munlleca: thanks

sin.nighthawk: thanks

pstibbons: thanks, and the answer is seven years, eleven months, three weeks, and four days. No joke.

wasu: thanks

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Chapter 4

Siege of an Ice Continent

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The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon when Harry awoke the following morning. For a moment, he was unable to remember why he felt so happy. Then, as though a memory charm had been removed from him, his thoughts drifted onto Hermione. He looked to his left where she had been when he fell asleep. She was gone. Worried, Harry leapt out of bed and made for the door. When he reached it, his scar burned so badly he was certain it would kill him. Even through the pain, one thought registered: Voldemort was furious. Drawing his wand, Harry raced out into the hallway and down a flight of stairs and into the kitchen. Hermione stood at the bar, wand in hand, throwing various belongings in a brown, leather bag. She turned when she heard him approaching.

"I'm sorry, Harry. We've got to go. I've just got a message from Dumbledore. He used his Patronus, so I know it was from him. He says the Ministry of Magic is under attack and the Order is doing its best to hold the Death Eaters back, but they can't do it forever. What's worse, Voldemort is on his way here. Dumbledore is coming to help move the house. We've got to protect the arch I showed you downstairs, no matter the cost." Hermione placed two heavy books in Harry's arms, shoved Harry's Firebolt into her bag (Harry did not ask how she had managed this, as the bag was only about the size of one you would get after shopping at the market) and hurried out of the room. They darted through the house at top speed and threw themselves into the arch room. Hermione sealed the door with her wand and the room was plunged into darkness.

"Lumos!" Harry said, saying, in his dire need for illumination, the first spell that came to mind. He cast around with the small beam of light. It came to rest on Hermione, just as she lit a single torch hanging on the wall. Harry lowered his wand and surveyed Hermione in the flickering torchlight.

"What do we do now?" Harry asked her, peering at the large arch which hovered ominously just outside the field of light. Hermione shook her head.

"I… I don't know." she said, sliding slowly down the wall beneath the torch. She rested her back against its hard surface and wrapped her arms around her knees. Harry spotted the bag she had been carrying earlier.

"What is that, anyway?" he asked.

"An Infiniti Transportato…." Hermione said, and noticing the confused look on Harry's face, added, "A container of unlimited space. You could put anything in here for any amount of time."

"And where did you get it?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore gave it to me a few years ago. He seemed to think I might find it useful one day." A sudden crash resounded upstairs, causing Hermione to leap to her feet, wand raised. Harry spun toward the door, pointing his wand, which was still lit, at the door. The door exploded inward with incredible force. The broken wooden door flew across the room and fell through the archway, vanishing instantly. Harry looked up into the snakelike face of Lord Voldemort and his scar seared with pain.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed. "Why do you continue to fight me? You have lost everything. The Ministry will fall within minutes and your precious Hogwarts soon after. I have won." Voldemort raised his wand and bellowed, "Avada Kedavera!" The spell shot, not at Harry, but at Hermione. The jet of green light missed Hermione by mere centimeters, blasting a crater in the wall behind her. As Harry turned to check on her, Voldemort aimed another spell at him. A wave of purple flame erupted from Voldemort's wand.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked, looking horrified. Harry had no time to block the curse. The fiery wave rushed toward him far too quickly. Hermione broke into a run and leapt into the path of the fire. The blaze consumed her instantly. She screamed in agony and was thrown across the room, landing only inches from the middle of the arch. Harry's breath caught in his chest. Harry abandoned all thought of Voldemort and rushed to Hermione's side. He groped for her wrist and felt, without even the faintest hope of finding one, for a pulse. Miraculously, incredibly, wonderfully, it was there. While rapid and terribly faint, it was there. This meant one thing, Hermione was still alive. Voldemort advanced on Harry, wand raised.

"Impedimenta!" A woman's voice shouted from the doorway. The spell caught Voldemort unawares, he only just managed to deflect it. Tonks sent another spell arching toward the dark wizard, Neville along side her, as Ron, Luna, Ginny rushed toward Harry and Hermione.

"Come on, Harry!" Ginny exclaimed as Ron scooped Hermione in his arms and darted past Tonks, who was still furiously dueling Voldemort, running flat out toward the door.

"We've got to go!" Luna told him, pulling him to his feet as Ginny joined Tonks' fight. There was a brilliant flash of green light and Neville dropped to the floor, his eyes wide and staring. Harry's brain barely registered what had happened.

"No, the arch!" Harry tried to explain. "Hermione said we had to protect the arch!"

"I know, Harry." Luna moaned, tugging Harry along. "It'll be fine, just come on!" At the doorway, Luna turned, raised her wand and shouted,

"Protego Totalum!" There was a flash of blue-white light and Voldemort had gone.

"It won't hold forever," Tonks said, hurrying over to Harry and Luna, Ginny at her heels. "but it'll be fine for as long as we'll be here. Dumbledore is trying to hold back Voldemort's forces at the Ministry. Half of London has been destroyed in the battle. Anyway, Albus taught me the spell to move the house. It's…" Tonks fell silent. Harry understood why. Outside, a massive explosion had cracked the ice. Billions of cracks split the ground, spreading across the frozen tundra like spider webs. The entire continent was literally crumbling away into the ocean. Without waiting another moment, Tonks declared,

"Teleportato!" Harry felt the sudden sensation that he associated with Apparation and knew they had left Antarctica far behind.

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The house dropped to the ground just beside the lake on the Hogwarts grounds. Conjuring a fire in the fireplace in the library, Ron carried Hermione through the Floo Network to Hogwarts' hospital wing. Harry and the others followed. It appeared that Hogwarts was being used as a fallback point for the wounded at the Ministry. The hospital wing had been magically expanded to many times its original size. Ron placed Hermione carefully on an abandoned bed, which, considering at least two hundred people filled the ward, had not been an easy thing to find. It was not until one of the many healers summoned from St. Mungo's confirmed that Hermione, while having suffered tremendous injuries from Voldemort's curse, would completely recover in a matter of weeks, and would be decently capable of leaving the ward in a few days, that the loss of Neville really sank in. Never again would they hear his laugh, listen to him discuss his love for plants, nor would they see him do anything ever again. Neville would not, however, be the first loss of the day, nor would he be the last. As the hours dragged by, more news came from the Ministry. Voldemort, who had gone to London after being repelled from Hermione's house, had completely destroyed the continent of Antarctica. Luna had confirmed this when she had returned to see what Voldemort had done and had appeared in the middle of a frigid ocean. Voldemort had all but completely routed the Order of the Phoenix in mere hours. Reports of more deaths had come in throughout the day, but none of them had been confirmed. No one wanted to leave Hermione's bedside, however much of the day was spent preparing the school for battle. The students had been sent home by Side-Along Apparation. The Hogwarts Express could be attacked on its way to London and the Floo Network was monitored at the Ministry of Magic, which was where Voldemort was. Many of Hogwarts' seventh year students remained behind to fight. Harry recalled the shield potion Hermione had shown him back in Antarctica, and desperately wished it was finished; it would have been wonderful to shield Hogwarts from assault. Magically constructed walls encircled the castle. Over thirty feet high and covered in every magical form of protection known, these constructions would hopefully buy the school time. A number of dragons had been brought to Hogwarts by Hagrid and Charlie Weasley. Hermione's house had been shrunk and placed inside Hermione's Infiniti Transportato. The protection of the arch outstripped even the protection of the school, Dumbledore had expressly impressed this upon them.

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Voldemort's dire warning that the Ministry would fall within minutes was quickly proven false. For two days the Ministry of Magic had held back the unending tide of evil that seemed to never end. While they were hardly winning, they weren't losing either, and that was some comfort at least. Dumbledore had ordered that everyone inside Hogwarts to remain at the school and not to join the battle. Despite numerous reservations, no one had challenged the headmaster's orders.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny sat in the Great Hall pouring over maps of Hogwarts. They had done everything within their power to ensure the school could repel Lord Voldemort's invasion. Without knowing precisely what he would be bringing, there was no way to be sure.

"I think that's everything." said Harry, yawning widely and folding up the maps. "There's nothing more that we can do."

"You've got a bit of free time then." said Hermione, walking unsteadily toward them. She settled onto a bench next to Harry.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked while the others gazed at her, concerned. "Shouldn't you be in the hospital wing?"

"No," Hermione smiled sheepishly and averted her eyes. "okay, fine. I should… but I wanted to help." she finished with a shrug. Harry took her hand.

"I know you do," he told her quietly. "but you were hurt. You know you aren't up to a fight like the one that's coming."

"I… I could help you plan for the battle." Hermione suggested, clinging to anything that would keep her from returning to the hospital wing.

"We've already done all the planning we can. The school is protected as well as it can possibly be… unless the shield potion of yours can be finished by the time Voldemort arrives." Hermione shook her head.

"That's… out of the question. It's missing something that it has to have to make it work. Right now, it's highly unstable." Hermione pulled up the left sleeve of her robe and showed them a large, black burn on her forearm that Harry, despite having seen her in sleeveless nightgowns, had not noticed before. "It can't be used." she finished, pulling her sleeve down again.

"Well, there is one thing we're not comfortable about…" Ginny said, glancing at the others. "We have to command the battle from somewhere. We thought the Great Hall, but…"

"It's too big." Hermione finished her sentence for her. "I'm guessing that you've also considered the dungeons…"

"Only one way out." said Ron.

"And the Chamber of Secrets," continued Hermione.

"Voldemort would expect it." said Harry.

"And the House common rooms."

"That's where we decided on," admitted Harry. "but I don't like it."

"It's completely idiotic." said Hermione tartly. "Not to mention obvious and foolhardy."

"It wasn't my idea." said Harry. "It was Ron's." Ron opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione cut across him.

"You are all forgetting about the one place that we can keep safe… the place were we hid our meetings from Umbridge."

"The Room of Requirement!" Ginny exclaimed, a look of dawning comprehension on her face.

"Exactly!" Hermione exclaimed.

"We thought of that." said Ron. "We couldn't think of a way to prevent Voldemort from getting in."

"You just have to word the request right. A great deal about magic has to do with proper wording. Let's see…" Hermione picked up a quill, pulled a sheet of parchment toward her and began to write, speaking aloud as she did so.

"We need a place to organize ourselves properly for battle. Someplace that nobody not loyal to the Order of the… no, to the Ministry… perhaps to Hogwarts… No, to Dumbledore. Yes, a place to organize the defense of Hogwarts that no one who is not loyal to Albus Dumbledore can find. A place where we can see the grounds of Hogwarts clearly, but those outside cannot see in. And if someone does manage to breach the room, there will be a second passage that will lead to anywhere the seeker needs it to. It will only appear when those inside the room are in danger and when someone loyal to Dumbledore outside the room needs in. Oh, and anybody not loyal to Dumbledore, Hogwarts, and the Ministry of Magic that enters any of the entrances to the room will instantly be killed. It might be a good idea to make the room Unplottable, too." she added as an afterthought. Harry, Ron, and Ginny exchanged glances.

"Hermione," said Harry. "you have got to be to most amazing woman I have ever had the great fortune to meet." Hermione shrugged.

"So, what happened…?" she asked. "In Antarctica, I mean. I asked Tonks before I left the hospital wing, but she just started crying, I…" The other three looked suddenly close to tears.

"Erm… Hermione…" Ron began, looking over at Harry. "Why don't you tell her?"

"Well," Harry began slowly. "when you were hit by Voldemort's spell, I went to make sure you were alive and Voldemort almost killed me. Tonks showed up with Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville. Tonks, Neville, and Ginny battled Voldemort while Ron carried you out of the room. There was so much chaos… Neville, he… Voldemort killed him. I… I don't know what happened."

"My god…" Hermione whispered, looking thunderstruck. "Neville…" No one spoke for a long moment. Then, without warning, Hermione burst out,

"All because of that goddamn arch." she screamed. "I don't even know what it does…"

"Then figure it out." Harry said quietly. "Make Neville's death mean something." Hermione nodded, but couldn't seem to bring herself to speak.

"So, he's really coming, then?" Ginny said after several minutes.

"Dumbledore seems to believe so. He sent a message yesterday saying that the Ministry was holding its own, but not to assist the battle in London." said Harry. "I don't think he believes we're going to win the war at the Ministry."

"We didn't!" Luna exclaimed, rushing toward them from the Entrance Hall, clutching a letter in her hand. "I just got this letter from Remus Lupin." She held it out for the others to read.

The battle in London is over. The Ministry of Magic has been destroyed.

Rufus Scrimgeour and Albus Dumbledore are dead.

Voldemort is on his way to Hogwarts.

Be prepared.