Chapter 36
Harry panted as the sweat poured off him; he was fighting Draco, Hermione, Susan and Neville who were a formidable team. They were pushing him to new levels, what made it more challenging was that he was using his magic to enhance his casting speed which meant he was still restricted to simpler spells than the rest of them.
"Stop" Draco said "Harry I think trying this is a waste of time, we've been busy with this exercise for the last four months and we still cannot get more complex spells to be cast quicker"
"Urgh you're right! We'd be better of focusing this on the weapon training" Harry said and conjured a wooden sword
"Agreed" Draco said and conjured a spear
"Okay let's do this" Susan stepped forward with her own sword
"Anyone else?" Harry asked and saw Neville, Dean and Seamus with their own weapons; a battle axe, a sword and a war hammer respectively
"No fair" he muttered and channelled his magic
He attacked Draco first and parried his spear into Susan's path making the girl jump backward; he immediately had to move when the hammer of Seamus came swinging high and Neville's axe flew low. Harry dissolved into smoke and reappeared across the room and conjured a roman shield in front of him to block the arrows that Hermione, Justin and Bella fired.
Hannah saw her chance to move closer to Harry with her daggers but was winded when he struck her in the stomach with his sword and turned to knock her away with his body weight. She rolled away and dropped her sword to indicate she was done. Harry moved on Neville next who stood shoulder to shoulder with Seamus and Dean positioned himself behind them.
Neville came down hard with his axe and Seamus came across with his hammer; Harry went low and hit both of them on their ankles but received a blow to his shoulder by Dean who in turn received a head butt to his face and a kick to the chest
Draco had summoned a dozen more spears started throwing them with increasing speed and accuracy at Harry. Eventually one of them hit him in the chest which slowed him down enough for the next three to knock him out.
When he was woken by his friends he was sat next to Bella
"Good job Harry" Draco said "You're getting better with bigger groups, Neville and Seamus need more work if you're going to use those weapons and Hannah that was a terrible showing even though the plan was good"
"More aggression" Harry said still dizzy from Draco's attack
"Agreed, from everyone. Madam Pomfrey and Bella know their stuff so don't hold back when attacking, when we face our enemy they won't hold back so in these sessions we need to be as tough on each other as possible. Tomorrow morning I want you guys to try and use your magic when we're running as well, you're getting better at casting silently and wandlessly but our time is running out"
"What do you mean Harry?" Bella asked
"Voldemort has been quiet for a long time, we're going to face him soon. The ministry has heard that he may have more giants and the dementors. So I think we may face a winter battle here at Hogwarts" Draco explained. He had had this conversation with Harry already
"We expected an attack at Christmas but nothing came of it so I think he is preparing to take Hogwarts and use the children as ransom" Harry said
"Remember we have the group on Wednesday and we'll be making a few safety announcements in relation to this attack. Remember we need to get students to safety first and then we take on Death Eaters till and when backup arrives we'll have superior numbers" Draco said
"Draco and I will be at Gringotts tonight, as they have positive news for us but we've spoken to the headmaster and he agrees that you should help the prefects patrol while we're gone" Harry said
The group wished them luck and left the two boys alone with their girlfriends
"So what do you think the Goblin's have to tell you?" Bella asked
"I'm hoping that they've found a way to destroy the soul containers" Harry said hopefully
"I still can't find anything in the library about soul containers" Hermione said
"I'm sure that is Dumbledore's doing and I didn't think you'd find anything. That's why I didn't even bother" Draco said and kissed the top of Hermione's head
"You should go get showered quickly, they're expecting you in thirty minutes" Bella said and kissed Harry
"Stay safe" he whispered to her
"I will, now go" she smiled
The boys stepped out of the floo a minute before they were due, Sirius had decided to accompany them to the meeting. They met with Blackclaw in a boardroom of sorts; the room was intriguing as the walls were lined with weapons
"This is the war council room" he said answering the curious looks on the human faces
"These weapons are all beautiful" Draco said
"Everything Goblin made is beautiful Mr Malfoy, we pride ourselves in our work" he smiled "Now we called you here because we think we have found out how to destroy the soul containers but we'll need a few more items which certain of our curse breakers are out gathering but more importantly we need to be somewhere where there is a ton of ambient magic and the only place we can think of is"
"Hogwarts" Sirius said
"Correct, now we'll be ready to perform the ritual in a week today" Blackclaw said "Will that give you enough time to convince Mr Greengrass to allow us on site?"
"We'll need to guarantee the safety of the students" Sirius said "But House Black has made a safe place available for students and I have a plan for that with Amelia already" he said proudly
"Okay, so we should be ready to go in a week then?" Harry asked
"Yes Mr Potter" Blackclaw said
"Then we'll need Mundungus Fletcher" Draco said
"Why in the world would you need that thief" Blackclaw said with disgust
"I have to agree with Blackclaw, why do we need him? He is notoriously unreliable" Sirius asked
"Because he is notoriously unreliable, Harry and I want Voldemort to attack on our terms. So, we need to 'leak' information that we'll be performing a ritual to make Harry stronger and that we'll be using rare Goblin artefacts to accomplish this at precisely 3 on Monday morning and if we missed that time it would be gone forever. We need to leak this on Friday afternoon or evening which will hopefully force Voldemort into action. Sirius you'll take Mundungus out drinking and tell him how this is stressing you out because you're afraid Harry will become too powerful and it'll give him power no one has seen before" Draco said
"Then we have the Goblin armies pop in as soon as we have Voldemort on the premises, we put up an anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards" Blackclaw said
"Exactly" Harry said
"How do we know he'll come?" Sirius said
"Oh he'll come alright, he can't resist power" Harry laughed "Philosophers stone, Ravenclaw's diadem and Slytherin's locket. I promise he'll come"
"Well good luck Mr Potter" Blackclaw smiled
On Wednesday night Harry watched the students go through their drills; everyone had managed to increase the strength of their shields, he still wasn't happy with their movement
"Move!" Harry shouted and joined in by firing curses alongside Bella and the rest of their friends
"Standing still will get you killed, keep moving"
He watched the students try and weave through the spells being cast by his group of attackers
"That's enough" Draco said after fifteen more minutes of attacks
"Good job everyone, now remember your training and remember you need to stay safe at all times. Times are getting darker and we need to make sure that everyone keeps an eye on one another" Harry said
"Our strength lies in our unity" Draco said
"Now we don't want you fighting Death Eaters" Harry said "They have more experience and less morals, we just want you to get to safety and this training is there to give you the tools to do that" Harry said
"The light has lost enough already don't try and be a hero"
"There are those of us who have trained to take on this threat and we will" Sirius said from behind the group
"Now in case of an attack every student is to report to their common rooms, from their prefects will be able to open the floo connection and floo students to safety." Harry explained and handed out pendants to the various prefects
"These pendants will open a secure floo connection to the safe area we have set up" he explained
"So in conclusion; stay safe, remember your training, if there's trouble get to your common room" Harry said to the room and let the seriousness of the situation set in
" Now get to your common rooms, there's an hour left before curfew" Draco said and watched the group disperse
Draco took the time to tell everyone about the plan for Monday morning and what it meant for them
"Now we want you to know that we will fight alongside the Goblins and Aurors but not one of you need to. I don't want you too, you can stay out of it but if you chose to then the main doors are where we meet" he said to them and each person nodded their understanding
"We should leave too, get our rest" Draco said and took Hermione's hand and led them all out of the room
"Harry when the time comes I want to fight" Bella said as they left the room hand in hand
"If you're sure then okay, but I need you to stay safe. I cannot lose you"
"I will Harry, you need to be safe too. I know you need to defeat him but come back to you"
"I promise I will. I promise you a happy life filled with some baby Potters" he smiled and kissed her
"I'll be waiting for you to keep that promise and threw her arms around his neck"
AN – Hope everyone enjoyed. Please review!