Harry Potter and the Return to Hogwarts, 8th Year
Chapter Thirty-Six – Invasion
Harry climbed up out of the hole back up to the ruins. He was turning to help Ginny up from the hole when something caught his eye. The night sky to the south-west was glowing red and plumes of smoke were blocking the stars. Low rumbles were gently shaking the columns next to him. "Ginny. I think we better check this out." Harry said mildly mesmerized.
"Well can you help me up?" She spat hurriedly.
"Oh...right." Harry said quickly pulling her from the ground.
"Oh no." She said looking at the glowing horizon.
"Yeah, let's go." Harry said as he took off running.
"Wait!" Ginny said after he got a few steps. "Heracles." she spoke sternly summoning the golden chariot again. "C'mon." She said climbing on. Harry reluctantly climbed on.
"Do you know how to drive this thing?"
"How hard can it be?" Ginny said grabbing the reigns. She gave a them a flick and the chariot took off quickly. Although it was moving almost as fast as a broom the two felt almost no force against them. The streets were beginning to fill with panicking people as they neared the source of the smoke. The gentle rumbling from before has been replaced by loud explosions growing even louder. As they broke the building line and came within sight of the sea they stopped suddenly. Out on the water was a dozen or so constructs hovering above the water. To Harry they resembled muggle tanks due to the fact that on top was a long cylindrical barrel that was firing upon the city. Each shot slammed into the buildings with horrific force cause massive explosions.
"Oh my god." Harry said fearfully as he looked at the scene around him.
"This isn't good." Ginny said.
"No." Harry said debating on helping the people around him. He pulled out his wand and extended it to staff length before holding it out toward the sea. "CUNCTUS EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry screamed as he poured his magic into Mjulnir. A brilliant red light shot out over the sea and split to every construct. They smashed into them ripping the weapons from the top of the constructs. Red lightning rained down around the constructs, rumbling even louder than the explosions were. Thinking quickly for a way to give the people more time a spell popped into Harry's mind. He'd heard about it let alone used it before. He raised his staff again and shouted "Existo charybdis!"
The water around the evil constructs started to churn and swirl as a great whirlpool formed beneath them. The splashing water started smacking against them causing one or two to falling to the water. Harry noticed people falling out into the sea. "Okay Ginny. Get us out of here." Harry said tapping her on the back. She again ushered her golden horses forward and with a fierce power the chariot took off away from the sea. They were about 3 kilometers away when spells started smashing the street around them. Harry looked behind him to see five wizards on broomsticks chasing them. However these weren't normal broomsticks. On the front of them was what looked like a cars windshield. Harry shrunk his staff down to a wand and raised it up to the attackers. "Reducto!" He shouted sending a into the lead attackers broom. The broom disintegrated beneath its master leaving him to fall to his demise. The others started shifting around as they fired more curses at the chariot. None of the spells seem to hit at all to Harry's surprise as he continued firing stunners.
"Harry look!" Ginny yelled. Harry turned to find a mob of people in the road. They seemed to be running into an invisible barrier preventing them from leaving the city. Harry turned back to his attackers and shouted "Immobulus!" causing the remaining attackers to freeze mid-air. He turned back toward the crowd.
"Slow us down." Harry said to Ginny. She pulled on the reigns causing the chariot to come to a slow roll. Harry stared at the invisible wall for a moment before speaking. "It looks like some form of the Imperturbable Charm."
"Can we dispel it?" Ginny asked pulling out her wand.
"I think if we could there would have survivors from the other attacks." Harry said thinking quickly. He stood motionless for what seemed like an eternity before an idea popped into his head. "Remember the Goblet of Fire?" he asked.
"Yeah?" Ginny asked confused.
"Barty Crouch Jr. used the confundus charm to mess with it." Harry said with a grin. "CONFUNDO!" Harry shouted putting all the energy he could manage into the spell. The wall started to spark as it sizzled out letting the mob of people through.
"Okay. Should we get out of here now?" Ginny asked turning to Harry.
"Probably." Harry said grabbing on to Ginny. The two stood on the chariot for almost a minute before anyone spoke.
"We can't apparate." Ginny said with a hint of fear before screams from the mob of people caught their attention. There was spells flying into the crowd from outside of the city. "We gotta help those people!" She yelled shaking the reigns again. Harry raised his wand waiting for a clear shot. When they rode into the crowd Harry saw a few wizards ahead defending the crowd. They turned to watch as Harry and Ginny rode by on the golden chariot.
"The gods have descended to save us!" Harry heard one of them say. He was about to chuckle when he noticed a witch dressed in black who was firing off killing curses.
"Impedimenta." Harry said making the witch freeze in her steps. Two more black cloaked enemies stepped out and fired on the chariot. "Reducto! Reducto! Reducto!" Harry shouted as he fired off curses. The first missing but the second two hitting their targets.
"There's too many! We can't take them all!" Ginny screamed over the action.
"I know. Just keep heading out of the city. I'll do everything I can on our way out!" Harry replied. Ginny nodded as she continued weaving through the crowd. Harry shot off curses every chance he got. The chariot was almost through the crowd when something caught there eye. Another one of the constructs, like the ones on the water, was heading straight toward them. The massive weapon on top fired off a curse that spiraled toward them. "Protego horribilus!" Harry shouted throwing up a shield in front of them. The curse blasted into the shield with a bright explosion. The chariot shook as they continued toward the construct. "My turn. BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" Harry said firing at the construct. The spell deflected off the front shield causing no harm.
"It has a shield!" Ginny screamed. The weapon tip started to glow in preparation to fire when everything slowed down around Harry. His brain was running through plan after plan when an idea struck. He shot off two cutting curses straight at the glowing tip of the weapon. Within seconds there was a huge explosion just in front of the construct causing it the crack into pieces. Five wizards flew to the ground around the destruction. Harry petrified them as he and Ginny rode by. When they were out of the range of danger Ginny stopped the chariot and the two watched the city behind them.
People were escaping left and right and muggle military was starting to arrive. Even with everything they did Harry knew that thousands of people were dead. "We did the best we could." Ginny said breathing a little heavier than normal.
"I know." Harry said sadly. "But it wasn't enough."
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.
"I mean that we need to get the DA ready for when this fight comes to us."
"Will that be enough?"
"I dunno. I never thought we'd be fighting something like this." Harry said depressed.
"Let's get back to Kingsley." Ginny said grabbing Harry's arm and with a pop they disappeared. The two appeared in the same alley they apparated hours before. Ginny was about to walk out of the alley when Harry stopped her.
"Take off the mask." Harry said taking his off.
"Right." She replied doing the same. The two crossed the street and entered the ministry through the visitors entrance. The atrium was bustling as they made their way over to the lift. They heard reports an attack left and right but no one seemed to know much about it. Only that people were getting away safely. When they finally made it to the ministers office if was, to their surprise, empty except for the minister who was standing by his desk.
"It's good to see you've returned." Kingsley said with a smile. "So I guess just getting out of there wasn't an option?"
"Actually sir we did everything you asked." Harry said calmly. "We had to fight our way out of the city in order to escape."
"Harry, I honestly wasn't expecting you to just leave with out a fight. That's why I sent you." Kingsley laughed while taking a seat behind his desk. "So tell me everything you can."
"Well sir, it's worse than I thought." Harry said sitting in a nearby chair. Ginny did the same. "It's not one man but an entire army. I mean hundreds of witches and wizards and they've built these constructs, like war machines."
"War machines?" the minister asked taking notes.
"Like muggle tanks. They are armoured and have some defensive magic as well as these huge weapons on top that fire powerful curses. They have people inside of them controlling them."
"Were you able to stop them?"
"Yeah but it got harder after they cranked up the defenses on them. My spells were being deflected."
"He had to target their own curse as it was fired in order to hit them." Ginny added proud of Harry's battle instincts.
"Impressive. I'm gonna guess that you figured out how there wasn't any survivors until you interfered." the minister said with a smirk.
"They put up some kind of a wall to keep everyone in. Some variation of the Imperturbable Charm." Harry said thinking back.
"How could you tell?" Kingsley asked leaning forward with curiosity.
"My glasses are very similar to the bewitched eye that Moody had."
"That's useful. Anything else?"
"Yeah. They used the constructs to bomb the city after the wall is set up. They have people on brooms with some kind of shield on the front of them to deflect spells. They pick off any threats they can find until the ground troops and constructs move into the city from more than one side."
"I've never heard of such tactics." the minister spoke with glossy eyes. Fear struck across his face as he spoke.
"They're muggle tactics." Harry said bluntly.
"Muggle tactics?" Ginny asked shocked.
"Yes. I don't know too much about it but this is common stuff for the muggle military." Harry said remember some black and white war movies Vernon liked to watch sometimes.
"Is this enough information minister?" Ginny asked feeling tired.
"This is more than I expected by far. You two did perfectly. I'll get our best minds on this right away...but Harry. I want to talk to you more about these muggle tactics."
"Sure." Harry said. "I can get some...tools that I think will help." Harry said referring to those war movies.
"Very well." Kingsley said with a nod. "You two get some rest."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
A.N.
Let me know what you guys are thinking about my story. It's been a while so if things seem a little rough please forgive me. Any help would be much appreciated.
P.S. LETS GET SOME REVIEWS!