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The afternoon of their scheduled dates came sooner then expected as Harry and Ron walked around their bedroom getting ready. Harry was a little anxious, not because this would be his and Hermione's first official 'date' but he was still worried about how Ron would react to them.
"Hey Harry." Ron spoke.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for helping me out this morning with Lavender."
"No problem." Harry smiled as he buttoned up his jacket.
Just then, the sound of heavy commotion and shouting from downstairs made the two boys look at each other with furrowed brows. They quickly finished dressing and walked down the staircase to see students running around, yelling their heads off.
Ron grabbed a hold of Seamus as he ran by.
"What's going on?"
"Death Eaters are attacking Hogsmeade!" He said quickly, looking scared out of his mind. "I'm going there to find Dean Thomas, he went there with Ginny!"
Harry and Ron froze as they looked at each other. The two of them then took off quickly with Seamus out into the hallway as people continued shouting;
"They're attacking Hogsmeade! Death Eater's are attacking Hogsmeade!"
"But Dumbledore made sure that place was heavily protected!" Harry gasped as he continued to run with Ron and Seamus.
"I know, that's the thing. Nobody knows how the Death Eaters managed to break the spell," Seamus yelled back.
As they began running faster, Harry's thoughts were going to the safety of his friends and classmates. Why else would the Death Eaters attack Hogsmeade?
To get to him, by killing innocent students.
By this time, rain was lightly starting to come down, the drops beating out a rapid rhythm as they hit the ground. In the distance, the low rumble of thunder could be heard as the sky darkened now, more clouds gathering overhead.
Upon reaching their destination, the three boys stopped in their tracks of what they saw.
Hogsmeade was a complete mess, to put in into the best sense possible. Building were scorched black from the vile magic of the Dark Arts. Windows were shattered, lights shots, dreams broken, lives crushed. For the first time, Harry didn't see the comforting smoke of a warm fire coming up from the Three Broomsticks down the lane. The town was painted gray, barely a color and barely light in any matter.
"Where do we look first?" Ron asked.
"I don't know," Harry responded.
Suddenly, a Death Eater apparated in front of them and took out his wand. Before he got a chance to do anything, Harry quickly whipped out his wand out of his jacket and pointed it at him.
"Expelliarmus!"
The wand shot out of the Death Eater's hand as Ron and Seamus whirled around and blasted him together with a spell that took him down. The mask fell off his face and it turned out to be Crabbe Sr.
"That felt pretty good," Seamus smirked.
Ron nodded in agreement before Seamus took off and began running down the street.
"I'll look for Dean and Ginny down here!" He yelled.
"Seamus wait!" Harry yelled then cursed in frustration as the other boy was soon out of his line of vision.
"Forget about it now, mate." Ron said when Seamus was gone.
"We really need to stick together." Harry responded. "Let's go down to the Three Broomsticks."
"Alright."
The two of them took off to begin their search for Ginny. As they got closer to the building, a figure quickly apparated behind them and blasted the two boys with a stunning spell before they could react.
Antonin Dolohov smirked as he stood over them. Harry tried to get his wand up but Dolohov kicked him in the face, before pointing his wand down at Ron.
"Any last words, boy?"
But before he could do anything more, someone yelled out a curse that nailed Dolohov in the chest, knocking him backwards and off his feet.
Harry gasped and looked over to see Neville standing by one of the broken windows inside the Three Broomsticks.
"Guys, in here quick!"
Harry pulled Ron up and they quickly ran inside, diving behind an overturned table. Harry then looked to his left to see Padma and Parvati Patil crouching down too. Neville then jumped over the table beside Harry and Ron and the three of them began firing spells at the Death Eaters in the distance.
"Are you guys okay?" Harry asked.
Neville nodded.
"We're fine. But Colin's down, and Dennis has got a nasty cut from a broken bottle."
Before he could continue the sound of crackling going off indicated the arrival of more Death Eaters.
"Keep your heads down!" Harry ordered, creeping towards the bar and firing a spell towards the two Death Eaters; one was ducking behind the whimpering, unconscious form of a student. One of the first victims of the battle, fallen to a Cruciatus Curse.
Meanwhile, after running down the lane Seamus managed to find Luna Lovegood and the two of them dove into what was left of Madam Padifoot's.
"Guys," said a voice.
They looked over and hiding behind a table was Dean and Ginny, who had been attacked in the middle of kissing over their tea. Seamus quickly went over to them and saw that Ginny had a little bit of blood running down her forehead.
"Are you okay?"
"I think so," Ginny weakly responded, the jumped when she heard the sound of a scream from outside.
At the sound of the scream, Seamus, Dean, Luna, and Ginny all headed for the door. Risking a quick glance outside, Luna saw the Death Eaters scurrying up the street from the Hog's Head, blasting spells towards the running students. She ducked back inside.
"I see three of them, coming up the street."
"What do we do?" Ginny asked.
"You're good at spells now, Ginny," Dean said while getting ready. "You did well in Dumbledore's Army, and you know your stuff. Let's go!"
The four of them ran outside and began firing a series of hexes at the group of Death Eaters, each one was blocked until a spell that was launched from behind them was able to get through and knocked them all down.
They spun around to see Remus Lupin standing behind them, and from the distance they could see the arrival of the Aurors.
"Get to safety!" Lupin ordered as they ran behind him and he continued to duel with the Death Eaters.
Even as rescue came, Death Eaters approached the Three Broomsticks again, knowing that Potter was inside. But just then from inside, a bright red stunning spell erupted through the wall and shattered a window across the street.
Frustration took in and Dolohov took his wand and set the building on fire. From inside, Harry began to smell the smoke.
"Everyone out!" He yelled.
Neville and the Patil sisters nodded and began helping injured students out of the back way of the place. Harry and Ron took a quick glance around to make sure that no one was left behind before running towards the front entrance and jumping out just as an explosion went off in the building.
From his spot on the ground, Harry slowly looked up to see several Death Eaters standing on top of the roof of the building across from the Three Broomsticks. They had their wands pointed at the two boys below, but before they could perform a single curse, a host of spells were fired at them at the same time.
Harry and Ron looked over to see a group of Aurors led by Mad-Eye Moody coming down the lane, continuing to fire spells.
The Death Eaters then began to retreat as more help arrived, they probably could see that defeat for them was inevitable. A lot of students were injured but luckily no one was killed. Lupin and other Aurors were attending to students when he noticed Harry and walked over to him.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Lupin asked.
"Fine."
Ron then looked around and noticed a group of students that were led by Professor McGonagall, Ginny was one of them. He quickly ran over to her and hugged her tightly.
"Are you hurt?" He asked, looking at the blood she had on her head.
"I'm fine. We would be dead if Harry hadn't set up the DA last year…"
Ron nodded and then McGonagall gently tapped her wand to Ginny's head. Her eyes closed and she quietly and without any fuss fell asleep. A moment later, she had levitated her and sent Ginny off to Madam Pomfrey.
"Will she be all right?" asked Ron.
"Hmm? Oh, yes." McGonagall nodded, "I think after a little bit of bed rest she will be fine."
After sighing in relief, Ron then went over to where Harry was standing with Lupin to see if they could help at all with this whole thing.