Chapter 21: Preparing for Battle

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, college sucks! Anyway, enjoy. I SHOULD be posting chapter 22 in a day or so.

Monday morning arrived, and all the professors gathered in the Great Hall early. They took their places at the head of the hall, and Dumbledore stood in front of them.

"This morning we're going to tell the students about the information we've received and go over escape routes with them." Dumbledore said. "Filch, and Elanus Green have given you maps from all the classrooms. We do not expect any problems until Wednesday, and hopefully we can have the majority of the students out of the castle by then. You will be using secret passageways to get the students out. We will be going over a drill after breakfast. Please keep yourselves available for counselling as most of the students will need it. All first, through fourth years will be taken to Hogsmeade in small numbers throughout the day."

"Why aren't we evacuating everyone?" asked one of the professors.

"We honestly don't know if this will happen yet, or when for sure." Dumbledore replied. "If we evacuate all the students at once, Voldemort is likely to attack then. Professor Green, do you have anything to say?"

Samuel nodded and took Dumbledore's place. "We have been preparing for this for quite some time now. Last night several members of the Department of Mysteries arrived here, and are currently in an undisclosed location nearby. I expect there will be several dozen dementors with Voldemort, if not several hundred. Along with those dementors will be other creatures of darkness. Severus Snape is here to guide you through defence against these creatures, Remus Lupin will also be helping. I suggest you listen to them. We are going to take the battle to them if they attack. As far as we know, Voldemort has no idea of our preparations. This castle was once a fortress, and it will be again. Several sixth and seventh year students will be recruited to help with defending it. I'll be honest, several of you may not make it alive and unharmed. These student's lives are our first priority though, anyone who is afraid may stay behind in the castle. Traitors will be killed on sight, cowards will not be tolerated either. We are not going to be dealing with students Wednesday, but fully grown, trained and experienced wizards knowledgeable in the dark arts. All I can say is be ready, and do not hesitate."

The professors murmured among themselves. "How do you expect the students to handle it?"

"Honestly, not very well." Samuel replied. "That's why I encourage you to all to join your former houses after the announcement is made."

"Some of the students do not come here for breakfast, they sleep in a little what should we do about that?" another professor asked.

"The head of every house will make sure every student is in this Hall. We have about half an hour, and they should be lining up outside already. Every student must be accounted for. If one is missing, we'll find them." Samuel said. "Alright, that's all, we'll have a briefing every morning from now 'til Wednesday. I expect all of you to be up no later then 3am Wednesday morning. Volunteers for the night watches need to see me after breakfast."

The House heads quickly walked out of the Great Hall and the rest of the professors took their seats at the professor's tables at the head of the Hall. Most of the professors looked honestly nervous and those that weren't tried to calm the others' nerves. The students began filing in and boisterously talked amongst themselves as breakfast was served. Several of the students, though were quiet solemn as many had friends who were taken in Saturday's ordeal. Dumbledore stood up after a the heads of house arrived and nodded to him.

"Attention, everyone," Dumbledore said calmly. The students quieted down and faced the head of the hall. "It has come to our attention that Voldemort has been planning an attack on the school grounds," Dumbledore paused as the gasps died down. "There is reason to fear, but we feel quite prepared to defend the school against any attack. We must ask you not to send out any owls to your parents, and we will be putting the vast majority of you on the train out of here in small groups. Classes will be cancelled indefinitely and the professors will be available for counselling. All sixth and seventh years will report to Professor Green at the end of the day. Do you have anything Samuel?"

Samuel nodded and stood up. "I've been called to speak with the professors at least once this morning, so my voice is getting tired. As most of you must realize, this will be a very dangerous week. We're serious about the owls, all outgoing owls will be shot and the messages burned along with the corpse. If you have pet owls please keep them in the castle as much as possible. We'll be passing out special ribbons to students with owls so we don't mistakenly kill a pet. Please do not tie messages to them, punishment will be severe. You are free to come and go as you please. Magical communication will be allowed but on a limited basis we can't risk information being leaked out for the next few days. The professors have evacuation plans, please become familiar with them," Samuel said and then paused. "If any of you have questions, we'll answer what we can now. Please try to remain calm these next few days.  You will all have concerns I'm sure, please find a professor and talk to them before doing anything," he continued. When he stopped the Great Hall erupted into panic. Samuel let it continue before silencing them. "Questions?"

"When will this attack happen?" a curious sounding Ravenclaw asked.

"We can't release that information, just be ready to leave the school quickly." Samuel answered.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" an older Gryffindor asked.

"Certainly, anyone who wishes to help in the effort, please come to me after I meet with the sixth and seventh years." Samuel said.

"Are we prisoners?" asked a girl at the Hufflepuff table.

"Certainly not! You are all free to do as you please. We'll be blocking communication is all. I suggest you do what you feel most comfortable doing, hobbies and the like," Samuel replied.

"If this attack doesn't happen, what then?" asked another Ravenclaw.

"Well obviously you get a week off," Samuel said. "We need to finish breakfast. Please come to your professors for any further questions. You all can come to me at any time day or night. I would suggest you come in groups if you can, I'm sure many of you have similar concerns. I'm also going to ask that anything that is said during counselling not be repeated to other friends. We don't need things misconstrued."

The students nodded and sombrely ate their breakfast and the professors ate with their respective houses. After breakfast the sixth and seventh years met with Samuel and Gene who took them through the castle showing them some of the devices used to protect the castle.

"You guys are going to be operating the catapults and the ballista as long as possible. Most of this stuff reloads itself magically so you don't need to worry about that part, just aim and fire. My dad here is going to be up here overseeing most of it." Samuel said.

"We're not going to be in the line of fire are we?" asked one of the students.

"Not likely, we've erected some pretty hefty magical shields over the ramparts. Most spells will simply fizzle out. We're going to have several Unspeakables up here too. There's little they can't handle." Samuel said. "It's ok to be scared, and anyone that's too afraid doesn't have to do this, but we need all the help we can get."

The students nodded and a tall blonde haired boy spoke up. "We've been learning magic for the last several years here, the least we can do is help defend it. None of us will back down right?" he asked turning to his classmates. The classes nodded in agreement.


"We're all here for Hogwarts." The blonde said. "No worries, we can do it."

Samuel grinned and clapped most of the students on the back. "I knew I could count on you guys."

Gene instructed the students on the use of the devices, most of them designed to launch projectiles a great distance while Samuel made his way to his office. Several students were already lined up outside his door waiting on him. An hour or two later the students quit coming in and Samuel pulled out several papers and began studying over them. Elanus walked in the door with several students in tow including Harry.

"Yes?" asked Samuel.

"Well, these young people have an idea to toss at you. I think it's very good," Elanus said.

"Oh really?" Samuel asked. "Then tell me."

Harry approached Samuel's desk and said. "Well, you see we're all Quiditch players…"

In another part of the castle several students were gathered, talking and bonding between houses. Many of the girls were crying, only to be comforted by older students regardless of House. The professors themselves eventually needed people to talk to, relying mostly on each other for support. By Tuesday moral was very low. Samuel gathered the students for a small demonstration to put their fears at ease, as well as the fears of the professors. He called McGonagall, Elanus and Hermione Granger out of the crowd and pointed to a small stone pillar he had erected. He asked Professor Flitwick to put his most powerful unbreakable charm on it and Snape and Nickelroy treated the pillar with their best strengthening potions.

"Alright, any of you who think you can break this pillar try to." He called to the students.

Several students pointed their wands at the pillar and recited spells. The spells shot out of the wants and bounced off. Flitwick checked the integrity of the pillar.

"It's solid, not a scratch!" Flitwick cried.

"Hermione," Samuel said.

Hermione pointed her wand at the pillar, and waved it slightly. "Explosa!" she said half-heartedly. The stone cracked and shattered immediately and fell apart. The students gaped. 

"If a student can do that with one of those wands," Samuel said. "Imagine what a fully trained professor could do."

"Who made those?" asked Malfoy.

"I did," Samuel replied. "Alright, I have another stone pillar here." Samuel raised his hand and waved to the castle. "I suggest you duck," Samuel said. Samuel lowered his hand and a purple orb of some kind flew from the castle towards the pillar. It made the noise of four or five bagpipes playing at once, and what sounded oddly similar to a large freight train. The orb connected with it's target and flashed dimly, then the column disappeared from about half way up. Another equally noisy orb flew from the castle and hit the bottom half of the pillar, shattering it, sending a wave of stone bits in all directions.

"I think the train noise was a bit much, but you all get the idea," Samuel said. "Keep in mind those are just two of what we came up with, most of these things will not harm humans in any fashion. Some of them will though. As you can see we are fairly well prepared. This is just a fraction of what we have in store if Voldemort comes."

Spirits rose a little at seeing the destruction of the stone columns and the students chattered among themselves. The rest of the day was a bit of a celebration and a mending of broken feelings and past wrongs among the students. Samuel kept to his office, talking to students and letting a few at a time board the trains. One student in particular was in particularly low spirits and made his way into Samuel's office.

"I need to talk to you," said a slow drawling voice. Samuel looked up from his desk in surprise.

"Draco Malfoy? I never expected to see you here," Samuel commented. "What can I do for you?"

Draco sat down in one of the chairs in front of Samuel's desk and took on a rather relaxed, confident sort of posture. "It's about my father."

Samuel raised his eyebrow. "What about him?"

"He'll likely be out there whenever this bloody attack takes place, and not on this side either," Draco said casually.

"Oh, I see," Samuel said, his voice dropping to a more somber tone. "I can see where that would be a problem."

"Listen, my father cares only about power and himself. He cares little for my mother and me," Draco said. "Don't give me any talk about how 'You're sure he loves me' because power is his only love."

"What do you want me to do?"

"As much as I'd like to inherit the family fortune, I don't wish to see my father dead," Draco replied. "If you see him, put him to sleep, break his legs or whatever, just don't kill him."

"We don't plan on killing any of the wizards if we can avoid it," Samuel replied.

"My father needs to be brought to justice, no matter what else happens," Draco said flatly.

"I wouldn't have thought you to care much," Samuel said.

"You know last year I was somewhat happy that Voldemort had returned, I figured he'd teach those mud-bloods a lesson," Draco said with a sneer. "Then those mud-bloods knocked Crabbe, Goyle and myself unconscious, and several hours later we woke up to find we'd been cursed at least a dozen ways. When I got home, and the curses finally removed you know what my father did?"

"What?"

"He yelled at me for being weak! He told me I was a pathetic snivelling coward, and a weakling for letting inferior wizards do that to me," Draco said. "It was the same old speech he'd given me countless times before. I realized something though, it was many against three, how could I have done anything about it? Does that make me weak?"

"There was little you could have done to stand up to that, and no that does not make you weak," Samuel replied.

"That's what I thought, but I went on as I had been taught and raised. Then your brother single-handedly took on two much bigger then himself, and broke my wand. He told me I was no better or worse then anyone else. That night I realized what weakness really was."

"What's that?" asked Samuel.

"Thinking less of someone because of how and where they were born. Preying on the weak for my own gain, doing everything like my father did, just because that's what he told me to do. Most of all seeking power for selfish gain is weak. My father is weak. Voldemort and his followers are weak. Cowardice is weak," Draco replied. "The saddest thing is, I am weak but not for the reasons my father said."

Samuel nodded, "You sound like a true Gryffindor," Samuel chuckled, to which Draco snorted. "You're absolutely right though. I will do what I can about your father. What are you going to do?"

"Fight, anyway I can. I'm not running," Draco replied. "If that means I help get the younger students to safety, so be it. If that means I get thrown on the front lines, I know several people that would be happy to see me dead."

"No disagreement there, though I think you can redeem yourself if you try," Samuel said.

"I could care less what they think," Draco said. "My way of thinking has changed, not me myself."

Samuel nodded, "Well Mr. Malfoy I need some sleep I've got mid watch tonight." Draco stood up and shook Samuel's hand and left the office. A shower, and a few hours sleep later Samuel found himself on the ramparts of the castle with a few other professors watching the horizon. Hours passed uneventful and Samuel found his bed quite welcoming. Unseen to the watch was the amassing darkness that surrounded the castle. The wizards on watch noticed the strange darkness just before dawn, and the distortion in caused on the landscape.