Dudley sat slumped against the side of the train carriage, he ate the piece of chocolate one of the Aurors had given him. Luna was conscious, but pale, a healer from Saint Mungo's was treating her. He glanced around at the scene, trying to take it all in.

The Aurors had rounded up the Dementors, they were clustered in a circle about quarter of a mile away with a circle of patronuses from various Aurors surrounding them. One of the Aurors had bright pink hair that Dudley could see even from this great distance.

To his left, Tracey Davies was sobbing over Roger Davies' fallen body which had been draped in a black cloth. An Auror was consoling her.

Nearby, Severus Snape was talking rapidly with both Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Dudley still couldn't believe that those two had joined the fight. Draco had said he wanted to stop the Dementors from attacking his friends, Dudley recalled. Did Pansy join to protect Draco? He knew the two were going out with each other.

Professor McGonagall was talking to Dean, her hand was on his shoulder and she looked very proud.

Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were together. Caught up in the excitement of battle, Dudley hadn't noticed but apparently Fred and George had joined the fight too. Fred had been hit by some of burning spell and had some pink gel covering his cheek.

Madame Bones was there too, overseeing the cleanup operation. She was stood talking to a tall, powerfully built wizard.

"That was quite something," Hermione said, joining. "Thank goodness we all practiced the patronus charm! If we hadn't been here ..."

"If Dean hadn't took control of things," Dudley added, glancing at his friends. "We'd have lost without him."

Hermione nodded. "When Roger fell ..." she trailed off, looking sad.

Neither of them had been close to Roger at all. Dudley was on nodding terms with him, but that was it. But he still felt sat, he had died bravefly, protecting the school from Dementors.

"Tracey is very torn up," Luna said, the healer had finished with her and she looked fine, if a bit pale. "I never liked him much, but he was very brave. I didn't want to see him die."

"Nobody did," said Hermione. "I can't believe they dared attack the Hogwarts Express."

"He's getting bolder," said Dudley.

"Or desperate," said Luna. "He failed to kill most of the Order of the Phoenix. He failed to sic his werewolves on those poor muggles ..."

"He's failed here too," said Hermione.

Luna nodded. "I expect he'll try something else. We just better hope the Aurors are ready."

"We should be ready too," said Dudley. "If he hits Hogwarts again."

They all nodded in agreement.

Ron came over to join them. He looked shaken. "Who'd have thought, Gryffindors fighting alongside Slytherins ... not just any Slytherin, Draco Malfoy."

He shook his head. "Even Trelawney wouldn't predict something that stupid."

"He saved my life," Dudley said, glancing over at Malfoy who was still with Snape. Draco's head turned and their eyes made contact for a few seconds before Malfoy looked away again.

"If he hadn't sent his patronus, I'd be dead ..."

"Souless," Luna corrected. "But it's close to the same thing."

"Either way, he saved me," Dudley said. He gave a shake of his head. Malfoy saving him—it was difficult to process. They hated each other, and yet, Malfoy had saved him from the Dementors. "Why?"

"Well, obviously even he can't sit by and watch someone get the Dementor's Kiss," said Hermione. "Malfoy's a slimy, muggle-hating git, but he's not evil. He's not ... well, it's like you said last year, Dud. He's not his father."

"Still a git though," said Ron.

"A git who saved me," Dudley muttered.

"What about Warrington? I didn't expect him to risk his neck either. He's always been a git during quidditch," said Ron.

"I expect people change in life or death circumstances," said Hermione. "There's a big difference between being a git and watching people die without doing anything."

Dumbledore

Dumbledore felt angry. He had made the decision to go to Azkaban tonight. He should have anticipated an attack. He knew what Moody would say—constant vigilance. Sure enough, the Death Eaters had attacked the Hogwarts Express.

Luckily, the Aurors and a group of students had fended off the attack, but Dumbledore knew he should have been there. He should have put off going to visit Morfin Gaunt until tomorrow and remained at Hogwarts just in case. Instead, he had put his desire to learn Tom Riddle's secrets above protecting the students. He had failed them.

He left Azkaban and apparated immediately.

He appeared next to Shacklebolt and Amelia Bones, who didn't even blink as he appeared.

"How bad is it?" he asked.

"Two dead—the trolley witch and the driver," said Shacklebolt.

Dumbledore nodded. The trolley witch often remained in the engine, talking with the driver of the train. It seemed the Death Eaters had hit the front of the train with fiendfyre, killing both of them and stopping them from contacting Hogwarts.

If the Aurors hadn't been here, it would have been a disaster.

John Dawlish came up to join them, along with Cedric Diggory. Dumbledore listened as Dawlish explained what had happened. It had been a well executed attack. Three Death Eaters—Dumbledore suspected it was the Lestranges engaged the Aurors while two more Death Eaters directed Dementors to attack the Hogwarts Express. Dumbledore had two theories in mind, this was either an attack intended to hit any muggleborns, or was a deliberate attempt to target Dudley Dursley and his friends. He couldn't see Voldemort striking any and all Hogwarts students—some of his Death Eaters' children were here. This had to be a targeted attack, but who was the target? He made a mental note to get Snape to make some inquiries.

It was worrying that Voldemort hadn't mentioned this to Snape. He had kept the plan close to him. That meant he did fear that Lockhart had a spy in his ranks. It also meant that he didn't fully trust Severus Snape yet. That would have to change.

Voldemort

"Crucio!" Voldemort shouted.

Dolohov and Rowle screamed.

They had been ordered to assault the train. They had failed. The Lestranges had done their part, though he was displeased that Rabastan had been foolish enough to let himself get captured. Dolohov and Rowle had failed there's.

"No, tell me again what happened," Voldemort demanded. "Details."

He listened as the pair told him of the attack. He longed to crucio them again for their failure but he waited.

"Lucius Malfoy's son, are you certain?" Voldemort hissed. That was a surprise, he had heard that the Malfoy boy hated mudbloods and that he would be a potential future recruit.

"Quite sure, my lord," Dolohov said, bowing low.

"He will pay," said Voldemort. "Send in Lucius. It is time to see where his loyalties lie."

Lockhart

Lockhart paced around his office. He had just finished listening to Shacklebolt and Dawlish's report that the attack had been beaten off, but that no arrests had been made. That was disappointing. He would have loved to have presented another Death Eater, or, even better, two more Death Eaters as prisoners. Still, they had rounded up 20 Dementors—they would be taken to a containment facility and locked away. They were vile creatures who couldn't be killed, but they could be contained.

Dolore Umbridge, and Lockhart had to give her credit, had proposed the idea—a large pit was being constructed which would be magically sealed to keep them inside. No way in, no way out. Dementors couldn't travel through walls, so it should serve as a way to keep them out of harm's way.

If left to Lockhart, he would have them destroyed. Indeed, he had told Umbridge to have the foul beasts killed, but apparently, Dementors couldn't be killed. Wretched beasts.

He looked across at Dawlish. "Good work, both of you," Lockhart said. He was already making up his mind about how he could spin the night's action to make himself look good. Hyping up the success of the Auror Initiative would be a start. That had been his idea and was clearly a success. Claim credit for assigning Aurors to the Hogwarts Express, that had actually been arranged weeks ago by Interim Minister Bones, but nobody else would know that. He would also hype up his own role in organizing the Auror division and promoting Kingsley Shacklebolt as Head Auror. Yes, he was going to come out of this looking very impressive indeed. Lockhart thought he would wear his favorite lilac robes for the occasion. They were his most dashing set and he had a matching beret that capped the ensemble off nicely.

"Minister, we need an alternative to stunners," Dawlish said. "We hit the Death Eaters multiple times, they kept reviving each other. We are at a disadvantage."

"Isn't there a permanent stunning spell?" Lockhart said, tilting his head to the side.

"No," said Dawlish. "The stunner is a good spell—against one opponent, or if you can stun your opponents all together. But it fails against more than two because one wizard can keep dueling while the other revives the one who got stunned."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Lockhart said. He hated questions. Especially questions he didn't have an answer for. He felt not knowing the solution to a problem made him look stupid. "I'm sure you can think of some way to permanently immobilize your opponent—you're Aurors for goodness sake!"

"The killing curse," said Dawlish.

Lockhart jumped at the mention. "What?"

"John ..." Shacklebolt began.

"Hem hem!" Dolores Umbridge stepped forward. She had been silent until now. "John Dawlish raises a good point, Minister. Our brave Aurors are severely handicapped by opponents who aim to kill, while they are stuck with stunners and non-lethal spells."

"Really, Dolores? You're asking ... I mean ... they're unforgiveable! They're illegal for a reason, surely ... Shacklebolt, what's your thoughts?" Lockhart asked.

"We are at a disadvantage," Shacklebolt conceded. "But lifting the Unforgiveable Curses for Aurors is a big ask. Where do we stop?"

"Aurors are to serve and protect, aren't they, Mr. Shacklebolt?" asked Umbridge.

"Yes, Dolores, but ..."

"I am sure, if the Minister were to ask the general public what he should do, they would all be in favor of anything ... anything at all which will better allow the Aurors to take the fightto You-Know-Who," said Umbridge.

"Are you sure?" Lockhart said, glancing at her.

"Of course, Minister," said Umbridge. "Everybody wants to see the Dark Lord vanquished. Allowing our Aurors to kill, rather than take them alive will give you a much better chance of defeating him. Cornelius Fudge would never have done it. He was too weak. A decision of this magnitude takes a lot of strength, Minister. But I believe it is the right thing, and I believe the public will support it."

Lockhart thought on Madame Umbridge's words. He had a feeling she was right. The general public would support it. He gave a nod of his head. "Lift the ban ..." he said, quietly.

Umbridge smiled a toadlike smile.

"Only the killing curse!" he stressed, quickly. "I won't have our Aurors using crucio on anybody—not even Death Eaters." He shuddered at the thought.

"I'll see to it," said Madame Umbridge.

"You made the right choice, Minister," said John Dawlish.

Slytherin House

"What was that about?" Adrian Pucey demanded, once the Slytherins had gathered in their common room.

Draco Malfoy narrowed his eyes, not liking the older boys tone. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

"Fighting the Death Eaters … standing alongside mudbloods and blood traitors!" Pucey spat. "It's pathetic."

"You really are an idiot, Adrian!" Pansy Parkinson shouted. "Do you really think those things would have stopped at the mudbloods? They'd have Kissed anybody who got in their way."

"I can cast a patronus," Malfoy said. "I wasn't going to cower in the carriage while those Dementors attacked my friends. I couldn't care less about the mudbloods, but I don't want to see my mates getting attacked."

"Back off, Pucey," Crabbe said, as he and Goyle came to Malfoy's side. Goyle cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"Or what?" Pucey said, drawing his wand.

"That's enough!" Cassius Warrington snapped, stepping forward.

"Adrian, put your wand away—Now!"

He stepped forward to the center of the room, all eyes turned in his direction.

"Look, we're Slytherins—we'd all rather see the muggleborns gone from the school," Warringtdon said.

There were nods and mutterings of approval from most in the room.

"We all agree that purebloods are superior—it's just common sense,"

"Hear, hear!" said Douglas Harper, a third year.

"But that doesn't mean we support You-Know-Who," Warrington said, firmly. "Some of our family might be Death Eaters. Some of you might want to join the Death Eaters when you leave—that's up to you. But that nutter sent Dementors after students."

He stared hard at Adrian Pucey. "He didn't care who got injured or killed. We saw that when his followers murdered Roger Davies."

"Roger Davies was a Ravenclaw," Pucey said, quickly.

"Davies was a pureblood," replied Warrington. "Most of his family have been Slytherins …"

"My dad and his went to Hogwarts together," said Malfoy.

"He was a pureblood wizard from a family that has a lot of Slytherins, and You-Know-Who had him murdered. He doesn't care." Warrington continued.

"I agree," Daphne Greengrass spoke up. "It's why Tracey, Hestia and Flora started Slytherins Against Death Eaters—to show everyone that we don't all support him!"

Warrington snorted. "I don't care what the rest of the school thinks, and I'm not wearing a stupid badge to curry favor with the rest of the idiots here. Look, I don't care if you support You-Know-Who or not. But he crossed a line by attacking students—any one of us could have died or gotten the Dementor's Kiss here. We should praise Malfoy and Parkinson for fighting back."

"And for showing it's not just Gryffindors who are brave," Millicent Bulstrode said to applause and muttered approval.

Pucey stared at Warrington for a few seconds before giving a nod of his head. "Fine, but I hope this doesn't mean we're going to start playing nice with Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors," he muttered.

"Not a chance," said Warrington, giving him a small smile.