Author's note: Well, you guys are in for a very long chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it. Thank you for all the wonderful follows that I've been getting for this story.
Anka7995: Well here it is. Not much though. But I guess you'll like it. Thank you for the review.
Starzinmieyez: Yes absolutely. Well this chapter is just the beginning of the war. The main war will be in the next chapter. Thank you for the review. Hope you like it.
KreachersintheNight: Haha yes, It's gonna be exciting. Thank you for the review.
Maesde: Haha! Sorry if I kept you waiting for long. Well, here's the chapter. Thank you for the review and I hope you like this chapter.
LifeonEarth: So am I! Hehe! I hope you like this chapter and thank you for the review. It means a lot.
Ihaveasandbox" Yes, he is alive for my own happiness! Thank you for the review.
He slowly lifted his wand and pointed it towards his throat and whispered "Sonorus."
"Everyone…" Harry's voice echoed into the dark night. Everyone started looking around for the source of the noise. Finally having spotted Harry Potter standing at the entrance they stared at him, waiting to see what was going on, even the few Death Eaters who had managed to enter the grounds stopped to look what Harry was doing. Mad eye took them down before they could realise.
Harry's eyes scanned the area in front of him. The Order members who were far away from him near the entrance were still throwing curses at the enemy with the Ministry Aurors stopping them from entering further into the grounds.
"Harry…" Sirius whispered after seeing his godson standing calmly in the middle of the battle field. Sirius took one step towards him but he was stopped by Remus who pointed to the Slytherins standing behind Harry. Sirius stilled instantly and gawked at him.
"Defence Army…" Harry continued when he had everyone's attention. The Professors and the Order looked confusedly at Harry; the Aurors simply stared at Harry. Defence Army? What is he talking about? Which army? Mummers broke around among the Oder members, Aurors and the Professors.
"Potter what are you…?" McGonagall started but Hermione stopped her.
"Please Professor…" she said with a hint of shame in her voice for stopping a Professor mid-sentence. "Harry knows what he is doing. Leave this to us. It's our fight."
McGonagall pursed her lips into a thin line and looked at Harry. She slowly nodded and went to stand a further away near Professor Sprout.
"Defence Army…" Harry began again. "I want you all to take up your positions in the castle. Stick to your positions till the end. Defence healers be alert. Off to your positions and wait till I command you to attack." He said.
To everyone's surprise the Hogwarts students on the grounds started moving around hurriedly. Some remained in the grounds while the others hurried past Harry and into the castle. Theo and Draco left with the students going inside the castle to lead them. Ron and Blaise came to stand in front of Harry and pointed their wands to their throat and whispered, "Sonorus" just like Harry had done.
"Defence guard…" Ron began. Mr and Mrs Weasley grabbed onto each other after seeing their son leading an army. "Up to the front gate."
Three groups of students moved forward at Ron's command. Blaise moved forward among the students while Ron stayed in his position – in front of Harry.
"Take up your positions." Blaise said as he passed between Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout who moved to let him pass.
The Order, Professors and the Aurors watched as the three groups of fifteen each moved to stand a few feet in front of the entrances to the grounds which were currently covered by the Aurors and the Order members. Ron then moved forward and stood in front of them with Blaise at his side.
"Keep your wand ready, it's time to get the training into action. Wait for the instructions and be alert." Ron said as he surveyed the small army in front of him. The students nodded as Ron and Blaise mixed up with the group and took their positions.
Harry then along with Hermione, Luna, Daphne, Ginny and Neville moved from their positions in front of the gate and walked around the group standing in front of the gates from where the enemy would enter. The Order members, Professors and the Aurors slowly closed in around them. The enemy, realising something was wrong from the sudden stop of attack had stopped attacking the gates and were retreating back waiting for Voldemort's command to attack again.
Harry then looked at everyone, his army, Order, Professors and the Aurors as well. He then turned his attention back to his army standing in front of him.
"Defence Army..." He started and the students straightened up in their positions. "I want you all to be the best duellers and fighters you all can ever be. I don't know what the outcome of this war is going to be but I'm sure of just one thing, if we do not stop this war on time we are surely going to lose a lot of family members and friends."
Harry's voice was the only thing that could be heard among in the dead silence that hung over the school. Every eye was on Harry as he continued again. "I want you all to fight for all the people you love, for the all things you want and for a free life and a future which we all so righteously deserve. When this army was formed I made sure you all practiced within the strong confines of my protection but tonight I cannot promise you how much I'll be able to protect you all, I maybe not be able to protect even one of you but I'm sure that you can, by helping yourself and the others around you, your friends, family and Professors."
"I'm therefore putting my trust in your strength, power and the willingness to sacrifice for a better tomorrow. This school has been home to us, not only us students but also the Order members, Aurors and the Professors once and today our home needs us to protect it and therefore we shall stay true to our words and die trying to save the only place where we have truly felt at home."
"Believe in yourself and your team members. I have said it always and I'm saying it again, you will not succeed unless you learn to depend on and trust each other. And if you feel like you are failing remember the ones above us will surely protect us." Harry looked up as he said this.
Everyone looked up to see heaven wards thinking Harry was talking about Merlin helping during the time of war but instead their eyes were met with students patrolling the various floors looking down at them, their wands at the ready. They all wore amusing expressions as they saw the people on the grounds looking up at them and they laughed heartily when they heard Harry's last sentence.
Everyone on the ground smiled at Harry's wit. Harry smiled in return. "Well, as you see the people above us will surely protect us, I want you all to give your best tonight. Listen to your leader's command and fight with your team. Tonight is the night we prove to everyone that we can and we will protect our future."
Harry then turned to the rest of the DA Core standing behind him. "I want you all to go and take up your positions as well." He then turned to the remaining Order members, Professors and Aurors. "Stick up with the Defence Army. We know what we are doing and we need your help. We always did."
He then nodded slowly and the DA Core standing behind him left for their positions. He then raised his wand towards the sky and shouted, "For a better future." Everyone imitated him and a chorus of "For a better future." was heard.
Somewhere behind him a curse landed but got obstructed by the protection of the gates. Harry faced the Defence Army again, "Wait for the orders."
He then strolled to the back of the group and mixed in with the third line from behind. The Order members, Aurors and the Professors held their wand at the ready, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
Death Eaters stopped outside the gates leading to the grounds. They were in a batch of around thirty and were firing spells non-stop at the gates trying to break the protection circling Hogwarts into a protective cocoon. Finally after a tense minute, a loud explosion vibrated off the silence indicating the broken protection. The Death Eaters marched in and Harry shouted at the top of his voice,
"COVERING SPELL!"
Ron to his left and Blaise to his right echoed the command throughout the group again and the Defence Army shot out the covering spell. Bright orbs of light shot out from their wand and landed on the front line of the Death Eaters temporarily blinding them with the light. The Death Eaters were caught in a surprise; they had not anticipated a retort. Caught off guard the Death Eaters started firing randomly in thin air. When some curses landed near the proximity of the Defence Army, Harry shouted,
"COMMENCE FIRING!"
Harry shouted and again the command got repeated through the group. Hot orbs of fire shot out of their wands and landed in front of the Death Eaters just when the blinding light had disappeared. But the raining balls of fire caught them with surprise again. The Defence Army standing on the various floors of Hogwarts were firing the balls of fire with excitement. Their orbs of fire landed near the rear of the Death Eater's group causing havoc in their ranks. Most of the Death Eaters were either burnt, disarmed or had simply dis-apparated.
Just when harry thought the enemy were retreating a fresh new batch of Death Eaters apparated in front of them. They were more in numbers than the previous batch but Harry commanded his army to strike again. This time the blinding orbs of light and the fire orbs got shot together at the fast approaching enemy. That caused the Death Eaters to panic as they had never seen anything like that before. The havoc caused in their ranks was quite visible with the screaming and shouting.
Harry moved forward among the group with Ron. Blaise had approached the front line when the second batch of Death Eaters had arrived. When Harry and Ron almost reached the front Blaise stopped them.
"The group is tiring Harry, we are weakening." Blaise shouted over the voice of the spells.
Harry looked around at his group. They were fighting, but yes, they were weakening. They had been firing spells continuously for the last forty five minutes and their defences were weakening.
"Stay here and keep fighting till I return." Harry shouted back and moved to the back of the group. He scanned the ground and spotted McGonagall firing spells of her own invention at a speed which made Harry raise his eyebrow at her.
He ran to her. "Professor." He said breathlessly having ran the distance between the group and his Professor.
"Excellent job Mr Potter." She said giving him a faint hint of a smile.
Harry smiled back in return. "Professor, the group is weakening. We have to move the fight inside the castle. We can't hold on for long."
She looked at him silently for a minute and then at the group of students firing spells at the enemy. "Very well Mr Potter, if you think so."
He nodded curtly at her and ran back to his position, He performed the 'Sonorus' once again and shouted,
"MOVE IN THE CASTLE. COVERING FIRE."
He yelled and instantly bright orbs of light and fire shot at the enemy. Ron and Blaise instructed the group in to the castle before the enemy could fire at their retreating back. Once they were inside, the enemy attacked with full force and the battle began in a full-fledged way.
The Defence Army had still not left their ranks and was fighting in groups helping and saving others as they moved further inside Hogwarts.
Harry spotted Hermione running towards him and Ron. "Hey, you alright?" she asked looking at both the boys up and down.
"Yes." They replied together.
Before Harry could ask her, a group of Death Eaters rained attack on them. Harry had to push Hermione out of the spell's way before giving the Death Eater his heavy dose of Stupefy. He smiled apologetically at her as he helped her up.
"We need to help Tonks." Ron said and Harry turned to look where Ron was looking. Tonks was duelling with two bulky Death Eaters. Just as Harry was about run up the staircase and help Tonks a figure collapsed in front of him.
The Death Eater's mask sliced off his face and his wand arm thudded heavily against the stone floor. Colour drained from Harry's face as he watched Lucius Malfoy straighten up with his other hand. Another figure cladded in huge bellowing black robes neared the fallen Lucius and slipped his mask off his face. Harry instantly recognized him as Theo's father. He clutched Ron with his wand arm and Hermione's hand with the other and pushed them around the corner before the Death Eaters could spot them.
"Harry we gotta help Tonks." Ron shouted above the growing noise of screaming and crashing. He ran forwards but Harry got him around the collar and pulled him back.
"No." he shouted.
"But Harry…" Hermione began but Harry cut her off.
"Not now."
The ducked in time as two curses hit the opposite wall.
"We need to find the Slytherins and get them out of here." Harry shouted over the still growing noise of the battle. "They are here, their parents. I need to get them out of Hogwarts."
"Harry but we can't…" Ron began but Harry cut him midway too.
"No." he said firmly. "I promised them, I would get them out of here safely before their parents could land even a finger on them. We need to find them NOW."
"Okay." Hermione said and Ron nodded.
They ran the length of the corridor and rounded the first corner they saw. They climbed the stairs three at a time disarming two Death Eaters on their way. They landed on the first floor and spotted Daphne duelling.
They hurried up to her; Ron successfully stupefied the Death Eater before grabbing Daphne and running up another stair case. "Stay with us." Harry told Daphne as they saw Draco running down the stairs of the third floor.
"Potter." He said when he saw the four of them running up the stairs.
"We need to find Blaise and Theo." Harry said running past him.
"What's the matter?" he asked hurrying behind them.
"Not now Draco." Hermione said as they landed on the third floor and scanned the area of either Theo or Blaise.
"I saw Blaise on the fifth floor. He was helping a few trapped first years out of Hogwarts and I think he might still be there." Draco said catching up with Harry.
"So we need to find Theo." Harry said running the length of a corridor on the third floor. Just when they were about to turn back and head to another floor to search for Theo a loud crash sounded from their left. They ran with all their speed and reached in time as a wall crashed down on a fallen Theo's leg.
Theo gave a loud cry of pain as he attempted to free his leg. "Theo." Ron and Draco shouted as they ran up to him.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Hermione said breathlessly as she lifted the huge bricks of wall from Theo's leg. She dumped them across an unconscious Death Eater who Theo and managed to knock out before falling.
"Theo are you alright?" Daphne asked crouching down beside him.
"Yeah." He said breathlessly as he tried to sit up.
"Wait, we'll help." Draco said as he pulled Theo's one arm around his shoulder and Ron did the same with his other. They stood up together, lifting Theo in the process.
"Quick, we need to get to the Room of Requirement." Harry said running to the front of the group, his wand held loosely in his left hand.
Thankfully, the battle hadn't progressed to the fourth floor and so Ron and Draco could carry Theo without holding their wands. When they reached the fifth floor Harry stopped again. Draco and Ron put Theo down and he rested his head against the stone banister.
"Wait here, till I return with Blaise. Keep your wand at the ready." Harry said running off into the corridor. He saw Blaise shutting a secret passageway with his wand.
"Blaise." Harry shouted. "Come along. Faster, we haven't got much time."
Blaise nodded before following Harry.
"Theo." He half shouted, when he saw Theo sitting with his head against the cold banister and blood dripping from his left leg.
"I'm not dead. Not so soon anyways. I gotta see your ugly children after all." Theo whispered with his eyes closed.
Blaise nodded a faint smile playing on his lips. "I really don't know mate…" Draco said as he and Ron pulled Theo up again. "….how your kids are going to take 'this' kind of an uncle."
Harry snickered before Theo said a loud 'hey' and was about to complain when Hermione shut him up with look at her wand.
They entered the Room of Requirement and Theo collapsed upon the sofa. Harry hurried over to the fireplace and called out to the Slytherins.
"Guys?" he said in a small voice and they all looked at him.
"What Potter?" Draco asked slumping beside Theo and giving his injured leg a soft pat.
"You guys need to leave." He said quietly.
Silence hung around the room as they gawked at Harry. "We haven't got much time. Hurry up." He said and took the jar containing floo powder down from the mantel piece.
"We are not leaving Harry." Daphne said as she held on to Hermione.
"I'm sorry, but I promised you guys to get you out of here safely, and that's what I'm doing right now." Harry said.
"You can't be serious." Blaise shouted.
"I'm." Harry shouted back.
"Your parents are here." He said silently after a minute. "They are here to get you and it is my duty to protect you. Get out of here fast, before they even see you."
"Potter we can't…" Draco began but this time Hermione cut him off.
"No Draco." She said. "You guys need to go. Harry had done a lot to protect and keep you guys a secret. All his efforts will go in vain if your parents get a hold of you."
"So you want us to turn our backs on the war like a coward?" Theo asked.
"No." Harry said softly. "And this isn't the main war, it's yet to come and I need you guys then. Please."
Blaise nodded still unsure but he approached Harry nonetheless. "Alright we'll go."
"Good." Harry said and extended the jar of floo powder towards him. The other Slytherins slowly got up from their places as well.
They stood in front of the fireplace looking at Harry. Theo stood with Blaise and Draco's help.
"I'll get him mate." Blaise told Draco as he walked with a limping Theo toward the fireplace.
"I'll get to you guys soon." Harry said and extended the floo powder towards him.
"Say 'Maison gardée' it will take you at a safe place." Harry said as Blaise took a handful of powder and limped into the fireplace with Theo.
He nodded once at Harry before shouting, 'Maison gardée' and disappearing in the flames.
Draco turned hurriedly towards Hermione and whispered, "I love you" in her ear before stepping into the fireplace with Daphne and disappearing out of Hogwarts.
The trio stood there for a long time gazing into the now empty fireplace before a loud shrilling sound vibrated off the entire Hogwarts.
-xxxxxxx-
Done. Thank you for reading the chapter.
Next Chapter: Harry v/s Voldemort