-HP and the Dark Reign-
-Chapter 17-
-The first triumph-
A/N: I'm trying to make this chapter as long as possible! I know in the past all my chapters have only been like 1,500 words, so now I plan to make a difference! … Anyway. Here are the moments you've been waiting for. The war.
Considering the battle at Hogsmeade was only a week away, Dumbledore summoned the lead order of phoenix members to his office. His face, as it always was before a battle, was grave. He summoned up several chairs for them all to sit on, and as they sat, he began to explain tactics.
'As we all know the battle is on Sunday' everyone nodded 'Harry and Talon will not be fighting with us, as they will be rescuing Arthur and Molly.' Everyone turned to look at them. Dumbledore then dived into explaining what exactly would be happening and when.
Harry felt rather overwhelmed with all the information involved with this war, however, he didn't say anything, He looked at Dumbledore, and attempted to absorb all the information the old man was throwing out.
After about half an hour or so, Dumbledore finally concluded his little 'Speech' and he asked whether there were any questions. Auburn- The lady Harry had met in his first meeting with the Order leaders raised her hand. Dumbledore nodded at her.
'Dumbledore, Are you sure the death eaters don't have more reinforcements?' Dumbledore nodded, quickly.
'Yes, Severus informed me that a lot of the death eaters are marching to their hideout, and will not know about our assault' that seemed to settle everyone's questions, and soon after, they were dismissed.
Sirius caught up with them as they were heading back up to the Gryffindor common room, he looked rather pale.
'Harry' He said briskly 'I don't think I like the idea of you going to rescue Arthur and Molly all by yourself like this' Harry shook his head.
'Ron and Hermione will be with me, plus Talon, I mean, if he's not going to protect me, who is?' Sirius still didn't seem convinced.
'I feel like I'm failing James and Lily'
Tell him he's being an idiot James said through the thoughts.
'James says your being a idiot' Harry repeated to Sirius, who looked shocked for a minute, He then nodded, and said.
'Ok, Harry, if James allows it…' He said goodbye, and then rushed off somewhere. The group continued up to the common room, and slumped down on some comfy chairs. They sat in silence for a while, ignoring the noise around them.
Harry, yet again, was going to face Voldemort. His scar burnt freely upon his head to remind him of this. Harry felt sick of the very thought of facing the dark lord again, but he voiced none of these feelings to his friends, who had snapped out of their silence, and were now challenging each other to chess. Harry watched the game in silence, still musing over Voldemort, and just life in general, and before he knew it, the chess game was over, and Ron and Hermione had said good night, and set off to bed.
You'll be fine; Harry Lilly reassured him all you have to do is control your emotions
Harry nodded, although he didn't really feel very reassured by his mother's words. He slept soundly that night, but when he awoke, his vial was full of deathly dark dreams.
It was the start of another week. That week, Harry thought to himself, was the only separation between him and Voldemort, and the rescue of Molly and Arthur Weasley.
Unfortunately, that week went extremely quickly, and everyone was too nervous to do much in lessons, even the teachers. The only teachers who still taught properly were McGonagall and Snape. Harry noticed that Snape looked rather ragged and tired, and for the first time ever, he felt sorry for him- it was obviously not easy spying on Voldemort.
Their last lesson the week was Charms, in which Professor Flitwick said they could just practice charms, and other useful things that would help them through the war.
By Friday night most people were extremely nervous and frightened. The first and second years would be the only ones actually staying behind at the castle, with Professor Sprout and Trelawney for protection.
Although he went to bed extremely early, Harry couldn't get to sleep on that Friday night. In the end, he had his parents tell him some stories of their Marauding days, to ease his nerves. Near the end of one of these stories, Harry finally drooped into an extremely uneasy sleep, dark thoughts swimming around in his head before he finally dropped into a more heavy slumber.
He must have slept extremely lightly and uneasily that night, for at around seven o'clock he jumped awake at a small sound. He jumped out of bed, and snatched his wand. However, it was a false alarm- it was Ron.
'I didn't want to disturb you' He explained simply, and Harry dropped his wand. Ron didn't seem to be nervous, or frightened, he only seemed to be determined. They went down to breakfast in silence, and saw a lot of people were already up, and were looking extremely frightened. When examining them, Harry thought that they were probably shaking so much that they could even hold a wand properly, However, On all of the Weasleys faces there was a strange blank and avenging expression, It was unusual, and made Harry shiver.
Silence echoed through the great hall as they ate, everyone was too scared to talk. Just as Harry had finished (He had only just managed to force a piece of toast down his throat) Dumbledore strode into the hall, Clad in his shining red and gold phoenix robes, and accompanied by Fawkes, the magnificent Phoenix. He let everyone finish their eating (Although not many people were) and stood up to talk.
'Now people!' He said seriously 'We WILL win this war, and we now have the power to do so, all I ask of you is to obey your group leader, the only changes will be Arabella Figg, now leading the fifth years' Everyone nodded, as if their mouths were glued shut from the upcoming event. Harry stood up bravely, and noticed that this time, even Draco Malfoy was not present at the Slytherin table. It was completely empty. Everyone followed his example, in Standing up, and they marched out into the school gardens.
The wind had gathered up, a sign of the upcoming winter. As if on cue, dark clouds rolled over the would-be battle scene and made the whole situation tenser. The order of phoenix joined them, along with thousands of other witches and wizards, who had gotten news of the battle. Dumbledore stopped them, as they were about to enter Hogsmeade.
'All I can say, is good luck. We are attempting to completely rush the village, while the small group go off to look for Molly and Arthur Weasley' Even his words sounded nervous, and made Harry feel worse. He paused them for more time, and told them to get ready for the assault, as he walked over to Harry, who was by Talon, Ron and Hermione.
'Harry' He greeted the boy 'I would think that Molly and Arthur are stored in one of the buildings somewhere, or maybe inside one of the secrets Voldemort has placed around here' Harry nodded, and scowled as Fred, George, Ginny, Bill, and Charlie all ran to him.
'What are you doing?' He demanded.
'You can't just do it on your own' Fred said, determined.
'We need to help rescue Mum and Dad as well' Charlie said, in his deep voice, which was etched with courage and determination. Harry sighed, and nodded.
'Ok, but it will be dangerous' the family didn't seem to mind.
In no time at all, Dumbledore roared 'CHARGE' and the heated battle begun. At first the death eaters fell quickly, as they were surprised at the sudden attack. However, they quickly got back, and started fighting properly.
Harry absorbed a red blast aimed at him, and flung it back at a death eater, as his group broke away from the other, larger one.
Remember. Control. His mother said to him, but he merely nodded. As he dodged another blast aimed at him. It was extremely useful having all the Weasleys with him; they could take most people in their way.
They turned down a dark alley, and almost bumped into an incredibly large group of death eaters, running to the battle scene.
Harry and Talon got to work quickly, jumping upon the group, while the Weasleys shot quick spells. It was a quick, yet brutal fight, and by the end Harry was impressed how they had all taken around thirty death eaters in around a minute. He gasped for breath for a moment, and then ordered them to continue. For some reason his instincts told him where to go.
They came across many other death eaters on the way, but they were dispensed of quickly. It was terribly unnerving hearing battle cries and screams coming from all around the usually calm and peaceful village.
Finally Harry came to a place of interest to him. It was a small house, however, there was no door, the place looked very run down and shabby. To Harry's disgust, there was plenty of blood sprayed over the walls. He forced down the wretch that was about to leave his stomach, and carefully stepped inside the house.
He didn't get any further. A sudden flash, forced him backwards, as he was flung all the way out of the house again.
Suddenly eight black figures swooped down upon them. Harry knew at once who they were, they were the figureheads of the Death Eater army. Voldemort himself stood there, in the centre of the little circle they had formed. Harry shivered.
'So, this is the sorry looking rescue party' He sneered at him. Harry controlled his emotions, letting his rage fall back into the depths of his stomach.
'Yes, Voldemort, We have come for Molly and Arthur' He said calmly.
'Ooh! Aren't we all mature and calm now, Potter!' Voldemort complemented sarcastically. Harry again had to force down a new batch of anger, to end the conversation quickly, he said a simple
'Lets roll'
Those two words triggered a massive battle to commence. It seemed that everything was planned out- each person took on one other person, and Harry was the one stuck with the dark lord himself. He didn't bother drawing his wand; he decided to show Voldemort just how much he had learnt in such short time. Voldemort himself drew a long, evil looking staff, which started glowing with an eerie red aura. As he swung it around, a bolt a pure energy shot out, directly at Harry, who had to jump to the side to dodge it.
The boy retaliated with attitude, calling a thunderstorm, and directing the bolts down upon the dark lord. This didn't seem to work, Voldemort raised his hand, and the storm was gone.
Just as Voldemort was charging some more crackling energy bolts, Harry charged, with his sword drawn. Voldemort suddenly cried in anguish, as Harry disrupted his spell with a sword swipe. The bolts blew up around the Dark Lord, and threw him back upon the ground. He rolled to avoid another swipe, but seemed to be weakened. With some effort he pointed his staff at Harry and muttered a long incantation. Harry was suddenly levitated, as he was wondering what lord Voldemort was about to do, his breathing supply cut out. He was being magically chocked.
He had to think of something quickly, and with one last ditched attempt, he pushed out with his will. Suddenly the grip stopped, and he fell to the ground, gasping and coughing roughly. He looked out to see Voldemort curse, and apparate away. His followers seemed to do the same as well.
Everyone gasped for breath, and Harry was relieved to see that no one was hurt in any way, although Ginny looked as if she would faint. Harry stood up slowly, and proceeded into the run down house.
They were there, Mr and Mrs Weasley. Their faces were etched in white terror, and when they saw the group of eight, the looks on their faces was too happy to describe. Harry had done it. They had done it.
Bill and Charlie apparated away with their parents, while the others explained that they were going to join the battle.
It didn't take the group long to find trouble. They first came across a few Death Eaters who were fleeing from the battle scene, and then came a cross the massive battle scene its self.
Most of the death eaters were now either dead, or fleeing, and it seemed most of the battle had taken place in the village square of Hogsmeade, there were massive craters dotted around the scene.
As the final death eaters disappeared, the cool wind that was blowing ever so savagely settled down, and everything was silent again.
Harry stood there for several seconds, basking in the silence. They had finally triumphed over Voldemort for the first time, and he had completed his objective- to rescue Mr and Mrs Weasley.
He looked up as the sun started to poke out behind the mass of dark cloud that had been obscuring Hogsmeade for these past days.
A/N: lol! It wasn't much of a difference… 2200 Words. Wow. Yeah right. Anyways, what did you think of this chapter! I'm sorry about how long it took, but I was incredibly busy. Next chapter will hopefully be up soon it won't be as long as this one, but oh well.
R&R please! And btw, thanks for all your other reviews! They make my day!