho and her Purgers blocked the way. Those that followed were incinerated in the crimson streams of the Skull-masters. One unlucky soul, attempting to flee, was liquefied by a stream of Whipstitch's acid. Cho, who had taken a liking to Whipstitch and was riding him, laughed as the soldier's entire face sloughed off. Whipstitch roared from his multiple mouths, and Dudley, completely insane now, screamed with him.

Viktor Krum, who had gone as well, had far less luck than Ron and Hermione. He was attacked by Padma. Viktor threw his spear when he saw her casting a spell. The spear thudded into the ground not a foot from him. Padma had cast a gravity spell on it, drawing it to the ground. Her next spell sent a boulder from the ground streaking at Viktor. His entire body from the waist up was torn off from the force of the blow.

Another soldier attempting to run from the battle was caught by the webbing of a Dusk Knight. The webbing tripped him, and it was all the time the Dusk Knight needed to stab him to death. His mount screeched loudly over the kill, and then rushed forward to the next opponent.

Not that all the causalities were on the White Shore side. Terry Boot, who had had the unfortunately bad luck of being in Ron's way when he was retreating, had been sliced at and gained a bad scar across his face and right side of his body. A soldier besides him wasn't as lucky and had his head and arm cut from him. His body, minus an arm and head, stumbled about for a bit and then fell. Blood pooled all around it, pumped from a still-living heart.

The battle lasted for two hours. At the end of it, Harry was triumphant. He gazed about himself. The only surviving White Shore members had either fled with Ron and Hermione or surrendered. They soon died as well.

Harry looked to Blaise and the rest of the Ebony Flame. Blaise was laughing, and Harry laughed with her. The Ebony Flame soon joined them in their laughter, Ginny even landing briefly to do a short dance before going back to the skies.

"THEY ARE FINISHED!" Harry roared to his army.

"TO BEAUXBATONS!" he continued.

"ONWARD!" Seamus yelled, spurring his spider mount from its latest kill and charging towards the school, now visible in the horizon. The army followed him, the slaughter of the past hours giving them new energy.

In the air above, Ginny smiled. The Dream Nightmare appeared before her again, and as she winged towards Beauxbatons, she heard its voice in her mind.

"And so it begins."

She nodded towards it. "Yes, so it does."

"His will be the soul that damns all in this world."

Ginny heard the Dream Nightmare's laughter ring in the air around her. She joined in its laughter.

In front of her, Beauxbatons was rushing forward, as the future was the future that was Harry Potter's, the future of the Jester of Madness, and the Jester King.

Beauxbatons, the second largest school of magic in Europe, stood at the foothills of the French Alps. The school for almost all southern Europe and the northernmost parts of Africa, Beauxbatons accommodated 8,000 students, a little fewer than 2,000 students less than Hogwarts, which had been the largest school. It resembled Hogwarts to a great extent, but instead of four separate towers, it had only three. This was the Headmaster's Office from which Madame Maxine's owl had been sent three days ago, to the Ministry of Magic, seeking aid. The others were the dormitories for females and males respectively

The Ministry of Magic was still deaf to those who told them that a new force had arisen. With Cornelius Fudge dead, and Albus Dumbledore (who could have convinced them) dead as well, the Ministry was too disorganized and confused to do anything. They didn't even believe the Black Tide existed. They believed that Death Eaters had destroyed Hogwarts. Percy Weasley, and nearly all of the rest of the Weasley clan, after the fall of Beauxbatons joined the White Shore.

Their disbelief would spell the end of Beauxbatons as well. They had sent her owl back with a letter telling her to "calm down" and stop these "ridiculous observations." They particularly disliked the part about Harry Potter leading an army. They all thought it a grand joke.

Madame Maxine looked out her window from on of Beauxbatons towers. Below her, those few teachers who would fight were getting killed. Cho Chang, riding Whipstitch (who she had gained a great fondness for), laughed as the monstrosity cut down another hapless teacher. One teacher was dragged away, kicking and screaming, by a Dusk Knight's spider. Another Dusk Knight rode up, and they tore the hapless man in half. Their mounts feasted upon his intestines as they spilled onto the ground. He was still screaming when they ripped his face off.

Madame Maxine turned from the window. Her room was cluttered heavily, and an observer would be surprised at how much her office and Dumbledore's resembled. Pictures of headmaster's past hung on the walls, and without one exception they were all gloomy. Several were crying.

Madame Maxine looked at her desk. On it was a device she had crafted when she heard that Harry was coming. By the gods, she wished she didn't have to do this. She went over to it and studied it for a moment.

The device sat in the middle of the only clear spot on the desk, which was cluttered with parchments and oddities. The device was a sphere, perfectly round, set into a circular mount. It glowed blue, and the colors inside seemed to roll, like an ocean wave. It was beautiful.

It was also deadly. As were all poisons. The Ministry had outlawed these weapons for years. They were called Shatterstars, and a single one could destroy hundreds of people in single blow. They disrupted the patterns of life and magic when activated, and the range could be from ten feet to ten miles. They made the atom bombs Muggles used look like firecrackers. This one wasn't an actual Shatterstar; she had created it with the help of her teachers, and it wasn't quite as powerful as a real Shatterstar. Still, it was powerful enough for what she needed it to do.

She planned on completely destroying Beauxbatons with it. A single touch, one whispered word, and...

"What are you doing around here?" said a female voice Madame Maxine remembered. She whipped around to look in a corner that had been bare moments ago. Anger lit her giantess face.

"You! I'd haf thought' you would nefer haf shown your face 'ere again, Fleur!" she shouted at the figure before her.

Fleur Delacour stood before her, in the corner of the room. Madame Maxine could only see her face, but that was enough to direct her hatred at, and her magic as well. She raised her wand towards the grinning face in front of her.

Before she could strike, a loud flapping sound filled the room. Her hand suddenly exploded in gore, and before the crimson rush of blood removed it from sight, Madame Maxine saw three objects that looked like steel feathers imbedded in what was left of her hand. They had chopped off most of her fingers, and her wand fell to the floor, in three pieces smoking. Madame Maxine screamed and clutched her wounded hand. In front of her, Fleur stepped out. Madame Maxine's eyes widened in horror as she saw what Fleur had become.

Her face was unchanged, but below that point her body was covered in gray, metallic-looking feathers. Her hands were wicked claws, and two wings sprouted from her back. Her feet were talons. They clicked on the floor as she approached Madame Maxine.

Madame Maxine scrambled backwards, trying to reach the Shatterstar. Fleur's smile never changed as she swept her wings forward, crossing them in front of her. She snapped them back, and now Madame Maxine identified that strange flapping sound. From the flapping wings four feathers, their edges sharper than any sword, shot out and buried themselves in the flesh of her things. Madame Maxine, hamstrung now and bleeding severely, cried out and crumpled to the floor. She ordered her legs to move and felt the message sizzle en route. The connections down there were gone. All she could feel was a cold, invading feeling where the feathers were buried. She whimpered in pain. Fleur stepped in front of her and spoke rapidly in their natural tongue.

*"I've seen the most amazing things,"* she said, lowering her face to Madame Maxine's. The half-giantess' body rocked with pain. *"I've become the most amazing things. This is my heritage, and this school will be my right. You will not take it away from me with your pitiful toy."* Looking at the Shatterstar on the desk, still glowing serenely as if removed from this blood-soaked scene, she continued, *"It's the world of the Tide now, the world where I can claim my birthright. Did you know that my grandmother was hunted? That veela are hunted the world over?"* She rose up, and then began pacing the room, shaking her head slowly. Madame Maxine, her life blood leaking out, could do nothing more than watch and listen. *"They are enslaved when found. Most of them end up as the sexual "pets" of governors and other high-ranking officials of whatever government manages to find them- or worse, they use them in spells. I've heard that a single veela in good health can fetch prices of thousands of Galleons in some places. A veela sacrifice is highly respected in some circles, and a vital component of some spells."* She stopped pacing and looked directly at the dying Headmaster of Beauxbatons. *"But Harry has promised something. I know that most people would say I was being a fool to believe him, but he never breaks his promises to those who work for him. He has promised me that every child born different, every child whose blood isn't purely human or wizard…"* She looked away for a moment, and even though her vision was fading, Madame Maxine saw tears in her eyes. She turned back to Madame Maxine, and now her voice seemed pleading, desperate. *"I have to do this, don't you see? I have to do it. You,.. you know what it's like… to be different. I'm always being accosted on the streets in Diagon Alley, always being pulled aside from the others, and I'm either lusted after or hated for my blood. That's it. That's what they judge me on. I'm not a human being at all... You know what I feel, don't you? You know my pain. And Harry gave me his word that everyone like us would be helped. I know that he's evil. But we, the half-bloods, the half-breeds, we've been subjected to evil our entire lives. Those who say they work for Good,"* she spat this word in disgust, *"have never helped us. Maybe... our only hope is Evil. If Evil is our only choice, then Evil shall we be."*

Her monologue over, she stood up. Looking at her, she said, *"And now, Madame Maxine, your life is over. I'm sorry it had to end this way. But just think of this."*

Her wings came forward and snapped again, and three feathers shot out. They stuck in Madame Maxine's brain, the ends seeming to sprout from the skull like some strange forest. The last words Madame Maxine ever heard were:

*"No one will ever suffer as we have, ever again."*

Outside, the laughter of the Jester rang out. The students of Beauxbatons huddled inside their dorms. Fleur went to the window, opened it, and remembering the signal she and Harry had agreed upon, grabbed the Shatterstar. She raised it out the open window, and it gleamed, blue fire in the afternoon sun.

Below her, Harry looked up, and grinned. He raised his voice in a shout that carried over the battlefield, causing his soldiers to look up from the bodies of Beauxbatons former teachers.

"BEAUXBATONS IS OURS! TO VICTORY!"

His laughter echoed down Beauxbatons halls, and inside, the students trembled.

To those that are wondering.

Black Tide's Units

Marauders are the basic soldier and terror squad. Their leader is Seamus who only takes orders from Harry or Blaise depending on the situation.

Purgers are those with Skull-masters. Their leader is Terry Boot who helps make the Skull-masters and is part of the Enchanters Guild. Terry follows Harry and then Seamus' orders.

Necromancers are those that raised the dead. It was controlled by Ginny. She took orders only from Harry and requests from Seamus.

Elementalist is those that control the elements. Some Purgers are part of the Fire Elementalists but instead of staffs they use their Skull-masters as ways to cast spells, after having the enchanters' fix them to do so. All of the Eclipse is in some part of it. Some Krakens are part of it but not many. Neville is the commander of the Elementalist. He takes orders from Harry and sometimes Seamus.

Enchanters are those that make the weapons. Some battle with other groups but most don't. Leader is Cho Chang. They follow Harry's orders.

The Eclipse is the demolition experts. Their leader is Luna who follows Harry's orders then Seamus'. She is also part of the more destructive side of the Enchanters Guild.

The Kraken is the beast tamers. Their leader is Draco who follows Harry's orders then Seamus'.

The Sword fish are the assassins. Their leader is Blaise then Daphne. Both of who only take orders from Harry.

The Great White is the interrogation, slavery, and torture organization and is composed mainly of fear-casters so far. Their leader is Blaise and then Tracey. Both only take orders from Harry.

Chimera is living experiments that are used in battle. Whipstitch is the official leader but is commanded by Cho Chang so she is in command of this unit. She takes orders from Harry and then Seamus.

White Shore Squads.

Sands (warriors) are the basic soldiers. They have the greatest amount among them as well as some of their best soldiers. They are lead by Ron and Hermione currently.