Chapter 38: Rumble, Rumble
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"'Go fuck yourself,' I replied, always the lady. 'I'm staying here.'"
—Ava Gardner, Ava: My Story
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Rigel woke from a nap to Abraxas shaking him. His mouth was moving and everything was in silent commotion. Rigel grabbed for his wand and undid the deafening spell he had performed on himself to get some sleep. Into his eardrums came a roar of noise, but he was almost still deaf to it because Harry Potter was standing in the portrait hole between the Room and the bar in the Hog's Head inn.
Scrambling, Rigel shoved on his shoes while listening, his blood racing, his heart beating double-time. Harry was talking quietly to Ron and Hermione about something and Fred, George, Ginny, Lee Jordan, and Cho Chang were now in the room. Rigel kicked himself for missing Harry's entrance. It's all finally happening!
"Okay," Harry called to the room at large and all noise ceased; Fred and George, who had been cracking jokes for the benefit of those nearest, fell silent and all of them looked alert and excited.
"There's something we need to find," Harry said, "Something—something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here at Hogwarts but we don't know where. It might have belonged to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone ever come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"
He looked hopefully at the group of Ravenclaws: Padma, Michael, Terry, Cho, Luna, Rigel, Brax, and Scott and it was Luna who answered, "Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember, Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it."
"How'd they get here?" Rigel demanded of Brax and Scott while Cho, Michael, Luna, Ron, and Harry discussed the diadem. "Through the tunnel?"
"Yeah, and the Weasleys and the rest Apparated right into the Hog's Head bar and came through only a few minutes after—Neville sent a message that it was starting and to Apparate into there."
Rigel took out his own coin and read the message himself. He knew Holly would soon be on her way too, then. The thought filled him with pleasure—and fear. He didn't want her in danger.
Harry left with Luna to go to Ravenclaw Tower and the tunnel from the Hog's Head to the Room continued to see traffic. In fact, the traffic built. It seemed that the D.A.'s tipoff had spread to the Order which had further spread. Kingsley, Lupin, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, older boys and girls who looked like they had graduated within the last few years, and a collection of miscellaneous other old Order members Rigel had never learned the names of. His mother appeared shortly after the Weasleys, with Cal.
She looked happy to find herself in the room her son was also in. She hugged him, as did his uncle. While Cal shook hands with Brax and Scott, Lenna asked Rigel what was happening.
"Harry's on some mission on orders Dumbledore gave him before he died, apparently. He went to Ravenclaw Tower with this girl Luna Lovegood. Everyone's sort of waiting for him to get back."
"What are the Death Eaters doing—anything? Do they know he's here? If they know he's here, You-Know-Who might be on his way."
"I don't know, mum."
"Well, there better be a fight, and if there isn't one already, we're gonna make one," Cal said determinedly. "This shite has all gone on long enough."
"Hear hear," Scott agreed. Brax was busy folding up a bit of parchment he had written on into a sort of winged shape.
He answered Rigel's questioning look, "Depending on what Harry says when he gets back, I might send this to find Marlena to tell her where to meet me so we can fight together."
Scott snorted. "Very romantic, Braxypoo. Why don't you slay Tybalt while you're at it?"
"Shut up."
"Speaking of romances," Scott continued, gesturing toward the portrait hole, "methinks I spy Rigel's."
Rigel spun around. "She doth teach the torches to burn bright," he murmured, before he had launched himself through the crowd to catch Holly up in his arms. Some of her large family was spilling in behind her, and she was pink with an embarrassed blush when he set her back on her feet. Two taller women were at her shoulders and she introduced them both to him.
"Mum, Tina, this is Rigel Albeney."
Her gruff-looking mother shook his hand curtly but her sister gave him a smile. Her blonde hair had curls unlike Holly's, but her electric blue eyes and lovely face shape were the same. She had a strong handshake and Rigel guessed her arms were muscular. He remembered Holly had told him she was a good Quidditch player.
"Hello, Rigel. I've heard a lot about you. Why didn't you tell me how hot he was, sis?"
"I told you he was quite attractive, and you know it," Holly replied.
Rigel's cheeks grew warm and Christina laughed. Her laugh was lovely like her younger sister's, but less delicate. She had all the looks of a girl, but the strength and some of the mannerisms of a guy, and Rigel could tell by the way that Scott introduced himself to her that his interest was piqued. With people Scott was less interested in, he was full of ease and self-assurance, but when he really liked a girl, he lacked some of that easiness. Ri hadn't seen a girl get that reaction from him in a long time, and grinned at it.
Lenna came up to give Holly a gentle squeeze and Holly smiled up at her. It made Rigel grin with happiness.
"Hey, sweetie," Cal greeted warmly. He had the knack for immediately acting with everyone he met that he liked as if he'd known them his entire life. It always put people at ease.
"Mum, Tina, this is Rigel's mum, Lenna, and her brother Calun. Lenna's in the Order of the Phoenix and Calun—"
She was interrupted as Kingsley stepped up to speak to Lenna rather urgently about Order stuff, which made Holly's hard-to-impress mother's eyebrows rise in appreciation and respect. When Kingsley moved on, the two women got to talking and didn't stop until Harry reappeared.
By that time, the Room had expanded twice to accommodate all the people accumulating, and Rigel, Holly, Scott, Brax, Christina, and Cal were in the middle of a conversation about strategy if there was in fact going to be a battle in in the castle tonight.
"Harry, what's happening?" said Mr. Lupin, meeting him.
"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school—Snape's run for it— What are you doing here? How did you know?"
"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army," Fred explained. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry, and the D.A. let the Order know, and it all kind of snowballed."
"What first, Harry?" called George. "What's going on?"
"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized. We're fighting."
There was a great roar and a surge towards the doors; Harry was pressed against the wall as people ran past him, all with their wands drawn. Rigel, Lenna, Cal, Holly, Christina, Holly's mom, Abraxas, and Scott all followed the surging, roaring crowd. They all half-ran to the Great Hall.
The enchanted ceiling was dark and scattered with stars, and below it the four long House tables were lined with disheveled students, some in traveling cloaks, some in dressing gowns. Here and there shone the pearly white figures of school ghosts. All seemed to be confusion.
"Order members are collecting up on the teachers' platform," Lenna said to Rigel. "I've got to go." She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and then left them.
"Rigel!" a small, high voice called out and Rigel turn to see a tiny, blonde girl-missile bolting toward him. She was closely followed by her darker, watchful older sister.
"What's going on, Rigel?" Cathleen Holmes asked him. She looked frightened, but he was glad to see that thanks to Marlena she was dressed in sturdy traveling garb.
"You-Know-Who is coming," he answered her without pretense. "The teachers are fortifying the school and organizing the underage students for evacuation. Make sure you get out of here, Cathy."
"But—Lena…" Cathy looked to her sister. "Are—are you going to stay?"
Marlena looked to Abraxas.
"Are you?" she asked him.
"Yes," he answered with no hesitation, "but you should go, Lena. If you get hurt, who would take care of Cathy?"
She looked at her little sister. "I know. I can't take that risk. But you know I would stay if I could."
"Well, I'm staying," came Ivy's silky voice; she was sauntering up to them from behind Lena and Cathy. "Even if I'm the only Slytherin who does. This school's been a right mess this year… I wanna see some of these Eater bastards get fucked." She twirled her wand in her fingers and grinned devilishly.
Rigel raised his eyebrows appreciatively—he hadn't pegged Ivy as the noble sort.
"With that attitude, I don't know why you weren't put into Gryffindor, love," Scott said, winking at her.
"I'm insulted," she purred.
"Attention! Your attention, please!" Professor McGonagall called, climbing up onto the raised platform. The room hushed. Behind her stood the remaining teachers, including the palomino centaur, Firenze, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix, including his mom.
"By now you all have probably heard why you've been called from your beds. Hogwarts castle is threatened by He Who Must not Be Named and its defenses will not last indefinitely, therefore I am calling for each and every student who does not wish to fight, and every student who is still underage, to evacuate the castle as soon as possible. The evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organize your House and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point."
Many of the students looked petrified.
"What about our things?" called a girl from the Ravenclaw table. "Our trunks, our owls?"
"We have no time to collect possessions," said McGonagall. "The important thing is to get you out of here safely."
"Where's Professor Snape?" shouted a Slytherin girl.
"He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk," replied Professor McGonagall, and a great cheer erupted from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.
"Figures," Rigel muttered to Holly. "He's been a coward all year."
Rigel saw Harry enter the room and move down the Gryffindor table, to many turning heads and whispers.
"I must ask you to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects—" Her final words were drowned out as a different voice echoed throughout the hall. It was cold and clear. There was no telling from where it came; it seemed to issue from the walls themselves.
"I know that you are preparing to fight." There were screams among the students, some of whom clutched each other, looking around in terror for the source of the voice. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."
There was a silence in the Hall now, the kind of silence that presses against the eardrums, that seems too huge to be contained by walls.
"Give me Harry Potter," said Voldemort's voice, "and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."
The silence swallowed them all again. Rigel's arms had goose bumps—that had been the first time he had ever heard Voldemort's voice and it was more terrifying than he had imagined. Every eye in the place seemed to have found Harry.
In the silence a figure rose from the Slytherin table and a seventh-year girl raised a shaking arm and screamed, "But he's there! Potter's there! Someone grab him!"
Rigel stood with the rest of the Gryffindors in a massive movement and made the benches rasp against the stone floor. He raised his wand and they all stood with their backs toward Harry, protective and grim-faced. Almost at the same moment, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws also stood, facing the Slytherins with wands drawn from cloaks and shirtsleeves. Even Ivy had stood with them, her wand raised against the rest of her House, a disgusted look on her pretty face. Cathleen too was holding out her wand, glaring at the Slytherin girl, though she was holding it wrong. Rigel adjusted her wand arm gently and she looked up at him sheepishly.
"Thank you, Miss Parkinson," said Professor McGonagall in a clipped voice. "You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."
There was a grinding of benches and the Slytherins trooped out of the other side of the Hall.
"Ravenclaws, follow on!" commanded McGonagall.
Slowly, the tables emptied. Marlena kissed Abraxas and then took Cathy's hand and the two followed out with the Hufflepuffs. A fair number of older Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs remained at the tables, and half the Gryffindors, necessitating Professor McGonagall's descent from the teachers' platform to chivvy the underage on their way.
"Absolutely not, Creevey, go! And you, Peakes!"
Kingsley stepped forward on the raised platform to address those who remained behind.
"We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast. A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers—Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor—where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus" —he indicated Lupin— "Arthur" —he pointed toward Mr. Weasley, sitting at the Gryffindor table—"and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defense of the entrances of the passageways into the school—"
"Sounds like a job for us," called Fred, indicating himself and George, and Kingsley nodded his approval.
"Hand these out for us," George told his brother Ron, handing him two large bags filled with what looked like black hair ties. "Shield Bracelets—we bought bags full from the shop."
"Alright, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!" called Kingsley.
"Troops," Scott repeated, his face a bit pale. "Merlin…"
Cal was busying himself putting all the reflective and repellant charms he knew and had learned from his sister on the three boys, Holly and Ivy, teaching the words to them so they could reapply them when they wore off. Holly's mother watched and listened to his work, and when she heard one she didn't know, she and Christina added it to their own protection. All of them got on Fred and George's shields as well when a bag came around.
Lenna rejoined the group. Cal handed her a bracelet and asked her immediately, "What's the plan for us?"
"Kinsley asked me to stay on the main floor or maybe the second and help guard the front entrance. I've been working on some curse traps that will be triggered only by Dark Marks and I want to try to set them up in the front hall. I think if we all could stay together, that would be ideal, although it might be safer higher up depending on how much damage gets done to the infrastructure—in fact, I might try to fortify the walls magically—" She looked at her watch. It's quarter to midnight. Let's get on this."
"Sounds good." Cal followed her out into the huge front entryway of the castle and Mrs. Pollux set to fortifying the walls and floors, while Lenna set her Dark Mark traps.
Rigel was busy giving Brax, Scott, Holly, and Ivy a crash-course reminder of the most useful dueling spells and curses he knew. Often, they were the simple ones—ones that incapacitated an opponent, like rope-binding or a freezing jinx like Petificus Totalus. "Always go for the wand arm and the feet," he told them. "You'd be surprised how distracted people will get by something happening to their feet. At close range, the throat. If you don't want to kill, there's a whole range of ways to knock somebody out."
He taught them those. Scott began scrawling them on his bare arms with his wand tip, and others did the same.
"And don't forget to just throw them, if you can, preferably into something hard. Stupify, Iacio—and remember that there's more than one way to stop somebody. You don't have to be violent if you're clever. A good Cunfundus Charm will stop somebody in their tracks and make them useless. Knee Reversal, Langlock keeps them from being able to say spells, Leg-Locker Curse, Obscuro, the Stinging Hex—you could even shrink Death Eaters if you wanted to, I bet they'd be less intimidating that way."
Christina, who was listening, chuckled.
"And if you're prepared to kill…" He grimaced and taught them the words for a variety of curses that would boil insides, remove limbs, sever arteries, puncture the heart, reduce the brain to mush, etc. Everyone grew visibly paler as he went through this lesson, because they knew that all of these the Death Eaters could also try to use on them—and they'd be less hesitant about it. Christina wrote all the curses on the inside of her left hand with her wand tip.
Holly and Brax's mouths moved silently, trying to memorize and scrawl as much of what he was saying as they could.
"And if your mind blanks, just put all your mental power into shielding yourself and get someplace safe. It's good to be brave, but nobody can be a hero when they're in over their head. We all would much prefer each other safe to dead."
There were curt nods; Christina was looking at her little sister's boyfriend with increased respect.
Rigel glanced at his watch. "We've only got a couple more minutes."
"I hope Harry finds what he's after," Abraxas muttered. "I heard the teachers saying how we just won't be able to keep You Know Who out for long. This is gonna get ugly fast."
Rigel nodded, knowing what he said was true. He squeezed Holly's hand.
The ground rumbled. And rumbled again. Through the windows that Holly's mom had fortified, there were multi-colored flashes of light out on the dark grounds. A weird, keening scream reached their ears.
It had begun.