Chapter 60

The Battle for Hogwarts

Hazel

The waiting was worse than the fighting. Technically neither the Order nor the Hogwarts student body, or Dumbledore's Army as it was now known, was under my command. I was in charge of exactly eleven fighters, although attached to that was a Pegusus, a mechanical dragon that was impregnable and breathed fire, two robotic dogs set on 'Kill', a horse that was also a god on the side, and three or four fighters that could probably take out the opposing army by themselves on a good day, one of which was occasionally a bear, lion or dragon. And we had a goddess and a titan hanging around. Still, everyone looked to us, and thus to me, to lead. Reyna was in overall command of forces once the fighting started, with Frank backing her up if it became necessary. It would only become necessary if she were wounded, or killed. I reminded all of the demi gods that they were not immortal and to be careful when it came, but I knew anyone of them would gladly sacrifice themselves to save any of our allies. The students from Beaxbatons were placed with the Order to cast the protection spells we would be using to funnel the enemy across the fields and through the mine fields, and Slughorn would be directing those spells from the control room. They would also be assisting the archers when the time came. It was difficult to get them to remember to leave gaps for the traffic to flow to the kill zone as they wanted to simply block the invaders out, as if that would make them go away and change their ways.

The guys from Drumstrang had formed their own Air Mobile unit and would be directed to hot spots and ultimately to the bridge. It wasn't our plan to kill everyone opposing, us, although that was certainly possible. The ones in the open field that made it to the walls of the castle would be knocked out by mines and restrained by DA9, 10, and 11. Those that were not knocked out would be taken out by George and Fred's air cav before they met up at the Bridge as well. George and Fred got to start the evening as a sniper team on the Astronomy tower, something they had excelled at over the last couple days, the idea being to cast fear into Voldemort's closest followers just as the battle started.

It was expected that some might try to apparate away and the Order was tasked with shooting those down, as well as taking out any that tried to apparate from the woods to the castle. Rachel would be assisting with an M-4 modified by Leo. Both she and Leo expected the barrel to overheat and warp, so she had a spare rifle as well.

Jennifer and Bob could not be given any task that effected the outcome of the battle under what we perceived were the god's instructions, but it was decided that it would be appropriate for them to guide Draco and his mother to safety. Mrs Malfoy was to both apparate to Bob's at the start of the battle, while Draco was to be outside the Gryffindor common room, then Jennifer would walk them through two doors where they would be at Disney World with a satchel full of muggle money and a couple fake ids.

With everything ready and double and triple checked, we waited. And waited. Twice a day we would run drills. Class were canceled for the week and most of Slythrin had not returned after the break. The few that did stayed in their dungeon and Dumbledore had the owls and flues monitored. All the secret passages from Hogsmeade were likewise closed.

Thursday afternoon it began, as expected. Shacklebolt's patronus arrived shortly before he did. The Minster of Magic had fled the country, as had his assistant, Rufus Scrimgeour. We also received a patronus from Percy Weasley telling us the same, and relaying that Pius Thicknesse had replaced him. Thicknesse was known to associate with the Death Eaters and was Voldemort's hand picked Minister. Percy's message also said that Snape had been named as Headmaster of Hogwarts and given free reign to correct any problems he found there. Dumbledore was to be arrested and held at Azkaban for "crimes against magic."

Shacklebolt and Snape arrived with the rest of the Order, or at least a lot of them. Fifty or so magicians most of whom I had not met and would have to find a place for in the line. I asked Snape, Sirius, Molly and Remus to divide them up and assign them to the wall. We would not have time for anymore drills and it was important that they know not to block the paths to the killing zones. Most had been made aware of our work and it didn't take much to get them to understand the importance of following those instructions, however wrong it might seem to them.

Just as Shacklebolt was serving Dumbledore with his arrest warrant over tea in the Leodis, and Dumbledore was making it burn in a flash of fire, Colin reported that the heat and motion sensors were reporting magicians apparating into the woods, and this was soon confirmed by Bob. Our flues were cut off and removed from the network by Dumbledore. A patronus was sent to fetch Hagrid, the protective spells were cast, and the minefields armed, but not yet activated. They would be activated only have the mass of Death Eaters had entered them. All our troops were given a warning order to their starting positions, and then we waited. Again.

By eight or nine the apparating had slowed to a trickle and the mass of troops was at the edge of the woods. North of the stone bridge, overlooking it all, was a clump of a dozen or so magicians and by night scope Snape was able to confirm that this was Voldemort's inner circle, including LeStrange, Mrs Malfoy, a couple named Alecto and Amycus Carrow as well as a few others who couldn't be picked out in the dim light at that distance. Snape didn't see Voldemort, until finally, one last apparation came down.

"Thats him" Snape whispered into a gold sphere supplied by Leo and all the team leaders were alerted, including those in the Order.

There was a high pitched whine that was painful and piercing, then a voice that seemed to be coming from everywhere and no where.

"Headmaster Snape, have you secured the school? I wish to enter and review the students." Voldemort said with a laugh.

Dumbledore held a wand to the side of his neck and spoke, and when he did, his voice was broadcast as if through a PA system.

"Professor Snape is, as you would say 'indisposed.' Surrender now Tom, before there is needless bloodshed."

"So, you still live Dumbledore, and Potter as well I suppose. No, I will not surrender. You are outnumbered. Your woods are filled with my Death Eaters. The lake behind you blocks your escape, and I assure you I will not allow you to apparate away. The Ministry controls the flue network. Escape is not possible. You and Potter will come forth now and I will let the children and your staff live. I am a merciful lord and do not want to see magic blood wasted on this ground. I speak now to the students and instructors, many of you may think you wish to fight. This is folly, you see our numbers and know you cannot defeat us. Give me Dumbledore and Potter and I will leave you. Give me Dumbledore and Potter and you will live! You have one hour."

"Hey Voldemort," a new voice said, and it took me a second to recognize it as being either George or Fred, "Is that the Carrows down there with ya?"

There was a long silence, then we heard several things almost at the same time "Yes, Alecto and Amycus are here at my side" came from Voldemort's voice again, just as we heard first one, then another .338 Lapua rounds going supersonic, followed by the loud reports of them being fired from George's rifle. Down range, before the sound of the rifle had reached them, first Alecto and then Amycus, simply exploded in the middle of their bodies, their guts vaporized by the high powered rifle.

"Hey Voldemort! The Carrows aren't with you any more!" A gleeful Weasley voice cried out as they began firing round after round into the crowd surrounding Voldemort. LeStrange and Malfoy had the good sense to hit the ground, but the rest were in shock as their comrades began exploding clouds of blood and falling. This has been unplanned and we all giggled at George and Fred's antics, although I confess that later I felt really bad about finding humor in it. It was after all pretty much cold blooded murder.

"Attack! Kill them all! Attack now!" Voldemort shouted and his army began to move.

At once several things happened. A dozen or so death eaters began to apparate or fly on brooms from the woods toward the castle. There would have been more except that Rachel's excellent marksmanship with the M-4 took all of those out with three round bursts of automatic fire and no other Death Eaters thought it wise to be airborne after watching their comrades fall screaming to their deaths. A wall of Death Eaters, giant spiders, earthborn and half giants emerged from the woods and in two mobs began crossing the open field, some going towards the wooden bridge, the rest towards the stone. Wraiths, or "dementors" as the magic folk called them began drifting in over the woods and moving on the castle. The first order of battle was Nico pulling the lead one from the sky through willpower alone and sending him back with the message to leave or be destroyed. The dementors took no further part in the battle and Nico would spend a day afterwards rounding them up to attend to Azkaban again. Nearest the stone bridge, near Voldemort, a half dozen giants, or what the magicians called giants anyway, came from the woods and with large scythe like weapons closed on the stone bridge. In the confusion Mrs Malfoy apparated away, right on schedule. Bob and Jennifer would reunite her with her son and get them through the proper door, which would be locked behind them for the time being.

"Okay everyone, looks like its developing as expected. Colin, Professor Slughorn, lets get them out of the woods faster, we need them bunched up. Set off the gas in the woods. Leo, you and Festus light up those spiders. We are free to kill any that leave the woods under Hagrid's agreement with their boss, so lets kill them fast and maybe no more will come out. Rachel, Sirius, Remus and Molly, keep them on the ground. Any that take to the air, shoot them down. Make sure the rest of your crews know to take out any that do land. Greeks and Romans, Warning order, to position at the Stone Bridge. Frank, organize DA3 through 6 ranks behind them. DA 7 and 8, nock your bows. Air Mobile II, warning order on the wooden bridge. Air Mobile I and Drumstrang, warning order to rake the field as soon as Colin sets the mines. Reyna are you in the air?" I announced to everyone.

"Roger, I'm at about 800 feet with a pissed off Pegasus that hates dementors, but we're clear now, thanks Nico."

"You're very welcome." Nico replied over the net.

"Copy that, you have the con. Everyone, we're switching operational command to Reyna. Good luck, keep to the plan, hit without mercy, don't let them catch their breath, keep up the scare. Twelfth Legion Fulminata!" I shouted and then ran to Arion to get to the bridge, to which I heard Leo reply "Half Blood Kill 'em all!" and Harry shout "Hogwarts, teach 'em something please!"

"Colin, light up sectors six thru ten when you're ready, they are still coming in from the woods but lets don't let the eager ones get too far. Rachel, outstanding shooting. When you and the professors are ready switch your fire to the rear ranks of the field. Scorpions, when they are out of the woods hit their backside to drive them into the minefields. Don't let them have time to think about the bad day they are having. Colin, the giants are almost at the bridge, looks like all of them will fit and they should have a couple hundred death eaters right behind them. As soon as they are blown I want the Greeks and Team Harry across, with DA3, 4, 5 and 6 pushing them." Reyna commanded.

"DA 3 through 6, form ranks. Repeat DA 3 through 6 form ranks" We heard Frank order and those that could see watched as the four different groups formed up under Frank's command almost instantly, their spears extended like the teeth on a chain saw."

Just as I entered the court yard, riding on Arion, I saw the first flashes of fire from Festus and Leo. This was the first time anyone outside the half bloods had seen the destruction they were capable of and it was astonishing. As Leo passed by explosive bolts from the scorpion ballista mounted on the towers began raining down at the back edge of Voldemort's army, moving them out of the woods and into the minefields. Except of course for the ones that were simply blown up on the spot. The Death Eaters ran just to get away from Leo, Festus and the bolts, and moments later the first of the mines in the field detonated, killing many and gassing most of the rest of those at the front. The group stalled, unsure of what to do or where to go. They were running from a mechanical fire breathing dragon into ground that was exploding and killing or maiming them. It was a tough decision. Some attempted to cast spells at Leo but he had a wall of protection spells emanating from his rapid fire wand at all times. Many decided that either they had enough or simply wanted to regroup and tried to apparate away, but the Drumstrang boys ripped them from the sky with well aimed stunning spells. Even though their spells were no where near as strong as either ours or Hogwarts, it was enough to knock the fleeing Death Eaters down, which either killed them or injured them so bad they could no longer fight. At the same time Ginny led her crew across the crowd dropping ordinance and firing much stronger spells into the crowd.

Some of the enemy saw a gap in the fire, explosions and gas and ran towards it, straight into the next mine field. Colin would trigger it once the biggest mass of them were inside it.

Voldemort's army was in disarray. Now was the time to press them into doing stupid things. Colin, on orders from Reyna, set off another round of mines, amd redirected the ballistas to right behind the main force which by now had moved forward from the edge of the woods, and the confusion became down right panic. All followed the leaders through the gap and charged manically. They stalled as the first few were vaporized at a protection wall, and that was when Reyna ordered Colin to activate the second mine field. Rachel and the Order redirected their fire at the rear stragglers and they all rushed forward into the waiting mines. This killed or otherwise took out all but about fifty of the field crew, those being the ones that noticed the second gap.

It was then that the other half of the woodland death eaters were almost all on the wooden bridge, their leading edge twenty or so feet from the castle door.

"Colin, drop the wooden bridge. I repeat, Colin drop the wooden bridge."

Before Reyna could finish the command explosives went off in the framework of the trestle and moved in a wave starting near the castle and working its way back down the span. All on the bridge were either vaporized or thrown hundreds of feet in the air, either dead or unconscious by the shock wave. Those that were not yet on were hit by splinters moving at or near the speed of sound and many were killed as a result. The rest began to run as the mines between them and the woods began to erupt. With no where else to run, they fled to the perceived safety found by their comrades at the base of the castle. Once they arrived, Colin set off the gas mines there and both spells and arrows began raining down upon them. Several of the mines played a recording of Leo telling them to drop their wands and lean against the wall if they wished to surrender and most took this advice. The entire right flank, most of Voldemort's army, was destroyed within a couple minutes of the start, and none had actually cast a spell that hit a target. Those that were left were leaning against the wall, their wands on the ground and two very angry gold and silver dogs with ruby eyes growling whenever anyone moved.

We couldn't blow up the stone bridge, well we could, but it would not have had the same effect in that it was smaller and not all of the remaining enemy could fit on it. Here the giants led, followed by a mixture of half giants about Hagrid's size, some earthborn and two hundred or so Death Eaters bringing up the rear. Since we couldn't blow up the entire bridge, we waited until all of the giants were on it, then triggered several rows of claymore mines we had acquired from the Ares cabin at Camp Half Blood. A claymore is a particularly gruesome mine that the US and her NATO allies used. Instead of being triggered by someone stepping on them, they were usually triggered by a remote operator. They could be triggered by trip wire, but we had opted for the remote. When detonated, they blasted in one direction, sending shards of metal at several times the speed of sound down range. If you were in its way, and you were made of meat, it would slice you into hamburger and peel the flesh from your bones. We had a dozen on each side of the bridge facing inward, and all we elevated up in anticipation of the giants leading the way.

The effect was horrific. All of the giants were blown in half, their legs from knees to hips vaporized and most of the abdomens guts fell out as well. Most fell off one side of the bridge or another, but one landed right at the Greeks and attempted, apparently too much in shock to realize he was already dead, to swing his scythe at them. Before he could move far though Percy levitated what was left of him, several tons, and tossed him on the half giants at the other end of the bridge. Two or three were pinned beneath the now dead mountain of flesh and the rest of the half giants fled in whatever direction they feared least. We just let them go, their part in this war was over.

The Greeks charged like maniacs across the bridge and as the blubber of the giant was landing they were hitting the left side of the line with swords and spells. The Death Eaters there had no time to react and Percy and Annabeth led their team around to the left side and then began hacking and blasting their way to the middle. Percy moved like he had on the glacier in Alaska. It was as though a hurricane surrounded him and spells cast at him glanced off as he sprayed protection spells and slashed with his sword. Even those that had seen him fight in training stood in awe as he worked. About the only one not effected was Annabeth, and that because she was killing almost as quickly as Percy. Anytime a Death Eater thought he was beyond the reach of Percy's blade he would find Annabeth's cutting him in half. The left side of the Death Eaters collapsed as they and their comrades raced to the center like a meat grinder on wheels.

On the other side Harry let loose a horrific howl that scared all of us and led his group to the right. Where they engaged the Death Eaters was also an explosion of violence. Ron and Harry were blowing them in half with stunning spells while Nico was simply chopping them up and Hermione, bless her soul, was going like a maniac with both her shotgun and the occasional spell. Both flanks were collapsing when the Roman line of Hogwarts students hit the center with spears and spells, destroying the front and also marching like a machine towards the center. As the Death Eaters recovered from their shock and began to fight back, Moaning Myrtle appeared beside Nico and began blocking their shots at Hermione, and and any of the other girls from Hogwarts in the infantry brigade behind them. She would hit their spells with the flat of her glowing white blade, then turn the blade to decapitate or disembowel the spell caster.

Finally we heard Ginny, whose Air Mobile One had finished bombing the fields with Neville cleaning up any stragglers come over the communications net. "Air One coming in hot on the rear, dropping ordinance on first pass, landing to assault on second, stand clear below."

She led them in a beautiful pattern across the rear of the enemy at the bridge, dropping explosives in their midst and causing havoc.

"Let it be known that when Harry reached the center, I was waiting for him. For the honor of Capture the Flag!" we heard Percy say with a near maniacal laughter.

"Ha! You probably cheated like you do at Quidditch!" We heard Harry reply.

At this point Arion and I charged in. Arion went right over remains of the giant and put us into the battle right where Harry's group and Percy's had met in the center. "Charge!" I yelled, forgetting that my communications net was still on, and we dove in, Arion knocking down the ones in front, and I would stun the ones on the left while using my saber on the right. The boys and their crews fell in behind us along with the Hogwarts infantry brigade and we moved into a now hotbed of spells being cast against us. I began casting protection spells over us and using my saber, Annabeth, seeing that I was down to one weapon on offense came to my left and took over for me there.

"Air One is down, repeat, Ginny is down, Leo we need a rescue just past Voldmort's group on the left flank down the hill." We heard Neville say.

"What? I'm on my way." We heard Harry reply.

"No you are not! You stay and fight. We've got this. Neville circle them up above me, keep these bastards away until Leo gets here. Harry, if you leave the fight for me I will hit you so hard!" We heard Ginny yell, clearly in pain.

"Ginny, are you hurt?" Leo asked as he and Festus turned a long turn at the other end of the battle where they had ended up after their last pass.

"I.. I think my leg is broken. We were going by them with a screen up but a killing curse got through it and hit my broom. Broke it in half, I tried to slow the fall but it, well it wasn't enough, It only hurts when I move."

"Then don't move, get your heads down people, Leo and Festus are coming in hot."

"Oh shit" The Americans all thought at once.

Saying that Leo casting fire and Festus breathing it is "hot" is sort of like saying the Mississippi at flood stage is "moist." They had seen Leo and Festus attack the right flank in a planned assault only minutes before, but most had never seen Leo and Festus attack when they were really pissed off. Just as Neville turned Air Mobile 1 into its holding pattern over Ginny and started casting spells at Voldemort and his crew, Leo and Festus turned to face the battlefield from the other end, began playing "Flight of the Valkyries" on Festus's PA system and lit up a 40 yard wide pathway of white hot blaze from one end of the battle field to the other. While Festus breathed fire down in front of him, Leo cast fire from his hands off either side. Everything beneath them died before it had a chance to scream. The rear of the Death Eaters we were fighting had not recovered from the ordinance dropped by Ginny and Air One when Leo erased them from the earth, the heat so hot it felt like I was inches away from a blast furnace. Finally he turned up the hill and while Voldemort and his disciples stared Leo hit them as well while Neville and Air Mobile One bombarded them with spells. Their protection was better but several were caught outside it since it was facing Neville and Leo attacked from the opposite side. It was clear the rest were in shock from what they had witnessed.

Harry let up a blood curdling yell and we again charged at what was left of the Death Eaters attacking the bridge. Many gave up and attempted to apparate, but Hermione took them out with her Berretta as the shotgun barrel was now red hot and glowing. In moments Voldemort's army was at last destroyed.

"Keep up the fight! Take it to them!" Harry cried out and began running up the hillside towards Voldemort's position, with Percy right beside him and the rest of us and his army. I patted Arion and he took off. The instant he did though a bolt of green light came from those gathered on the hill and hit Harry. It looked like he was going to fall and get trampled so I scooped him up and held on as Arion traveled through the few of Voldemorts people still there. His weight was sagging and he was about to slip when we stopped. By then, Dumbledore and the Order were apparating from the castle and surrounding Voldemort, his snake and the two or three of his disciples left. I even saw Dumbledore's Phoenix, Fawlkes enter the fray flying something up to Neville.

I used a levitation spell to lift Harry onto Arion's back, but he just sagged over it. I knew then he was hurt and began casting healing spells at him.

"Will, Frank, I have another rescue. Its Harry, he's.. he's not breathing." I said into my microphone, and as I said it I realized that we had failed. Ginny wailed her understanding and everyone else just froze.

Harry Potter was dead.