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Disclaimer: Nope, I still do not own any of the characters in this fanfic, except Emily Malfoy and Megan Jones (possibly more in the future). I used to own all of the characters… but then I woke up…Sadly that means I still do not own Gollum, for I find him quite hilarious.
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~ This fanfic contains spoilers from The Lord of the Rings books/movies and the Harry Potter books. ~
---------- Rated: PG-13 for violence and mild sexual reference. ----------
Two Heroes, Two Villains, One Ring
Ch. 14: The Battle, Part I: Hell At Hogwarts
Time passed quickly. An hour seemed like a minute. A minute seemed like a second. Hogwarts was running out of time.
The final preparations were completed only 30 minutes before the attack. It was an absolute miracle that they still had any hope at all after their first sight of Voldemort's army, for it was much larger than even Snape expected. In the last few days, the death eater count had reached 350. This was an extremely dangerous threat even though the number of Hogwarts residents more than doubled the number of death eaters. The numbers were about like this: 350 Death Eaters vs. 800 Hogwarts residents. (A/N: this is an approximate estimate) This was, of course, cut down to about 500 Hogwarts residents when the younger students were excluded.
Legolas, who had the keenest eyes, stood on look out atop one of the highest towers. He could hear marching in the distance. This was no army of careless, inexperienced criminals. No, these were trained fighters. Trained to kill.
Déjà vu hit him as he realized he was once again standing on a wall looking down at an onslaught waiting to happen.
At the crack of dawn, the attackers were in sight. Legolas shouted the warning as the first of them appeared. He readied an arrow as the first of them cam into view. Suddenly, he smiled to himself. He would have to thank Hermione for placing that multiplication charm on his quiver of arrows. Every time he spent an arrow, another would appear in his place. He was beginning to wish he had slept in this morning
The death eaters had marched around Hogsmeade and came from a completely different direction than expected. They marched right through the Forbidden Forest. Cloaked and masked figures began to pour from the edge of the forest like a swarm of locusts. At the head of the swarm was one figure that was not wearing a mask. A black sheath for a sword hung at his left hip. It was Voldemort.
All was quiet when the death eaters stopped marching to stare at the castle. Voldemort quickly addressed his troops. "Stay alert there will be people on the roofs. Leave no one alive."
Lucius Malfoy grimaced. "What about my children?"
Voldemort smiled. "Do you think they are worth keeping alive, Lucius?"
Lucius Malfoy spoke truthfully. "The boy could be of use. In time, the girl could be turned as well."
"Then I will leave you to handle that, my friend. Do as you see fit. But if they interfere, I will kill them myself," Voldemort said, grinning wider then ever.
Lucius nodded.
Voldemort stepped forward and yelled, "Death eaters! Attack!"
This said, the battle begun. The death eaters charged toward the school, completely unaware that they had just walked into an ambush.
The death eaters were almost 300 yards from the school when 24 broom-mounted students flew out from behind various towers, walls, and rooftops. The flyers scattered and then came together again to form four groups of seven. The four groups were, in fact, the house Quidditch teams.
The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams circled around behind the death eaters while Slytherin and Gryffindor attacked from the front. Death eaters began to scatter and franticly shoot spells into the air, which the flyers easily dodged. The death eaters were forced to resort to blocking and deflecting as stunning spells rained down on them. It was at this time that two things happened at once. With a great cry of "HOGWARTS FOREVER!" hundreds of students sprung from behind tower walls and rooftops, shooting more stunning spells. At the same time, teachers, ministry wizards, and seventh year students began to pour from the castle's main gates and engage the death eaters head on.
Voldemort was enraged. In the midst of his fury, his eyes quickly scanned the air for Harry. He found him quick enough, and took careful aim as the boy zoomed overhead. Voldemort's full concentration was on Harry as his wand arm tracked him and followed him, waiting for the right time.
Harry paused in midair for a moment, surveying the area. Voldemort saw his chance. He saw his chance, but almost did not see the arrow fly from one of the castle towers. Voldemort dove and rolled out of the way just in time to see Legolas' arrows whiz past where his left shoulder would have been.
He looked all about the rooftops and the towers for the Elf, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Spells continued to rain down from the sky and rooftops. Voldemort got back on his feet and yelled, "Scatter! Draw them away and kill them one by one! KILL THEM ALL!"
Jets of bright light flew from all directions as Harry circled the death eaters, looking for any that let their guard down, when he heard a yell to his right. "Captains, form up on me!"
Harry rolled to the right and flew ahead until was parallel with Draco Malfoy, on his left. Cho Chang (Ravenclaw) and Austin Swales (the new Hufflepuff captain) came to a position behind and to either side of Harry and Draco. Together, the four Quidditch captains launched themselves towards the mass of attacking death eaters.
Lucius Malfoy smiled beneath his black mask as the four children flew past him. As they circled around for another pass, he aimed his wand and shouted, "Stupify!"
As the captains prepared to dive bomb the death eaters again, a stunning spell shot out of the attacker's midst at surprising speed. The spell hit Draco directly in the chest and he tumbled off his broom.
Cho screamed and then suddenly gaped in awe as Harry barrel rolled to the right and dove head first toward the ground, trailing Draco's unconscious body at impossible speed.
Harry swerved and dodged spells shot by the death eaters all the while maintaining his speed and accelerating faster still. He quickly caught up with Draco and, to the amazement of all others who were watching this, jerked up on the nose of the broom, bringing it parallel with the ground and activating the Firebolt's auto-brakes. In the few seconds it took for the Firebolt to slow down, Harry lunged forward and swung himself around the broom so that he was dangling upside down by his legs. He reached his arm out and grabbed Draco Malfoy by the wrist just as the broom came to a complete stop, fifty feet above the ground.
With the help of cover fire from the rest of the teams, Harry managed to pull Draco and himself up and onto the broom, sitting Draco in front of him. That being done, Harry sped towards the roof of the hospital wing where Madam Pomfrey was busy tending to wounds.
Harry left Draco in her care and was about to fly back to the battle when someone shouted his name. Harry looked up to see Megan Jones flying toward him, carrying a broom in her hand. It was Draco's Nimbus 2001.
"I caught it after it spun out of control when he fell."
Harry tried to laugh but found his mouth very dry. "He'll be happy about that."
"We'd better hurry back," Megan said, watching the battle.
"Yeah, let's go."
The tables had turned. The death eaters were slowly but surely being driven back to the forest. Voldemort, however, was not about to give up. Since the battle begun, he had gone from mad to furious. Every time he was about to shoot a spell, the Elf shot an arrow at him and he was forced to dodge. What made him even madder was that it seemed each time the Elf was shooting from a different location.
The Quidditch teams had formed one group again and suddenly a plan came to him. He whirled around and aimed his wand at a tall blonde haired student, and as expected, an arrow shot from the castle top. This time Voldemort was expecting it and saw where it came from. With a yell of, "INCENDIO EXTREMUS!" a giant fireball shot from the Dark Lord's wand and collided with the tower the Legolas was shooting from.
The tower broke off from the castle and came crashing to the ground. Voldemort smirked before turning to face the incoming Quidditch teams. "Enough of this," he said to himself. With a swish of his wand, he shouted, "IMMOBULIUS INFERNO!"
A shockwave flew from Voldemort's wand and hit all four Quidditch teams, freezing their bodies and minds. As they floated freely and carelessly in the air, a small white orb rocketed past them and exploded in a ball of fire not far behind them.
Albus Dumbledore watched in horror as 28 students fell from the sky. In the blink of an eye, he pointed his wand to the air and shouted a spell that was indistinguishable among all the yelling. The students began to slow down in midair and came to a rough landing in the grass in front of the gate. The brooms were completely obliterated. Many students were injured. The rest were dead.
Dumbledore's voice was heard above everyone else's as he shouted, "Get them to safety!" The bodies were hoisted into the air and carried into the castle. Dumbledore turned to follow, but his path was blocked by none other than Voldemort himself.
Things had taken a turn for the worst. The death eaters had regained confidence and were forcing the residents of Hogwarts back into the castle. The fight was hopeless. Only more lives would be lost by resisting, but still they did not give up. The students had abandoned their position on the walls and towers when Voldemort summoned a barrier that would block all spells coming from the roof.
The casualties were evaluated as soon as they were in the great hall. Megan Jones had been killed in the blast, along with Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell for Gryffindor. Hufflepuff had lost their entire team except for it's captain, while Cho Chang and two chasers were the only remaining Ravenclaws. The Slytherins were the furthest from the so blast so most of their team was there except for the keeper. However, all of them suffered from many broken bones and concussions.
Harry Potter, on the other hand, remained unscathed. On his way back to the battle he stopped to fire a spell at a pair of death eaters that had cornered a student while Megan flew on ahead. He managed to save the student in time but the delay had saved himself from being caught in the explosion.
Harry hurried into the great hall as fast as he could and found Ron and Fred huddled over George, who was in worse shape than any of the other survivors. He had landed directly on his leg when he fell and had almost completely shattered it. Aside from other various broken bones, he was unconscious due to blood loss. Ron had a nasty looking cut on his forehead and a few cracked ribs, but was ok otherwise. Fred was in decent shape besides several minor cuts and bruises.
Harry was speechless. Never did he think he would have to witness this. Seeing his friends, fellow students and teachers dying all around him. "This is all my fault," he said quietly.
Ron looked up. "Don't you dare say that, Harry! There's no way you could've stopped this from happening!"
"Ron, you don't understand," Harry started. "He's not here to kill everyone. He's here for me! He wants revenge on me!."
Harry slowly stood up. "I know what I have to do." Harry drew his wand and ran out the door and froze at what he saw.
"Albus Dumbledore. It's been a long time."
"It certainly has, Tom."
Voldemort's voice shook with rage. "That name, no longer has any connection to me!"
Both wizards drew their wands and stepped closer. Both wizards raised their wands and held them out in front as a silent challenge. Dumbledore bowed as Voldemort did the same.
"Now we will see who is the more powerful wizard. Lord Voldemort, Heir of Slytherin, or Albus Dumbledore, King of Muggles and Mudbloods," Voldemort said with a grin.
"We will see," Dumbledore said gravely.
Both turned about face and began walking in the opposite direction. Then, they came to a stop a few yards apart before whirling around and facing each other. There was no referee. No one to make sure Voldemort played fair. Dumbledore knew this, and that was the reason he made sure he turned around before his opponent.
Dumbledore shot the first spell, and the duel began. Dumbledore shot a stunning spell at Voldemort, which was easily blocked. He blocked two more spells before yelling, "Ramathca Subaito!" followed by "Arinia Exhibay!" Voldemort remained on the offensive while Dumbledore defended himself the best he could.
Drumbledore was growing tired as he blocked one spell after another. Voldemort was toying with him, wearing him down until he could not fight anymore, and Dumbledore knew it. With a shout of "Destructo!" a spark of red light shot from Voldemort's wand and hit Dumbledore in the leg, snapping the bone in half.
At last, Voldemort decided to end the battle. With a smirk on his face and a wand in the air, he shouted, "Crucio!"
Students screamed as the headmaster twitched and jerked on the ground. After a decent dose of pain, Voldemort lowered his wand and smiled.
With a sudden burst of energy despite the blinding pain in his leg, Dumbledore rolled over and pointed his wand at Voldemort. "Demolio!"
Voldemort's legs few out from under him and he fell to the ground. "I grow tired of this game!" he yelled as he got to his feet. "Avada Ka---"
He never finished the spell. Once more, an arrow flew out from the castle. This one, however, found it's mark. The arrow hit Voldemort directly in the chest, just below the neck.
Voldemort didn't flinch. Enraged, he plucked the out the arrow and turned to see Legolas standing amid the rubble of the castle he had fallen from.
As Voldemort was about to shoot a spell, a shout rang out from the gate.
"Ricktu Sempra!" Harry screamed.
The dark lord was sent flying ten feet into the air before crashing back down to the ground.
Harry yelled, "Somebody help him!" before turning to face Voldemort.
Suddenly, hordes of students, teachers, and ministry hit wizards, led by Arthur Weasley, burst of the castle and charged the death eaters. Dumbledore's leg was splinted and he was carried back into the castle by medics. The death eaters were taken aback by the sudden viciousness of this attack. Hogwarts would not go down quietly. With renewed vigor and inspiration, Hogwarts managed to draw the death eaters away from Harry and Voldemort, who stood in the middle of the frenzy, waiting for the other to make a move.
Voldemort called out to the death eaters, "Draw them away! The boy is mine!"
Slowly he turned and smiled at Harry. "I've waited a long time for this, Harry."
An arrow flew towards Voldemort, but this one he blocked. Then he whirled on Legolas and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Legolas' bow lifted into the air and flew towards the top of the castle and settled on the window sill of the astronomy tower.
Voldemort growled, "If you want it, I suggest you hurry and get it."
He then turned back to Harry just in time to see a stunning spell fly at him. Voldemort ducked and shot a speel back at Harry, "Expelliarmus!" Harry's wand sailed through the air and landed in Voldemort's outstretched hand.
Harry knew then that it was over. He was going to die. But… something very unexpected happened. Harry's right hand started tingling and then began to glow. Slowly, a metal object began to materialize in his hand. The metal object soon became the hilt of a sword, and then, a blade sprouted out of the hilt. Harry stared in shock at the sword that he now held in his hand. It was Godric Gryffindor's sword.
Voldemort stared in silence. When he found his voice, he smiled again and said, "So, you wish to die a more painful death, do you? Very well."
Voldemort pocketed his and Harry's wand, and drew his sword. Harry held the sword out in front of him.
Harry suddenly lunged with the sword, but was easily blocked. Harry swung again, this time aiming for the head, but was blocked again and shoved to the ground. Harry stabbed, slashed, and thrusted, but to no avail. Voldemort parried every one of them while trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn.
"I grow tired of this, Harry." With a sudden blur of movement, Voldemort slashed the sword upward, knocking Harry's sword from his hand. As Gryffindor's sword fell to the ground, time seemed to slow for Harry as he saw what was about to happen. With a quick thrust, Voldemort stabbed his sword through Harry's left shoulder. Harry screamed in agony as he fell to his knees.
There was a sound of powerful wings in the air and shouting all around and somewhere amid the noise, a gruff but happy voice yelled, "Beaky!" Voldemort payed no attention. Voldemort stared into Harry's bright green eyes, much as he had before he killed Lily Potter, and leaned forward to speak softly into Harry's ear, "It's time to join you parents, Potter. Goodbye."
Voldemort took a step back a swung the blade as hard as he could toward the helpless boy's neck… only to be blocked by Anduril, the Flame of the West!
A/N: This has to be my best and longest chapter ever! Please read and review! Also, please let know if I screwed anything up. I will edit this chapter later if needed. Until then, keep your eye open for Ch. 15: The Battle, Part II: The Turn of the Tide!
P.S.~ For those of you who have read The Lord of the Rings books and know what Anduril is, you should have an idea of what is to come in the next chapter… J
~ Kettch