Chapter 47

Battle:

Hogwarts

They arrived with a pop and piled on top of each other. Harry's glasses were askew and his wand arm was twisted under him. He straightened his glasses with his free hand. He could hear Ron and Hermione under him complaining about being poked by wands and unable to move. He quickly rolled off the top of the pile and helped Hermione up.

"I don't know whether to thank you for helping me up or yell at you for poking me in the ribs with your wand," she mumbled as she tried to straighten her robe, which had become twisted around her legs in the crush.

"Wand in the ribs!" Ron practically yelled as he stood up. "Bloody hell! I'm not even going to tell you where your wand was poking me."

Harry looked at Cassie and his heart skipped a beat. She was laying on the floor, unmoving, eyes closed and very pale. He bent over her apparently lifeless form and shouted, "Cassie, Cassie!" as he shook her frantically.

As Ron and Hermione bent over her in consternation, Cassie opened one eye and looked up at them. She asked in a quivering voice, "Are we there yet?" The other three stared at her in surprise and then burst out laughing. She also laughed, in spite of herself, and shakily sat up. "No wonder you hate traveling that way, Harry It's horrible. I thought I was being turned inside out." She stood and brushed herself off, looking around in amazement at her new surroundings.

Now that the immediate danger to Cassie had passed, the three friends glanced around and immediately realized they were in Dumbledore's office. Although the office was empty, there was a loud and continued buzz of whispering and some outright loud talking among the various paintings. They could hear exclamations such as "It's the Potter boy;" "It's Harry Potter;" "It IS Potter;" "Wait until the Fat Lady hears this;" "I wish I could get into my painting in the Ministry," and the like. Harry felt a sudden thrill of terror. The gossiping paintings could ruin the whole plan - after coming all this way! What else could possibly go wrong?

Hermione suddenly pulled out her wand, waved it around the room, and said, "Petrificus tabulus!" The figures who had already moved from their painting into others on the way out the door were trapped where they were. None of the painted figures could move, even back into their own painting. A roar went up from the various occupants - "Hey, that wasn't nice;" "How impudent, Young Lady;" "I don't want to be trapped in here with her! Let me at least go back to my own painting;" "Well, I didn't ask you to come into my painting, did I?" and "How long are you going to keep us this way?" Harry tried frantically to count all the paintings and the figures to make sure that all were accounted for, but gave up after a few moments. It seemed that these past headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts moved very slowly and that Hermione had managed to stop them all before any had left the room.

Hermione scowled at the various muttering and screeching paintings. "Quiet! or I'll put a silencing charm on all of you!" The talking ceased, except for a mutter here and there. Suddenly, though, Harry heard a voice he hadn't heard in almost a year and he wanted to ask Hermione to put a silencing charm on him at least.

"Well, well, well. Harry Potter. I thought you were keeping my great-great-great-grandson company." He didn't seem too happy to see Harry back among the land of the living. Harry wasn't too happy to hear from him, either. He just brought back a lot of bad memories.

"Phineas Nigellus. Still here, I see. Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm still here, too. Look, I don't have time to deal with you right now. So shut up." Harry knew he was being rude, but their relationship was based on rudeness and mutual dislike and Harry saw no reason to change anything now. Phineas didn't say another word and the other paintings seemed to reconcile themselves to their new locations and settled down to watch the drama unfolding before their eyes. Cassie was still looking around, her blue eyes huge in her face. Ron had already walked over to Dumbledore's desk and placed the lion they had used as a portkey back in its customary place.

"It's strange being here with Dumbledore gone. I don't like it . . .it's creepy." Hermione walked over to stand by Ron, wrapping her arms around herself like she was warding off a chill. Harry barely suppressed a shudder himself. He remembered very distinctly the last time he had portkeyed to Dumbledore's office. That time, he had been alone and Sirius had been dead for only a few minutes and Harry had wanted to die himself. He glanced around at all the little delicate silver objects around the office. He had smashed them all to bits that morning, taking out all his anger and hatred on the beautiful little things. He imagined that Dumbledore had been able to fix them all. He hoped so. He felt a pang of guilt. He had never apologized to Dumbledore for all that rampant destruction. If he . . . , no, when he saw Dumbledore again, he would make sure to tell him how sorry he was for that morning. He shook his head as if to wipe away a memory. He needed to concentrate on today. Or he would be keeping Sirius company. And at this moment, he wasn't in a big hurry to do that.

Cassie had walked over to where Ron and Hermione were, collapsing into one of the big chairs in front of the desk.

"I need a minute or two to . . . take everything in. Are we really at your school, Harry? Are we really in Scotland? I . . . I just can't believe this."

"Yeah, Cassie. We're at Hogwarts." Harry turned to Hermione. "I'd like my cloak, please."

Hermione took the small pillowcase out of her pocket, and threw it toward Harry, who caught it easily. "Could you do the engorgement spell, please?" Hermione looked at him funny.

"Do it yourself." Hermione was still studying him carefully and Ron had turned from Dumbledore's desk at the strain in her voice.

"Oh, yeah." Harry stared at his wand for a moment. It was still clutched in his hand but he had never even thought to use it. He hadn't used magic now for more than three weeks, and truthfully, he wasn't sure that he could. What if he waved his wand and said the words, and nothing happened? He swallowed hard. He wasn't sure he wanted to try. If he failed, he wasn't sure what he would do. He wished he could feel a tingling or something, but nothing. His wand felt familiar and yet strangely alien in his hand. He bit his lip. He needed to do it. He was back at school and could. But the feeling of dread at the imagined upcoming failure was growing into a huge fear. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Go on, Harry. You remember the words, don't you?"

"Yeah, I just . . . . Engorgio!" Stupid as it was, when the bag expanded to its original size, Harry almost whooped in excitement. He was still a wizard. He laughed in sudden relief, the sound echoing around the office, waking the few occupants of the frames that had managed to go back to sleep. He was back home, back at Hogwarts, and even though he didn't know what was going to be happening in the next few hours, he found that he really didn't care. He could do magic! Life was good.

Harry savored the feeling of intense pure joy that flooded his being at that moment and locked it away. It was a good Patronus casting memory. He tried to save those when they happened. They were rare. Just for fun, Harry cast a few summoning charms at various objects around the office, laughing as the pillows and books obeyed his wand and landed at his feet. He laughed again at the still-shocked expression on Cassie's face and then, just for the hell of it, sent all the objects back, making sure nothing went back where it was supposed to. If he lived through the day, he would personally come back up here and fix it all. And he would love doing it. Hermione was clucking in disapproval at the mess Harry was making of the office. "Don't worry, Hermione! This is nothing. Dumbledore's used to me by now!" Harry sent the last colorful throw pillow up into a slot in the tall bookcase that lined a wall and sent the book that was supposed to go there over into an overstuffed chair. Then he made the book soft and fluffy and threw himself into the chair, stretching his legs out in front of him in utter abandon, thrilled at the pleasure he felt at the moment.

Ron was looking at him like he really had lost all his marbles, and Harry grinned at him, realizing he looked like a stupid fool, but not caring in the least. "I hate to interrupt your fun, Harry, but I think there's a war going on. Maybe we should check?" Harry instantly sobered. He had forgotten for a few minutes. The battle might be going on right now and he was sitting up here in the Headmaster's office throwing pillows around. He stood up and grabbed his cloak out of the pillowcase-cum-luggage. Cassie had been watching him with intense concentration the entire time, and Harry grinned triumphantly at her.

"Magic, Cass!" and then he threw the cloak over his head and he was gone. Her gasp echoed in the sudden stillness.

"Harry? Where are you?" There was a note of panic in her voice as she stared hard at the spot where he had been a second ago.

"I'm here, Cassie. Don't worry." His voice was over by the window, and she whirled as though expecting to see him, but of course, he was just as invisible there as he had been in the middle of the room.

"I can't believe that . . . It's . . .It's really amazing."

"It is, isn't it?" Hermione had come up next to her. "It still surprises me sometimes, and I've seen him disappear beneath it so many times that I couldn't count them."

"Well, Harry? What's going on out there?" Ron had no patience at the moment for games or small talk. He knew what they would be facing and the fear in his voice sobered Harry up quickly.

"Nothing. There's absolutely nothing going on out there at all. The school might as well be completely abandoned for all I can tell from here." Harry felt extremely nervous, now. What if he was wrong? What if somehow everything was messed up? For all they knew, the battle could have already happened. He trusted that Dumbledore knew what he was doing, but the situation could have changed drastically from the time he set up the portkey until now. Maybe things had not gone the way Dumbledore had expected. "I'm sure we're safe here in the office, but we need to figure out what's going on, and the sooner the better." Harry glanced at his two friends and realized that he was still wearing his Muggle clothing. "I'd better put my robes on. We may need to go out and scout. Um, are my things still up in Gryffindor Tower?"

"Harry . . ." Oh, no. Hermione was speaking in her prefect voice, the one that she used when she didn't want to call Harry stupid but wanted to make sure he did things that way she wanted him to.

"What?" He tried to keep his frustration in check. He wanted his robes.

"You can't go out there. It's too dangerous. Ron and I can go, but you can't."

"I can go out under the cloak." He wasn't about to sit here while they went into possible danger. "But I need my robes."

"Your trunk is here, but . . . ."

"Good." Harry looked around and saw it in a corner. He didn't know how he had managed to miss it earlier. He walked over to it and opened the lock with a quick "Alohamora." He opened the lid and smiled. He had missed his things. Yes, that probably sounded stupid, but as the familiar smell of his trunk -- books, parchment, quills and ink, the special smell of elf-washed laundry, and his Firebolt - hit his face, he felt instantly at home. He held his hand over the trunk and said "Up." His Firebolt instantly rose into his hand and he smiled even broader. He had perhaps missed flying worst of all.

"Show-off," Hermione said. They all laughed. Hermione had a well-known dislike of brooms and flying. And it had all started back at their very first flying lesson, when Harry had said "Up," and his school broom had flown into his hand. It had taken Hermione forever to get her broom to respond, and even then it was begrudgingly. She had taken it as a personal insult.

Harry set the Firebolt on the floor, and looked back into the trunk. His Quidditch robes were folded neatly under the broom. Normally, of course, the robes hung in the changing rooms by the pitch but during the off season, each player kept the robes with their own personal possessions. He fingered the rich scarlet material softly and then picked up the robes and shook them out.

Cassie had stepped over to the trunk when he opened it and now she smiled at the look on his face. "That's beautiful."

"Thanks. They're my Quidditch robes."

"Oh. That must be pretty impressive to see when you play." Harry nodded. He loved the Gryffindor colors the most - and he didn't think it was just prejudice on his part. The red was impressive when the whole team was out there playing.

Harry looked into the trunk again. His plain black school robes were folded neatly and he grabbed one off the top of the pile. "Who packed my trunk? I know it wasn't you, Ron. Everything would just be wadded up in here."

"Hey!" Harry smiled at his friend.

"I'm just joking."

"It was both of us, Harry. Dumbledore was going to have the elves do it, but we wanted to."

"Thanks, you did a good job." Harry swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. He slipped his arms into the sleeves and instantly felt more comfortable at the familiar feeling of his robes. "Hey, let's use the map! We can probably get a good idea of what is going on around the school just by seeing who is here and what they are doing." He started looking through the rest of the trunk. Before he could look far, he heard Ron stammer,

"Uh, Harry? Your map isn't in there."

"What? Where is it? Did someone take it?"

"Well, yeah. Me."

"Oh." Harry gulped. He didn't want to ask, but he had to. "Where is it now?"

Hermione glanced at Ron who stammered again. "I hope you won't be angry, I mean, we thought you were dead and . . . well, you wouldn't care would you?"

Harry was just anxious to know where his map was. "What are you on about, Ron?"

"When we were packing, we kept out a couple things that we thought would be better used than just sitting in your trunk. One was your map. It's upstairs in my trunk right now."

Harry was relieved at that news. "All right. What was the other thing?"

Ron rolled his eyes and this time, it was Hermione's turn to stammer and look embarrassed. "Well, it's . . . it's my fault. Ron thought I was silly, but Ginny liked it."

Harry felt his patience waning. "Will you just get on with it?"

"Well, we went through your things, folding everything, putting your books, robes and broom in. Ron decided to keep the map and then I saw that shirt." Harry's eyes narrowed, trying to remember what shirt she meant. Hermione could tell he was confused. "Remember the green shirt Mrs. Weasley made for you the last time you were at the Burrow?" Harry nodded. He remembered now. "Ginny really liked you in it. She told me once when you wore it. Well, I gave her the shirt to remind her of you. She really appreciated it. She, uh, sleeps in it at night. It's a girl thing, Harry."

Harry nodded and looked away. He felt his face going red. He didn't know if he was blushing because of the fact that Ginny slept in his shirt or because of the images he had of Ginny sleeping in his shirt. Either way, he figured he better focus his attention on something else. "Well, she probably looks better in it than I did. And that's fine. But we are going to need the map. Soon."

"Do you want me to go get it now?" Ron asked, glancing at the door.

"No. Let's come up with some ideas first of what we want to do. That way, when you go out, you can do some of the preliminary scouting. You can take the cloak, of course."

"I'm sorry, Harry."

"No. You did the right thing, Ron. After all, that map is . . . well, it was important to my dad and Sirius and . . . it shouldn't have just been sitting in a trunk. Besides, I would have wanted you to have it. Anyway, if Dumbledore eventually gave my stuff to the Dursleys, I bet they would have just burned the whole thing and then . . . well, you did the right thing. I'm not mad. We just need it for today, I think." They all stood quietly for a minute, each with their own thoughts. Finally, Harry broke the silence. "We need to do some battle planning." They all nodded and returned to the chairs. As there were only three and none of them felt comfortable sitting in Dumbledore's chair, Ron sat in one and pulled Hermione onto his lap. Cassie took the chair she had previously occupied and Harry sat in the other. Harry set the tone of the conversation.

"Okay, Hermione. You told me there are hardly any teachers left at Hogwarts. Most of the students are gone, except for the Slytherins and, of course, the DA. That means we have, what, maybe 30 or 35 people altogether to help us out?" Ron and Hermione nodded. It seemed so few people to defend this whole castle. Especially when the majority of that small force was students. "And, on top of that, we need to watch our backs because of the Slytherins. So, what can we do?"

Hermione and Ron looked at each other and then Ron spoke. "Well, we need to get the DA together. Maybe we can have them hide in places in the castle and then as they enter we can blast them."

Hermione shook her head. "No, it would be bad if they even got into the castle. Let's have the DA hide right inside the door and then go charging out and down the steps when they're coming up the lawn."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "I like the idea of the battle being out in the open ground where we can see them. I like Ron's idea of blasting them in a sudden movement. Maybe we can have everyone fire at once. So, should I go out right away? I mean, I guess I could kind of be in the front when we charge out of the castle. It might throw them off enough that we can get some good curses in before they can react."

Hermione looked engrossed in deep thought. Finally, "How about we go out of the castle and then you come after it's all started. That way, none of them are expecting you and then you'll really surprise them. Harry, you know that's the only way you can get Voldemort -- by surprise. The two of you can't duel with your wands."

Harry noticed Cassie had a bewildered look on her face from Hermione's last statement. She started to open her mouth to ask a question and then shut it again, obviously deciding to wait. Harry would have explained, but it would have taken a lot of time, and right now, that was one thing they didn't have a lot of.

Ron was nodding. "Yeah, Hermione's right. But, I think it might be better if you come from around the castle with some of the DA. You know, hit 'em from two different directions and surprise 'em at the same time."

Cassie broke into the conversation and all eyes turned to her. She blushed a little, hesitated for a moment and then plowed ahead. "Those are good ideas about surprising them and hitting them from different directions. But Harry, I don't think you should be on the ground." Harry immediately wondered if she didn't want him in the battle at all. He was about to disagree when Cassie continued on. "Hermione mentioned earlier that you're one of the best flyers Hogwarts has ever seen. You fought the dragon by flying. You should fight Voldemort the same way. He won't be expecting it and you can really surprise everyone."

All three of the others looked at Cassie in amazement and Harry's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I like that idea. Let them aim their curses at me. I'll be up where I can maneuver easily and weave and dive and all that."

Ron stood up suddenly, sending Hermione to the floor. He looked down with an embarrassed expression, helped her up and into the seat. "Sorry, Hermione. Look, Harry, if you're flying, I'm flying out with you." Hermione caught her breath and looked at Ron with a concerned expression. She then appeared to mentally harden herself, smiled at Ron and then looked at Harry.

"It's a good idea, Harry. And Ron should be with you."

"Are you sure? It's going to be dangerous."

"Harry," Ron spoke up, his face turning the color of his hair, "Whatever we do is going to be dangerous. But we've fought them before. We can do it again. I'm there with you."

"I know, Ron. I'd like that."

Cassie smiled at them, even though it was obvious she was scared for them. She got up from her chair, walked over to the trunk where the Quidditch robes were lying and picked them up. She turned to Harry.

"And Harry, you need to wear your Quidditch robes."

"What? No. I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"Well, this isn't a game, for one thing."

"When you go out to play though, you're willing to give everything you have to win, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I . . ."

"Well, this is a time when you have to go out and give it everything you've got again. Besides, maybe it will surprise them enough that it will help a little."

Harry looked at Ron. "What do you think?" Ron shrugged, but Hermione spoke up quickly.

"I like the idea. It's a little psychological dig at them anyway. You know how much they hate Gryffindor house."

"Well, all right. That's it, then. I'll do it."

"Well, if you are, I am." Ron sounded very determined, like he didn't want anyone to try to talk him out of it. Harry looked at Ron and smiled.

"Are your robes up in the tower?"

"With my broom, yeah."

The four of them talked for a few more minutes about exactly how this was going to work and then Harry said, "Ron, you need to get to the tower and get the stuff. You need the map, your broom . . . ."

"And my Quidditch robes.," Ron cut in.

"And your robes, of course. Then get back here as fast as you can. Don't talk to anyone and don't let anyone see you. Here, you can use my invisibility cloak." He handed the cloak to Ron who took it, turned and kissed Hermione, pulled the cloak over himself and left.

Cassie looked at the door Ron had exited for a few moments. She turned to Harry. "You should have told Ron to look for Ginny."

"What?"

"Ginny, Harry. You still need talk to her. You know you do."

Harry flushed a little. "I don't think this is the right time for me to be worrying about this."

"I think you're just procrastinating."

"Yeah, maybe. But I don't want to be thinking about this rather than the fight. I can't afford to be distracted." But despite his words, he was thinking about it. His stomach turned a little at the thought of Ginny being in what would undoubtedly be a very violent and horrible battle. He hoped that they both survived to the end of it so he could try to tell her again how he really felt about her. He knew she'd be there with the rest of the DA. In fact, with the three usual leaders out of the picture - at least in the minds of the rest of the group - she would logically be the next in line to lead. They had organized the DA with a long chain of command in case one, two, three, even four or five of the students were gone or put out of commission. That way, there would still be someone there to lead the others.

Harry and Hermione both sat nervously in the chairs they had been sitting in before. There wasn't much they could do, now, until Ron got back with his things. Harry hoped that he didn't get out into the corridors and decide that it was too dangerous to go up to the tower. Now that they had a plan, he wanted to follow it through. He really liked the idea of flying out and he didn't want to do it alone. He could, but he really didn't want to.

Cassie tried sitting for a few minutes, also, but kept looking around so much at the various things in the office, that Harry finally said, "You can get up and look around if you want to. He wouldn't mind."

She smiled shyly, as if embarrassed that he caught her looking, and stood up. The first place she went was to the tall bookshelves, studying several of the titles of the impressive books. Harry watched her as she pulled one out and opened it. "It's not in English." She put it back and looked at a few more before she moved around to look at some other things. She studied the little silver objects around the room with interest, but Harry didn't volunteer any information. He honestly didn't know what they were for, either. She looked at the various portraits as she walked by them and they all smiled at her. Harry didn't keep looking at her as she moved out of sight behind his chair. He was watching the door. He felt like it was time that Ron should be back from his errand and the fact that he wasn't was making him extremely nervous. After a few moments, though, he heard a startled gasp and both he and Hermione turned to see what she was looking at. She had noticed, in a corner, something that was rather hard to overlook, even though no one had really paid much attention before. It was Fawkes, sitting quietly on his perch. Harry wasn't sure the bird had been there the whole time.

"That's Fawkes. He's a Phoenix."

"He's beautiful. I always thought Phoenixes were just a myth. Does he really burn and then rise from the ashes?" She was staring entranced at the amazing plumage. Harry remembered the first time he had seen Fawkes. He had been less than impressed and then the bird had burst into flame right in front of his eyes and practically scared him to death.

"Yes, he does. Be grateful you're not seeing him on burning day. He's really homely then." There was a squawk of protest from Fawkes and Harry quickly added. "But he's really incredible. He's saved my life many times." Harry fingered his wand. It was one of Fawkes' tail feathers that was the core of his wand, also, but he didn't want to bring that up. Cassie had reached a trembling hand up to the bird, who nibbled obligingly at her fingers. Just then, Ron appeared at the doorway to the office. He was holding his broom in his hand and his robes and the cloak were draped over his arm. He looked flushed and a little agitated.

"I know you told me not to tell anyone, and I didn't tell her anything other than to get her broom and Quidditch robes. But, I thought she might . . . Well, anyway, I brought Ginny back with me."