A/N - Hello again everyone and welcome to the beginning of the final section of Lightning, Part 1. As you can tell from the chapter heading this is the "Return to Hogwarts" arc and it will be six chapters long.
I have revised a certain portion of this chapter based on a note I got from several people. When that many people say the same thing the least you can do is listen and consider what they said. I agreed with them and have redone that particular section to hopefully be better.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I really do appreciate them. I thought it best to get right to the chapter instead of having a long author's note section first.
Congratulations KingOfKingz for being the 500th person to favorite this story.
Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling.
"Normal dialogue"
"Telepathy"
31) RETURN TO HOGWARTS
Lunchtime, Dumbledore thought, was a very valuable time of day as it came right after the intense work of the morning and provided a respite before the afternoon grind started up. There was always a lot to do in a school like Hogwarts whether you were the headmaster, a professor, a house elf, or a student. Lunch was always a welcome break. Today they were joined by two guests at the staff table. Professor Lupin had invited both Sirius Black and Senior Auror Alastor Moody (known informally as Mad Eye because of his magical eye which could see through solid objects and could also see in all directions including through the back of his head) to come speak to his DADA classes about the war against Voldemort and what it was like to actually fight dark wizards. Due to his past history with both men Snape was not pleased to see either of them there but he said nothing. He seemed to be a little afraid of Moody and his magical eye which kept spinning around to look at him.
Then lunchtime took a distinctly unwelcome turn.
"Minerva" Dumbledore said to McGonagall, "I just felt the alarm wards go off. Several people have just entered the school grounds."
"Hostile?" asked McGonagall.
"Possibly" said Dumbledore, "they've broken down the front gates."
"What?!" McGonagall exclaimed causing people to look in her direction. Dumbledore stood up.
"Severus" he said, "you, Minerva, Filius, and Alastor please come with me. Pomona please take charge until we're back."
The four professors and one auror left the Great Hall and exited the castle walking swiftly in the direction of the front gates. It didn't take too long before the group of visitors came into view in the distance.
"Oh dear" said Dumbledore when he saw the newcomers.
"Albus, who are they?" asked Snape.
"I only know who the leader is" said Dumbledore.
"I'm sure you do" said a new voice and the four professors and one auror turned to see that Sirius had followed them down, "I can tell you who some of the others are if it will help."
"What are you doing here Black?" sneered Snape, "sticking your nose in where it isn't wanted?"
"Severus please" said Dumbledore before turning to Sirius, "who are they?"
"That's the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" said Sirius with a frown.
"You know them?" asked Flitwick.
"We've never met but I know who they are" said Sirius as he walked up to the side of the headmaster and gestured at some of the members starting with the leader: "Magneto's probably world famous by now. With him are Mastermind the illusionist, he's the tall one in the brown coat, Quicksilver the speedster who's the one in green, the woman in the red bodice is his sister the Scarlet Witch who has a hex power we don't know the nature of, the short guy hopping up the path is the Toad who must be related to Dolores Umbridge somehow but is obviously more honest about himself than she'll ever be, and the really big, fat guy is Blob who is basically an immovable object with enormous strength. He joined them relatively recently to go by the news. I don't know who the other four members are. They must be really new."
"And how would you know that?" sneered Snape.
"Unlike you I actually pay attention to what happens in the muggle world outside of Britain" shot back Sirius, "but what are they doing here?"
He lowered his voice so only Dumbledore would hear him.
"Albus should I – ?"
"Not yet" whispered Dumbledore cutting him off, "if that becomes necessary I will deal with it." He turned to Professor McGonagall. "Minerva get back to the school and contact the DMLE and let them know that this an emergency. We need the aurors here and we need them here immediately."
"What about you?" asked McGonagall.
"We'll be fine" said Dumbledore, "now go." McGonagall turned around and quickly transformed into her cat form before streaking off back to the castle. Dumbledore turned around and walked toward the approaching group of visitors, stopping when they were about 20 feet apart. The visitors stopped too. The two groups stared at each other for a time before Dumbledore spoke.
"Welcome to Hogwarts Magneto" he said to the leader.
"You've heard of me?" asked Magneto with a raised eyebrow.
"I doubt that there are very many people who haven't" said Dumbledore, "I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of this school. These are Severus Snape and Filius Flitwick, two of my professors, Senior Auror Alastor Moody, and our guest Sirius Black. What brings you and your fellows to our fine institution?"
"You will surrender this school and everything in it to me and my people" said Magneto bluntly.
"And just what do you want with this school?" asked Dumbledore.
"That is none of your concern" was the reply.
"I think it is very much our concern" snarled Snape, "since your taking our school will affect us – or does that not matter to someone like you?"
"Silence peon" said Magneto to Snape. He sent his power at Snape and lifted him into the air by his metal belt buckle before throwing him back several yards.
"Severus!" cried Flitwick who rushed over to see to his colleague.
"I'm all right" growled Snape reaching for his wand, "which is more than he'll be in a minute."
"Severus, no" commanded Dumbledore stopping Snape.
"That was wise of you" said Magneto to Dumbledore, "now, the school if you please."
"What of the children?" asked Dumbledore, "will you let us evacuate them?"
"The children stay here" was Magneto's terse and chilling reply.
"Why?" demanded Dumbledore, starting to get angry. He was starting to give off a feeling of great power.
"Again" said, "that's not your concern. You are obviously very powerful. I can feel it from here. But you're no match for me and my Brotherhood."
"We'll see about that" said Dumbledore, "you may find that I and my fellows will be more of a challenge than you think we are."
"Be careful Albus" growled Moody, "this man is not to be underestimated."
"Albus!" a voice called. Dumbledore turned to see seven or eight people running down toward him. Dumbledore recognized some of them. The aurors were here.
"Albus" said the leader of the active aurors, a man named Kingsley Shacklebolt, "what is going on? Who are these people?"
"This, Kingsley" said Dumbledore, "is a group that is trying to take over Hogwarts. They're called the Brotherhood, though a brotherhood of what I'd rather not say. You need to be very careful with them. They're not normal magicals. The leader is called Magneto and he is very powerful."
"Lad, you'd best listen to him" said Moody turning to look at Shacklebolt although his magic eye stayed focused on Magento, "these people are dangerous."
"Whatever they are" said another auror, "they're not getting past us."
"Quiet Dawlish" said Shacklebolt as he took charge before turning to the Brotherhood, "we'll give you one chance to leave peacefully before we attack."
"You think you can take us?" scoffed Magneto, "I could take all of you down myself. It is I who will give you one chance to step aside."
Naturally neither side would give an inch and it was inevitable they would come to blows. Mastermind struck first throwing up an illusion of a large red dragon swooping down out of the sky at the magicals. All of the aurors pulled out their wands and began firing spells at the dragon. To their collective shock the spells did nothing to it.
"It's not real!" called Moody who, due to his magical eye, was able to tell at once that it was an illusion, "don't draw your wands!" Unfortunately only Dumbledore and Sirius heard him.
"What's happening?" yelled Dawlish seeing the dragon was unaffected by the spells.
"It's not magical" called back Moody. Before Dawlish, or anyone else, could respond there was a sudden whoosh of wind and all of the aurors suddenly lost their wands.
"What the – ?" began another auror before Quicksilver came to a stop at the edge of the lake. He was holding all of the auror's wands which he then threw into the lake as far as he could. The only wands he didn't get were Dumbledore's, Sirius' and Moody's as they had kept their wands holstered. Snape and Flitwick were standing back from the battle on the headmaster's orders.
"What will you mighty wizards do now?" asked Magneto. Unfortunately without their wands the aurors were virtually defenseless. The other Brotherhood members rushed them with Blob in the lead. As soon as they were within his grasp he began dealing out nasty punches which saw the victims fall quite quickly while some of the other Brotherhood members followed. Soon most of the aurors were on the ground unconscious, badly injured, or both. Shacklebolt was the only one who was relatively unscathed.
"Who are these people?" he demanded. Dumbledore just shook his head sadly. The aurors obviously had no experience with people like the Brotherhood – or mutants in general. The British wizarding world had isolated itself from the mundane world so much that when that world finally came to call today they were completely unprepared to face it and it showed.
Dumbledore, Sirius, and Moody still had their wands and they combined their power to strike back, but even they couldn't take on ten mutants at once, especially when one of them was Magneto. Sirius threw up the strongest shield he knew and urged Moody and Dumbledore to do the same. Snape came forward now and added his power to the shield too while Shacklebolt bent over the aurors to see how badly they were hurt. The combined shield stopped the Brotherhood from advancing further for the moment.
"We have to fall back to the castle" said Dumbledore.
"If we drop our shield – " began Sirius.
"Don't worry about that" said Dumbledore, "I have a contingency plan for that. Now we need to get the aurors up to the castle to the hospital wing. Filius" he now called to the charms professor, "please summon the aurors' wands from the lake. Flitwick raised his wand.
"Accio aurors' wands" he said and after a few seconds all of the wands broke the lake's surface and came flying back towards him. Dumbledore, Sirius, Moody, and Snape dropped the shield so Flitwick could catch the wands. Dumbledore and Magneto stared at each other.
"Will you surrender now?" asked Magneto quietly, "it should be obvious that you can't win." Dumbledore looked him in the eye and spoke two words:
"Hogwarts Umbraculum" (Hogwarts protective shield)
The air was suddenly obscured between Dumbledore and Magneto as a strong magical shield rose up from the ground and covered the whole castle. Dumbledore could see out through the shield but Magneto couldn't see in.
"This won't keep us out for long!" Magneto yelled and began attacking the shield with his power. Dumbledore said nothing to him. He knew Magneto was right but the shield would keep him out for a while, and probably longer than Magneto expected.
Dumbledore, Snape, Flitwick, Sirius, Moody, and Shacklebolt moved the other aurors up to the castle so they could be taken to the hospital wing. Once this was done Dumbledore met with McGonagall, Sprout and the other staff and informed them of what had happened. They had seen much of the fighting from the windows in the Great Hall as had many of the students, in fact the windows had been crushingly crowded by students, many of whom stood on benches or on the tables themselves to see what was going on.
"Laddie, you did well for someone who's been out of action for so long" said Moody to Sirius.
"I have an excellent trainer" said Sirius "and his program is very effective."
"You're getting back in shape, are you?" said Moody, "good, but you've still got a ways to go to get back to your fighting peak. If you want to return to the aurors I could help."
"I don't know about being an auror again" said Sirius, "I just want to be able to defend myself in a fight."
"Might I meet your trainer?" asked Moody, "he's obviously good."
"We'll see" said Sirius,
"What are we going to do Albus?" McGonagall was now asking Dumbledore, "our defenses are strong but they won't hold against those people forever. Look what they did to the aurors. They never stood a chance. It's a wonder none of them died."
"That's more of a commentary on our national mindset than the skill of the aurors" said Dumbledore causing McGonagall to look at him in confusion.
"If it had been the Dark Lord and his people they would have died" said Snape, "Magneto is either more merciful or more pragmatic."
"Or he just doesn't care" growled Moody.
"Does it matter?" asked Professor Sprout, "our people couldn't stop them. Can we? I know I'm not a big fighter."
"What other options do we have?" asked Professor Flitwick. While considering his answer Dumbledore looked around and caught Sirius Black's eye. Black raised his eyebrow as if asking him a question. Dumbledore made his decision.
"There is one other option" said Dumbledore.
"What?" asked McGonagall speaking for everyone else.
"Give me a few minutes please" said the headmaster. He stepped away from the others and closed his eyes.
"Charles" he called with his mind, "Charles are you there? This is an emergency."
"Albus?" Professor Xavier's voice sounded loud and clear in Dumbledore's head, "what is it? What's wrong?"
"I'm badly in need of your help old friend" said Dumbledore, "and that of your X-Men. Magneto and his Brotherhood are here and they're attempting to invade Hogwarts."
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Xavier, "why?"
"I don't know" said Dumbledore. He quickly related what had happened when Magneto arrived.
"I didn't want to disturb you if I didn't have to" finished up Dumbledore, "but the aurors were no match for them. Magical Britain's insularity is finally catching up with us."
"This is new" said Xavier, "I'll summon the X-Men right away and send them to you."
"I'll send you a portkey" said Dumbledore, "it will bring the X-Men right to the entrance hall. You may expect it momentarily. And Charles, please remind Harry that Sirius and Remus are both here. I'll see to them. Also Alastor Moody is here and I will have to tell him exactly who is coming. He'll never agree not to look under the team's masks so instead I'll do my best to make sure that he keeps that information to himself."
"Very well" said Xavier who accepted this as he knew about Moody's reputation and his magical eye although he wasn't happy about it, "but if he can't do that I'll deal with him. Now I'll assemble the team." They broke contact. Dumbledore rejoined his staff.
"Minerva" he said to McGonagall, "I need a large plate from the great hall. A serving plate would be best."
"What?" asked McGonagall, "why?"
"It will aid me in getting us help" said Dumbledore. McGonagall nodded and raised her wand.
"Accio serving plate" she called and within seconds a large serving plate soared into her hand. She quickly cleaned it off and then gave it to Dumbledore who placed it on the floor.
"How will this help us?" asked Snape. Dumbledore didn't reply. He bent over and tapped the plate with his wand.
"Portus" he said and it briefly turned blue. Then he pulled out a piece of paper, wrote a quick note, and tapped it with the same spell before putting it on the plate.
"A portkey for a portkey" he said before tapping the note again. Both it and the plate disappeared. Sirius and Remus both approached Dumbledore.
"You contacted them didn't you" said Sirius in a low voice so none of the other staff except for Remus could hear what he said.
"Yes" said Dumbledore, "hopefully they'll be here soon and Sirius, Remus, when they get here you'll both need to pretend that you've never met them before. I'm sure I don't have to tell you why."
"We will" said Sirius as Remus nodded his agreement, "but what about Moody?"
"I'll talk to Moody before they arrive" said Dumbledore.
"I hope he takes it well" said Remus to which Sirius nodded in agreement.
"Now we wait" Dumbledore said while thinking 'please don't take too long Charles.'
"X-Men to me!" called Xavier, "please come to my office at once. This is an emergency."
As soon as Xavier sent out his call he started back as a large serving plate with a note on top of it suddenly appeared on his desk in front of him. He quickly picked up the note and opened it. It contained instructions from Dumbledore for the plate portkey along with the activation phrase.
Almost as soon as Professor X had finished the note the X-Men all came running into the office. They were already in uniform as they had been about to start an early morning training session. When Professor X called them they had dropped that and hurried off to his office to see what he had for them.
"Sir" said Cyclops, "what is it?"
"I've had a call for help" said Xavier turning to look at Lightning, "from Professor Dumbledore."
"Really?" asked Lightning, "why does he need help? It must be big."
"It is" said Xavier, "Magneto is attempting to seize control of Hogwarts."
"What?!" exclaimed Lightning while the other X-Men made similar expressions of surprise, "why? What does he want with it?"
"I don't know" said Xavier, "and Dumbledore doesn't know either although he mentioned that Magneto would not allow the students to be evacuated. Whatever Magneto wants he must be stopped."
"You better believe it!" said Lightning speaking as firmly as anyone had ever heard him speak, "there's no way in hell I'm letting Magneto take over my school or keep the students hostage."
"What do you mean your school?" asked Marvel Girl, "you don't go there anymore."
"Because" said Lightning, "as heir to the founders I'm the owner of the place even though I'm too young to take a hand in running it. Didn't I tell you that?"
"You told us before Jean joined us" said Angel.
"Oh" said Lightning, "I'm sorry."
"It's all right" said Marvel Girl, "it does explain your vehemence."
"Please don't tell anyone though" said Lightning to Marvel Girl, "only a few people know that I own Hogwarts and I want to keep it that way, at least until I'm an adult. Even Dumbledore doesn't know and he was the executor of my parents' wills."
"No problem Harry" said Marvel Girl.
"How are we going to get there?" asked Cyclops, "even with the X-Jet it will take several hours to fly to Scotland."
"I will send the X-Jet after you to bring you home" said Xavier, "you'll go there using this." He held up the plate. Lightning face palmed.
"Oh no" he said.
"A plate?" asked Angel.
"No" said Lightning, "he sent us a portkey, didn't he?"
"Yes" said Xavier.
"What's a portkey?" asked Marvel Girl.
"It's a device that transports you from one place to another in seconds" said Lightning, "it's how I've been able to attend Ilvermorny – and I hate those things."
"Sounds very convenient though" said Beast, "if it can get us there that quickly."
"It can" said Lightning, "but it's not pleasant. It's like being tossed around in a tornado before being dropped for a hard landing. It took me forever to learn how to use one without falling on my face."
"Fun" said Iceman, "hey Angel, it looks like you're getting your chance to see Harry's old school before you die."
"Finally" said Angel with a grin, "hopefully I won't die immediately afterwards."
"This portkey" said Xavier bringing their attention back to him, "will deposit you in the Hogwarts entrance hall. The staff will be waiting for you there."
"How do we use it?" asked Beast.
"All you have to do" said Xavier, "is be touching it when it activates. It will do the rest. And Harry, don't forget that Sirius and Remus are both there. You'll have to pretend you've never met them before. Albus will be telling them the same thing." Lightning nodded.
"Right" said Cyclops, "let's go X-Men." He took the plate from Xavier and held it out. Beast, Angel, Iceman, and Marvel Girl all grabbed it but Lightning hesitated.
"Professor" he said, "if I have to go back to Hogwarts I want to see my friends. Ron and Hermione deserve more of an explanation than I've been giving them so far."
"Once Magneto and his Brotherhood have been dealt with you may do so" said the professor, "as long as they can keep it a secret too."
"They will" said Lightning giving a sigh of relief before reaching over and grabbing the plate.
"Cyclops" said Xavier, "say 'X-Men to Hogwarts.'"
"X-Men to Hogwarts" said Cyclops. Immediately all six of the X-men felt the sensation of a hook behind their navels pulling them and they disappeared from Xavier's office.
"Alastor" Dumbledore called his old friend over to where he was standing with Sirius and Remus, "I have a favor to ask of you."
"Yes?" asked Moody. Before he answered Dumbledore cast a Muffliato spell around the four of them before turning back to Moody with a solemn expression on his face.
"The people who are coming to help us" said Dumbledore, "are a secretive group. They wear masks to conceal their identities for their own safety but they're not Death Eaters. I'd ask you not to look under their masks but I know that would be a futile request. Instead I'll ask that you keep what you find out strictly to yourself. Sirius and Remus know this information but nobody else here does. I'd like to keep it that way."
"That's a big request" said Moody, "who are these people? If they prove dangerous to us here –"
"They won't" said Dumbledore, "I know them well and they're trustworthy. Have you heard of the American superhero team the X-Men?"
"Not much but yes" said Moody, "is that who's coming here?"
"Yes" said Dumbledore, "they have more experience than we do dealing with people like Magneto having fought him and his Brotherhood before."
"I see" said Moody giving Dumbledore a shrewd look, "but there's more to this than you're saying."
"Indeed there is" said Dumbledore, "and since you'll find this out as soon as you look through their masks I'll tell you now that one of them is Harry Potter."
For one of the few times that anyone could remember (maybe the only time) Moody was actually taken by surprise. Both his real eye and his magical eye went wide and his jaw dropped.
"Is this true?" he finally asked.
"Yes" said Dumbledore, "I'll tell you the full story after this is over. In summary ten months ago Harry manifested new powers that were not magical in nature. He had go to a special school in America where he could be trained in their use. He helped found the X-Men since he's been there. The head of that school, I should add, is an old friend of mine and I helped make the arrangements for Harry to attend it. He's been quite happy there both from what I've seen and heard."
"I see" said Moody before looking at Sirius and Remus, "and you two know about this?"
"Yes" said Remus, "we found out last December and we visited Harry over the holidays. Sirius stayed there after I came back."
"That's right" said Sirius, "I missed so much time with my godson that I wanted to make up for it. I've been living there ever since. That's also how I knew who the Brotherhood were."
"And would that be where your excellent trainer is?" asked Moody.
"He's their mentor" said Sirius, "Albus' friend."
Moody began to laugh. Not many people had ever heard him laugh and it was an unsettling sound as it resembled fingernails on a chalkboard crossed with a growling cat.
"I love it" he said, "everyone's been wondering where Potter is and what he's been doing. I've heard many guesses but not one of them has even come close to the truth." He turned back to Sirius.
"Now I really want to meet your trainer" said Moody, "he's been doing a good job with you if your performance today is anything to go by. Maybe he'll have some suggestions to help the auror training program because Merlin knows after that embarrassment we need it."
"Maybe" said Sirius with a grin, "I'll see if it can be arranged. He'll be glad to hear what you said. By the way when the X-Men get here Remus and I are going to act like we've never met them before. We don't want anyone to get suspicious about how we know them. So when you find out which one is Harry don't say his name out loud. Call him 'Lightning' instead. That's his code name." Moody nodded at this.
"Very well Albus" he said, "I understand your reasons now and I'll keep the secret. Thanks for telling me this." With that Moody turned around and stomped a short distance away.
"He took that well" Dumbledore murmured as he canceled the Muffliato spell.
"Thank Merlin" said Sirius as he began to think about the best way to discuss Moody's request with Professor Xavier. He knew that Moody would love to see the Danger Room.
"Albus what are we waiting for?" asked Professor McGonagall coming up to him now along with Snape and Sprout.
"Not what, but whom?" said Dumbledore looking out of the front doors of Hogwarts, "the shield is still holding."
"Yes" said Snape, "and it will hold for a while longer but not forever. We'll have to be prepared to fight these people."
"We will" said Dumbledore, "but our first priority is the safety of the school. In case this last option fails we should begin preparations to evacuate the students before the shield falls." Before he could say anything else a loud "pop!" alerted everyone to the arrival of a portkey. They all looked over to see that the X-Men had arrived in the Hogwarts entrance hall and had immediately split apart.
"Never again!" roared Beast as he leaped away from where they'd landed.
"Now you know how I feel" called Lightning as he took several steps back.
"And you do that every week?" asked Iceman picking himself up from where he had slipped.
"Unfortunately" said Lightning before turning to look around. It was Hogwarts all right. He'd know the entrance hall anywhere. Dumbledore was coming toward them followed by several of the staff members. Lightning saw both Remus and Sirius in the back of the group. Neither of them made any move to approach but Sirius caught his eye for a second and winked at him.
"Headmaster" said Cyclops who had managed to stay on his feet when he landed.
"Thank you for coming so quickly" said Dumbledore.
"Albus" asked McGonagall, "who are these people?"
"These are the X-Men" said Dumbledore to McGonagall, "a superhero team from America that I know. Their names are Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Lightning, Beast, and Marvel Girl." (Dumbledore pointed out each one to his staff as he named them). "Perhaps you've heard some of our students talking about them this term?"
"Yes" said Snape who was standing next to McGonagall and eying the X-Men with undisguised interest, "they and the Avengers were the talk of the school for a while. How do you know them?"
"Their founder is a very old friend of mine" said Dumbledore, "but that's not important right now. What matters is that they've fought Magneto before."
"Several times actually" said Angel.
"Where is he?" asked Cyclops. Dumbledore pointed out the front door to where they could all see the magic shield around the school.
"I was able to activate the castle shield" said Dumbledore, "but it won't hold him forever. Also, he's not alone. You'll be able to see them through the shield although they won't be able to see you as long as the shield is up."
"That'll be an unpleasant surprise for them" said Marvel Girl.
"Let's go have a look" said Cyclops and he and the other X-Men began heading towards the front doors. Before they got there however, they passed the open doors of the Great Hall and –
"Oh my God! It's the X-Men!" someone from inside the Great Hall yelled. Within seconds there was a crush of students (mainly muggleborns and half bloods) coming out of the Great Hall to see. Instinctively both Marvel Girl and Lightning threw up telekinetic shields to stop the students from coming any closer. Lightning felt a little wistful when he recognized some of the students who were looking at them although Ron and Hermione were not among them. Presumably they hadn't been close enough to the doors for Lightning to see them. Dumbledore immediately took charge.
"Back!" he called, "everyone back into the Great Hall! This is for your own safety! Minerva, Severus, Pomona, and everyone else please keep the students back. This is critical."
It took some effort and some grumbling from the students but eventually the students were shooed back into the Great Hall while the X-Men went out the front doors of the school and stood at the top of the steps. Moody and Sirius followed them.
"They're all here, including some new members" said Marvel Girl as they looked through the shield and saw Magneto pounding away at it accompanied by the other Brotherhood members.
"No surprise there" said Iceman.
"Indubitably" said Beast, "what's the plan fearless leader?"
"We'll get the headmaster to drop the shield" said Cyclops, "they won't be expecting to see us so we'll have a few seconds of surprise on our side. Let's get as close to the shield as we can so we can make the most of our advantage."
"Good thinking" said Moody in approval.
"Filius and I will assist you" said Dumbledore who had also come out of the school behind them. Professor Flitwick stood next to him.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Cyclops.
"Filius is an accomplished dueler" said Dumbledore, "and you don't have to worry about me." Cyclops nodded. He and the other X-Men had heard of Dumbledore's reputation from Harry, Sirius, Remus, and Professor Xavier before.
"I will come too" said Moody with an expression that brooked no argument.
"So will I" said Sirius, "I don't know who you people are" he added before any of the X-Men could object, "but after seeing how that group took out the aurors you'll need as much help as you can get."
'Very clever Sirius' Lightning thought to himself as he watched his godfather make it look like he and the X-Men had never met.
"Okay" said Cyclops finally before turning to Dumbledore, "give it another minute and then drop the shield on my say so." He led the X-Men toward the shield until they were only a couple of yards away from it. Dumbledore, Flitwick, Moody, and Sirius followed them. When they reached their positions Dumbledore went over to where Lightning was standing. He bent down so only Lightning would hear what he said.
"I'd say welcome back to Hogwarts Harry" whispered Dumbledore, "but I never pictured you returning here under these circumstances."
"Me neither" Lightning whispered back as he prepared to defend his school.
"We're ready Headmaster" Cyclops called. Dumbledore straightened up and went to stand next to the X-Men leader.
"Very well" Dumbledore said as he raised his wand.
"Now!" said Cyclops.
(To Be Continued)
A/N - Next week the battle is joined.
I revised this chapter in response to the people who commented that it just wasn't believable for the aurors to be taken out like they were with a simple "the battle was fierce and the aurors lost" sort of hand wave. I have expanded considerably on the fight to 1) detail exactly how the Brotherhood won, and 2) To emphasize that it was the wizarding world's own isolation that played a big role in the aurors getting trounced as they have no knowledge of, or experience with, such powerful non-magical people. All throughout the story it's been mentioned just how out of touch magical Britain is. This is primarily because the ruling pure bloods have kept their society in the dark about muggle advances. They really think muggles still live in Victorian times. It just came back to bite them for the first time - and it won't be the last time either. Hopefully what I added is more believable now but I understand if you still think it isn't.
Please take a moment now to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please.
That's all for now. See you all next week. Thanks for reading and, as always, stay safe and well. Cheers!