Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Please don't sue.
Ron and Ginny frowned as Harry still hadn't shown up for lunch. "Have you seen Harry?" Ginny finally asked the silent Hermione.
"Well," Hermione answered, "Vector wanted to talk to him after class. She might have had him work on something. I don't know."
"Well, it's odd for him…" Ron trailed off, and looked at the high table. Ginny was about to ask him what exactly was odd, and noticed what Ron was looking at. Professor Trelawney was in front of the table, which by itself was unusual. But the Divination professor was talking nervously to the headmaster. Her usual airy posture had been discarded, and Ron got the impression she was terrified.
Dumbledore appeared to be worried as well, and gathered the professors around. After a tense minute with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione's eyes watching them, Dumbledore stood up and loudly addressed, "Students, we have an emergency. Will the 6th and 7th students please follow Professors Hagrid, Snape, Sinistra, Sprout, Hooch, and Trelawney. Will the 5th and 4th years please follow Professors Fleur and Flitwick, and myself. And will the 3rd years and below remain here with Professor McGonagall."
The students all got up, confused, but did as Dumbledore asked. The six professors assigned to the eldest students quickly divided up the lot; Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all were put with different professors, who began quickly leading them up the various tower staircases.
The 5th and 4th year students followed the headmaster, dark arts, and charms professors, but found themselves stopping within the main entryway. The first through third year students were told to line up against the wall of the Great Hall, facing both the main entrance and the windows along its eastern side.
The 6th and 7th years all gasped as they made their way into the top level of each of the towers. On the horizon, along the south, were countless numbers of soldiers. Their intent was obvious, as they were starting to spread along, approaching the castle from several directions.
"Wands out!" cried the professors, and each of the students nervously drew out their wands. The students and professors silently watched the approach of the army, until Professor Snape finally cast out, "Cremo!" Suddenly, the air was alive with spells, as the students began to hurl curses and hexes at the rapidly approaching legion. Wave after wave would fall, but each minute, the forces drew closer to the entrance, and it became clear that the students in the towers would not be able to stop them all.
Many of the students gasped as the army grew close enough to the castle to make out their details. Instead of armored men, the army was made up of skeletal animations and men whose flesh had not completely decomposed. And every so often, a robed creature would be among the ranks, holding a wand instead of the sword and shield like their brethren.
Finally, the creatures were able to drive to the main gates. Many of the 4th and 5th years trembled as a giant BOOM sounded on the main oak doors. "Form up!" Fleur shouted, and the students automatically adopted the large group duel positions they had learned during their defense against the dark arts classes.
Another pound rocked the door; this time the hinges buckled slightly. Dumbledore shouted, "Wands at ready!" The students that had not yet pulled their wands out did so, and a third strike at the door finally brought it down. Almost immediately, the students cast a volley of spells through the door, and a countless number of skeletons fell in the entryway. They were quickly replaced by others, and the students cast spells in a frenzy to avoid any creature making it through the entry way. As undead were piling up in the entry way, Dumbledore wasn't casting spell after spell like the rest. Instead, he would wait for a creature to make it through the students' spells, and incapacitate before it closed the gap between them and the door. But Dumbledore's main objective was rather clear when the first robed figure entered the hall, with a normal appearance, save a pale face and almost bluish hands. Dumbledore furiously pointed his hands at the intruder, and the wizard was violently thrown from the building, incapacitated.
The first through third year students were frightened when a few skeletons burst through the windows of the Great Hall, but McGonagall quickly defeated them. "Students, you need your wands out," she loudly called, "Use whatever curses and hexes you know to defeat them." The young students trembled, but did as she asked. Fortunately, only a handful of the undead creatures attempted entry within the windows of the Great Hall, as it was a rather inconvenient way to enter the castle, not being on the ground floor.
Harry and Vector had no way of knowing that while they were working on number theory, the castle had been under attack for the last hour. Finally, Harry had enough and said, "Professor, it's been nice, but I should really get back to the commons. I've been down here for…" and looked at his watch. It was 1:30 in the afternoon already!
Vector grinned and said, "I'll see you on Wednesday in class." Harry gave the professor a wave, and began walking the corridors back to the Gryffindor tower. "Where is everybody?" Harry asked himself – the corridor was completely deserted. He didn't know that everyone was pushing the remnants of the undead army back from the castle.
"Fighting the hopeless battle," came a slow drawl from behind him.
"Malfoy," Harry hissed, and turned around. It was Draco Malfoy, but he looked somewhat different. His face was even more pale than usual, and didn't have the faint trace of redness around his cheeks. His knuckles were completely white as well, as though he were clutching his wand with all this might.
Before Harry could do anything, Malfoy yelled, "Accio!" and Harry found his wand flying into Malfoy's hand.
Harry growled, "So you're now Voldemort's pawn."
Malfoy circled Harry, and hissed, "This isn't our first year, Harry. This isn't where we hurl witty insults at each other. I've become something beyond that. And soon you will be, too. Imagine the coup: Harry Potter, an undead mage, working tirelessly for Voldemort."
Harry growled and took up a defensive posture. He had never dueled wandlessly before, but he knew that Malfoy was weak from the ceremony and he would at least have a chance.
Malfoy grinned, and pointed his wand at Harry. "Caligo!" Draco shouted. Harry concentrated, and managed to block the spell, although it took far more energy than if he had a wand.
Before Malfoy got a chance to cast another, Harry quickly focused and cast, "Expelliarmus!" Draco smirked and easily blocked Harry's weak spell. Harry and Draco circled each other, casting hexes back and forth, but it was clear that Harry was not going to win. He had to spend far too much effort blocking and casting spells to compete even with a greatly weakened Malfoy.
Malfoy grinned maliciously, focused all his energy, and shouted, "Stupefy! Stupefy! Obstringo!" Harry somehow managed to block both of the stunning spells, but grunted in frustration as his arms flew behind him and were tied together. Malfoy laughed throatily, and magically bound Harry's legs as well, and walked right up in front of Harry, who was still standing, struggling against his bonds.
"Harry Potter," Malfoy hissed, although there was a faint trace of his familiar drawl, "Defender of the innocent. Brought down by a… pawn." Malfoy gently pushed Harry's chest, and Harry slowly fell over backward, unable to balance himself.
Harry looked up at Malfoy with hate in his eyes. Malfoy casually said, "Well, let's see if I've still got enough power for… CRUCIO!" Harry bit his lip. Instead of the nerve racking sensation he remembered from Voldemort, there was only a sharp biting pain. However, Malfoy didn't let up the curse, and Harry sat there, until the sensation grew too much for him and he broke out in a panting scream.
Malfoy was encouraged by this, and redoubled his efforts. The Boy-Who-Lived curled into a fetal position, gasping between haggard yells of pain. Within several minutes, he began twitching, and wishing for nothing more than the pain to end.
"WHAT!" came a loud voice, and Harry felt relief as Ginny yelled, "Nutusus Aegis!" Malfoy roared with rage, as his spell no longer reached Harry. Before Ginny could do anything else, Malfoy charged at her, his wand forgotten. Ginny cried with pain as Malfoy's fist connected with her face, and she fell to the floor, her wand clattering beside her.
Malfoy quickly picked both wands back up, and put Ginny's in his pocket along with Harry's. "Well, Potter," Malfoy hissed, "I may not be able to hurt you anymore, thanks to your girlfriend. But I can do something even worse. Obstringo! Crucio!"
Harry watched with horror as Ginny was bound as well, and began trembling with pain. Every minute she would grow more and more distraught, and every minute Malfoy would grow more and more malicious. Finally, Ginny broke out in a scream, with Malfoy laughing harshly and Harry crying with frustration.
Harry couldn't help out and was forced to watch as Ginny began to twitch and her eyes began to roll uncontrollably. He felt a giant surge within building within himself and glared at Draco. Something burst inside Harry's mind, and Draco suddenly found himself thrown against the stone wall with an unimaginable force. Harry watched as Malfoy was held lifeless against the wall, and eventually sank down slowly. Harry somehow knew that every bone in Draco's body was crushed, and Harry had to avert his eyes as Draco's limbs fell over his body limply, almost like a liquid.
Harry looked fearfully over at Ginny, who wasn't moving. "HELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPP!" Harry cried loudly, and struggled against his bonds. He tried both removing the bonds and summoning his wand, but he was too weak to do either. "HELLLLLLPPPP!" Harry cried again. And again. All the while, Ginny lay on the stone floor with no trace of movement.
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Whooeee! A nice cliffhanger before the final two chapters, eh? (Note: this is where I run, with hordes of people screaming for my blood because I ended on a cliffhanger, killed off Draco rather unpleasantly, and forced mathematics upon them)
AllAboutMe: Read my lips. No more math. I swear.
Penda: Hope the teachers don't catch you.
Garina: Er, I don't know if I want to address that one…
ShaunaJ: Just wait – everything comes to a peak in the next two chapters.
Beefywpac: What is it with Draco? He calls people nasty names, learns the dark arts, and joins the side of evil – and you all love him? What happened here?!
Temporary Insanity: THANK YOU! I don't know what I'd do if everyone else besides me hated math. Are you an engineering student? I don't know, you just struck me as the type, as you knew the metric conversions and have a preference for theoretical calculations.
Brianna: Er, what am I supposed to say? Thanks? Next time you review my story, try to at least tell me why you think it's horribly written. Or if you feel the need to, you can even tell me why you think I truly suck. If you're going to flame, at least try to give a reason for your opinion.
Ariel: Don't worry, I will be writing when I get back after Christmas break. After the final chapter, I will be putting a section called, "What's next?" up, where I will decide what the heck I'm going to do.
Sherman: Thanks! You're right – Hermione does seem to be more the type for Arithmancy.
Please Review! Yes, even you, Brianna!