Late into the night after Harry and the others had successfully broken out of Gringotts, I got a message on the old gold galleon that the DA used to use, Neville informing me that Harry had turned up at Hogwarts. Immediately suspecting that something was up, I quickly called for Fawkes and Orion, having them sweep down and land on my shoulders before following Neville's instructions and apparated directly into the Hog's Head, where the barkeeper, Aberforth, was grumbling about all the people who were turning up. "Fred! George! Lee!" Beaming happily, I leaped for them as my companions quickly swept off my shoulders as the four of us tackled one another with hugs. "It's so good to see you! How are you?"
"Been holding up fine, you get the message too then?" Nodding, George then promptly directed me to the portrait which was hanging wide open on the wall, pointing to it as Lee explained that several others had just gone through. Nodding my head, I clicked my tongue and had Orion land on my arm with Fawkes following behind me, flashing a grin at the barkeeper before climbing inside. Ahead of me I caught a flash of long red hair and instantly recognised Ginny.
"Mia! You came!"
"Course I did, now move along, move along, or you'll block the passageway." I chirped at her cheerfully, and once I dropped down, I was greeted by numerous beaming faces and people calling our names as we each appeared, and when Fawkes swept through with a cry of song a few people gasped in wonder. "There's our little bank robbers!" I cried out with a delighted grin, seizing the famous trio in order to hug them tightly as Fred, George and Lee came out behind me.
"Aberforth's getting a bit ratty. He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station." Fred announced as even more people came through after them, including Cho Chang.
"So what's the plan Harry?" George asked, but Harry looked pained and a little frustrated.
"There isn't one." He said rather forcefully, looking around him so much it were as if he wasn't sure who to look at with so many faces around him.
"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favourite kind." Fred grinned as I agreed, nodding my head as I stroked Orion's feathers as he ruffled them on my arm.
"You've got to stop this!" Turning to Neville, Harry looked quite overwhelmed. "What did you call them all back for? This is insane…"
"We're fighting, aren't we? The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight!" Dean announced, but as Harry started to protest, Ron interrupted him.
"Why can't they help?" He reasoned, making everyone else look hopeful and Harry rather gobsmacked as Ron then dropped his voice to speak underneath the general murmur of noise, allowing Hermione and myself to move in closer in order to listen. George tried to listen too but I shoved his head away. "They can help. We don't know where it is. We've got to find it fast. We don't have to tell them it's a Horcrux."
"So there's one in the castle?" I asked, quickly catching on. "Then yes Harry, you'll need help. The four of us wouldn't be able to find anything anytime soon, the more eyes we have the better, and there's also Snape and the Carrows to worry about. We can get the teachers on side, we can get the Order. I can send messages with Fawkes, we can search this entire castle in a matter of hours if we have enough people." I reasoned with him, and the more I did so, the less reluctant Harry seemed to agree, though I know frowned. "What are you guys looking for? What's it look like?"
"We don't know."
"Ah. Helpful." Hermione and Ron quickly explained to me what had happened after the break in at Gringotts, how they'd lost the sword because Griphook stole it and Harry had realised that Voldemort knew they were after the Horcruxes, and was checking up on all of them in turn, and whilst Harry was linked to his mind, he'd revealed that one of them was hidden at Hogwarts, which was why they had come here to look for it before he arrived. Harry was rubbing his scar, but after a little while, he then called out to everyone and despite the fact that his voice hadn't been very loud, everyone else fell into a dead silence in order to listen.
"There's something we need to find." He began to explain to everyone around us as Fawkes came and settled on my other shoulder, brining warmth and the soft brush of his feathers as he nipped on my ear with affection. A habit he'd picked up from Orion. "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?"
"Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it." Luna responded in her airy voice, causing everyone to then look at her.
"Yeah, but the lost diadem is lost Luna, that's sort of the point." Michael Corner told her bluntly and Harry eagerly asked when it had been lost.
"Centuries ago, they say. Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked but, nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?" Cho supplied, looking around to her fellow Ravenclaws who all nodded their heads. It was something, though, and after discussing what a diadem looked like, Harry asked if anyone had seen anything like it. "If you'd like to see what the diadem's supposed to look like, I could take you up to our common room and show you, Harry? Ravenclaw's wearing it in her statue." Harry staggered slightly and my hand jumped to his shoulder to steady him, recognising that his scar was hurting him again.
"He's on the move." He whispered to the three of us, making me frown and quickly turn to Fawkes, whispering to him. The Order needed to be here, if Voldemort was coming. Everyone, in fact. I had a feeling that now was the moment where the war would reach it's zenith, and if that was true, then we would need all the allies we could get. My message was simple. Bring everyone. Fawkes chirped to me, brushed his wing against my cheek where the cut from Bellatrix's knife was still healing, then flew off into the air before bursting into flames, disappearing from sight as Harry decided he was going to take a look at the statue.
Ginny stepped in before Cho could get up to offer to take Harry to her old common room, announcing that Luna will do it and our friend was more than happy to comply. He left alone with Luna with his invisibility cloak and soon enough, I had the younger years crowding around myself, others quizzing Ron and Hermione, as they all demanded to know what we had been doing for the past year. A lot of them had heard me on Potterwatch, and had heard all of the rescues and missions I'd been on so I obliged by telling them a few thrilling tales to pass the time. As I finished the first, Ron and Hermione pulled me away in order to whisper urgently.
"Ron's had a rather brilliant idea. Since we've lost the sword, we're going to need to find another way to destroy the Horcruxes, and the best way to do that with basilisk venom." Hermione said to me quickly and in a hushed tone as we three put our heads together. "So since we're conveniently standing on top of a dead basilisk, Ron and I are going to go and collect the teeth from the Chamber of Secrets."
"But you can't open the entrance unless you speak parseltongue." I pointed out, also murmuring but Ron confidently announced that he was sure he could pass it off.
"Harry used it to open the locket, see. I reckon I can copy what he did. It'll work. It has to." Seeing no other choice, I placed a disillusionment charm on the both of them so that they then became invisible.
"This won't last forever, it'll wear off eventually, so don't waste any time. Go! I'll keep everyone distracted here." And so they went off, and I turned around to start telling the story about breaking people out of Azkaban, which appeared to be a real hit with the spectators. Just as I was finishing the story, the Order began to arrive, as well as numerous other people Fawkes had been able to summon. I lunged for my old quidditch team and embraced them all, Oliver Wood ruffling my hair lightly as dad, Moody and Uncle Remus came through next, closely followed by the Weasleys and Fleur.
"He's coming, You-Know-Who is on his way here." I told them quietly, out of earshot of the younger children as they all formed a circle around me, everyone listening. "Harry, Ron and Hermione are all here, and they have to find something important. They must find it, otherwise we don't have a hope in hell in defeating him. That's as much as I can tell you, but I cannot express how vital it is that Harry and the others are kept safe until their task is done." I told them all, assuming a rather commanding tone as I pressed a fist into my palm. "We need protection spells and teams to protect each entrance and every floor. The younger kids will need to be evacuated too, I've already sent Orion with a message to get the Hogwarts train ready for departure, I expect we'll be hearing from the teachers soon…"
No sooner were the words out of my mouth, Harry and Luna came bursting back inside, surprised by the fact that our numbers had almost tripled as the words came tumbling out of his mouth. "Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school – Snape's run for it – what are you doing here? How did you know?" Dad, who had not seen Harry since the wedding in July, strode on over to give Harry a firm embrace, clapping him on the back and I saw a momentary happiness in Harry's expression as he returned the gesture.
"You think I'd let the school go undefended after you told me Voldemort was on his way? Of course not. I sent Fawkes out with a message and the devil twins here sent messages out to the rest of the DA and the Order." I told him with a sweeping gesture, smiling at him. "Well, if preparations are being made, then I think we'd better crack on. Fred, George, Lee, I don't suppose you brought any supplies with you, did you?" They all grinned and me and promptly revealed several large boxes of all kinds of Weasley merchandise. "Excellent. Good luck with the search Harry! Do your best!" I trilled, jumping forwards and pecking his cheek with a kiss before racing out of the Room of Requirement to get to work, a number of people following after me.
I ran ahead of everyone else, racing through the corridors that I knew so well I could walk through them in my sleep without ever once taking a wrong step, before bursting outside into the courtyard and joined the other teachers there who were casting spells into the sky. "Miss Black! What are you doing here?" Professor Flitwick gaped at me in shock as I grinned.
"The troops are rallying, professor, Hogwarts has its champions." Then, turning to the sky, I made a great sweeping motion with my wand, and cried out a list of spells to fire them into the air and assist in creating the large, protective dome whilst also layering a few of my own protective enchantments to bolster it. Then I fired off multiple patronuses, sending out more messages to anyone I could think off, even sending a few into the Forbidden Forest, hoping to get some of the more friendlier creatures inside on board.
Once this was done, I proceeded into the Great Hall where McGonagall had taken charge of the school, giving instructions to the students who had been gathered there that they were to evacuate in a calm and orderly fashion. I spotted my dad quickly, and with him was mum and Leo, so I raced on over to them as mum turned then gasped out my name. We launched ourselves at each other, crashing into an embrace as she hugged and kissed me with tears in her eyes, Leo also sweeping me up as we reunited after several months of absence. "You're here! You came!"
"Of course we did." My mother huffed proudly, drawing back her shoulders and pointedly wiping her cheeks dry with the sleeve of her robe as she drew her wand. "No daughter of mine is going to fight the Dark Forces without proper reinforcements!" I couldn't help it, I laughed. Smiling with joy to be with my complete family again, I hugged and kissed them again, as well as dad, then turned to Remus in order to embrace him too, kissing his cheek and squeezing his hands as I quickly asked about Tonks and Teddy before listening to the rest of McGonagall's instructions.
"We have already placed proper protection around the castle, but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects…"
"I know that you are preparing to fight." The chilling voice spoke with such presence that I sharply looked around, seeking out the source whilst expecting to find the snake-like appearance of Voldemort himself in the hall. "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. Give me Harry Potter, 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." The voice continued to speak, echoing hauntingly as everyone looked around them wildly. "You have until midnight."
My mother was now gripping my shoulder tightly, her wand having risen in preparation to protect me. I looked at it, noticing that it was worn and scratched from years of use, cherry and unicorn hair, she'd told me once long ago when I'd first became interested in wands. It had been so long ago, so many years, since I had last sat cradled in her arms, holding that very same wand to turn it over repeatedly, always finding a new mark, a new scratch or imprint which I had been determined to learn off by heart. It was then in that moment I realised how very real this all was, and as everyone turned to Harry, I knew that there was no going back. This was war, and in wars there are battles.
Thus began the Battle of Hogwarts.