Birthday Surprises Chapter 73
Usual disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue. Please. Wish it were mine though. Ah, if only… Lolly, xxx.
I know, I know. Sorry for the loooong wait for this chapter, but school work and exams and such got in the way. The good news is that this story is now officially complete at seventy-six chapters long. So hopefully the last few chapters will follow shortly. Well, enjoy…
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Harry looked around at the assembled group, his smile still playing at his lips. "Well it seems as if Voldemort has finally decided to come and join the occasion." He said, his voice ringing clearly in the silence. Everyone else, Light and Dark, gulped. Each knowing that at the end of this, there would be one person left standing. It would be over once and for all.
***
Ginny and the few who had elected to stay behind at Hogwarts, watched the entire thing unfold. By this point, Leah and her brothers had figured out that something was definitely wrong, and were restless. Leah was the worst of the three, being a daddy's girl, and stubbornly refused to do anything but whimper. "Can't you shut her up?" Someone asked despairingly.
"Oh yes, because it's that easy." Ginny replied. "She missed her daddy. He's never left them for this long before."
"Is there nothing we can do?"
"At the moment, all we can do is try a tranquillising charm – just a mild one, mind."
"Are you sure it won't harm her?"
"No, mum used to use them on Fred and George all the time when they were babies. Anyway, it's for her own good. If she doesn't stop, she's going to exhaust herself and end up getting ill."
"Right."
***
In the moments after Harry's announcement, there was utter silence. No one moved, no one spoke, no one dared to breath too loudly, lest something happen right then and there. It was during this silence that Harry's head snapped up once again. No one knew what he was listening for. Not even the Deatheaters knew what kind of a plan their master had up his sleeve. "What's happening, Harry?" Ron asked quietly. Harry remained silent for a moment before nodding sharply.
"Get ready to face hell on Earth, guys. The Dementors are coming – en masse." Harry said calmly. Even the deatheaters gulped – no sane human would welcome a Dementor.
"How far away?" The headmaster asked, wondering why Harry knew of the impending attack without anyone else being able to feel the presence.
"Five, possibly ten minutes away." Harry replied after a moment of thought.
"How do you know?" Parvati asked curiously.
"You know Harry, that's a fair question." Hermione said.
"It's amazing what you can learn without anyone knowing about it." Harry replied with a smirk. "And it's quite amazing how easy it is to hide certain…abilities, even from your closest friends, especially when your life may depend on it."
"I'm not sure I like the sound of that." Snape said sourly. Harry ignored him completely, concentrating again.
"They're approximately twenty miles from here. They're going to get here quickly. Do try and stay calm. You all know how to create a Patronus, but I meant what I said in fifth year – there's a world of difference between casting a Patronus in a nice cosy classroom and when you're facing a group of around seventy Dementors. Just concentrate on happy thoughts." Harry said.
"Seventy Dementors twenty miles away. Right. Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting." A female Deatheater sneered. Harry turned to her, a small smile playing across his face.
"Didn't it just. You might want to hope that the Dementors remember who their allies are, and not just go on a feeding spree." His words created a few soft gasps of terror from within the ranks of the Deatheaters, and Harry could imagine each one of them paling beneath their masks. "Then again, probably better to suffer the Dementors Kiss than face your master's wrath when he finds out that you've been standing here for – oh, twenty minutes at least – and you haven't managed to so much as scratch either me or my friends." The Deatheaters all shuffled nervously, and Harry smirked. Where did Voldemort get these idiots, he wondered.
***
Voldemort let a smile curve at his slit-like mouth. At least, as much of a smile as he could achieve. Had any of his loyal, or not so loyal, servants been around, they would be cowering from such a terrible sight. As it was, he was alone. He had told no one of his plans, sending every Deatheater to Hogsmeade. It was all a hoax. And the Great Harry Potter had fallen for it, leaving his three children and the rest of Hogwarts almost completely unprotected. The fool. He lifted his wand and apparated to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
***
Harry and the others were casting patroni when he began to feel a sickly apprehension. He let loose a string of curses that would make Fred and George proud. "Can we wrap this up, please?" He growled to the rest of his friends and allies.
"Why, what's going on?" Hermione asked in fear.
"You really don't want to know." Harry promised. "I have to go – get back to Hogwarts as soon as you can, ok?"
"Sure." Ron nodded. There was the sound of crystal shattering as Harry disappeared.
"Come on, let's get this over and done with." Ron said. He noticed that on the ground, where Harry had disappeared, there was a small patch of blood.
***
Harry appeared in the Room of Requirement, relieved to see that both Ginny and the triplets were fine. The members of the DA who were still there, looked up in shock. "Is it over?" One person asked.
"Far from it." Harry replied. "Gin, listen to me – you can scream and shout all you want later, but for now, you have to listen." Ginny nodded hesitantly. "Right, Voldemort is here – I'll give you three guesses what he's here for."
"Oh no." Ginny said, looking scared. "No. He's supposed to be going to Hogsmeade – that's where all his Deatheaters are – that's where you and Dumbledore were…oh." Ginny's eyes widened as she realised that it had all been a hoax.
"Exactly. It was a trick. He's…in the Forbidden Forest. He doesn't know I'm here, so he's in for one hell of a surprise."
"You've got a plan." Ginny said shrewdly. Harry smiled weakly and nodded.
"Time to see just how idiotic Tom is."
"This should be interesting. Where's my part in this?"
"Well, here's what's we're gonna do…" Harry began explaining the plan in detail, as Ginny listened, along with the remaining DA members.
***
The Aurors had arrived just as Harry disappeared, looking rather shocked at the assortment of people that stood face-to-face with the Deatheaters. Some didn't look much older than sixteen or seventeen. The one person that they had expected though, was not there. "Who would've thought that Potter would leave it to those who know better?" One of them drawled.
"Know better? You think you know better?" Hermione asked coolly.
"I would say that years worth of training would qualify us to know more than a kid."
"A kid? That 'kid' has probably been through more than you will ever have to – not to mention that he too has had years of training – only his life depended on it. Now, are you going to do something useful for once in your lives?"
"How dare you –"
"Hello? Has anyone noticed the rather large semblance of Deatheaters around? Don't you perhaps think that we should work together to stop them?" As if on cue, several hundred curses were flung from the direction of the Deatheaters. "At least Harry helped get rid of the Dementors before vanishing."
"Ha! What do you think of your precious hero now? He just abandoned you all!" A Deatheater crowed.
"He's probably off doing the world a favour and getting rid of that monster that you all bow to." Ron said with a malevolent grin.
"The Dark Lord will wipe the floor with Harry Potter!"
"A Muggle term? My, my, and here I was thinking that you wanted to kill them all." Hermione said, ducking a curse.
"Hey, anyone miss me?" Harry asked, appearing with a grin.
"Harry! Where did you go? What happened?"
"Voldemort trying to be smart happened. Anyway, I just came here for a few minutes – he's in the Forbidden Forest, if you were interested."
"He's at Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes wide with horror.
"Yeah – but don't worry, everything's under control." Harry gave his grandfather a cheeky grin. "I promise you that Voldemort won't know what hit him."
"Sorta makes you glad that we're not his enemies, doesn't it?" Ron muttered to Remus.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Ron." He turned to where the Deatheaters were still throwing curses about like there was no tomorrow – then again, for them, there might not be. "Are you lot still here? Merlin, apparently Voldemort doesn't teach you when to give up. Here, let me help you." He lifted a hand and the front row of Deatheaters stopped in their tracks, looks of pure fear on their faces. He did the same to the second row, and the third, and the fourth, until every Deatheater was frozen. Calmly, Harry walked straight to the back of the pack, a look of pure disgust on his face. "Remus, catch!" He said, tossing a large block of crystal in the air. Remus frowned, but caught it anyway. He nearly dropped it as he saw that it encased a rat – a rat with one silver paw. "Now, don't have too much fun, will you?" Harry smirked dangerously.
"Wormtail." Remus growled, tossing the crystal into the air and catching it again. "This will be fun." He grinned wolfishly, slipping the crystal into his pocket.
"What did you do to them?" One of the Aurors asked fearfully.
"Nothing that they didn't deserve. They're…how do I put this? In suspended animation."
"They're not dead?"
"Don't be ridiculous. That's Voldemort's style, not mine. Their hearts and major organs have been encased in crystal – just like dear Wormtail over there." He spat the name like it was poison, and anyone that knew the story of the betrayal of his parents knew exactly why.
"Crystal? You conjured crystal?"
"No, I made it – built in inside them."
"Like you did with the tunnel?"
"Yeah – it's slightly more complex in people, but the same sort of idea. Probably excruciatingly painful for them. Well, for a moment at least. No keys this time – I'll take the crystal away when they're in custody." Harry coughed and spat some blood out onto the ground. "I'd better go. Oh, and Granddad? Portkey back to the Great Hall and keep all of the students in there. Lock the doors too. Read this out when everyone's inside. Ginny and I won't be there." He handed the older man a scroll of parchment.
"What's Ginny got to do with this?" Ron asked suddenly.
"Trust me Ron, she'll be fine." Harry told him solemnly before disappearing again, once again leaving a little blood on the ground. As they watched, the blood seeped into the ground.
"Er…I guess we'll be heading back to Hogwarts then." Parvati said, eyeing the Deatheaters nervously. "Someone remind me never to get on the wrong side of Harry."
"Tell me about it." Snape muttered, looking horrified.
"Let's go – I trust the Aurors can deal with the rest of this?"
"Yeah."
***
In the Great Hall, everyone was shifting about nervously. There were more than a few people missing. There was a scream of terror as a group of people appeared in the middle of the Great Hall. The people looked like the headmaster and some of the missing pupils, but each of the students that remained had heard horror stories about Polyjuice, and were, perhaps rightly, wary of anyone that had gone missing for more than a few minutes.
"Minerva, if you would kindly test us for Polyjuice and the Imperious Curse?"
"Very well."
***
Harry returned to the Room of Requirement to find that Ginny had returned, and was now looking nervous. "Are you sure this will work?"
"Almost perfectly sure. Come on, it'll be fine."
"You know, I thought you'd be trying to do this alone."
"I am – well, most of it. But you do have as much right to protect the triplets as I do."
"Too right. Now, what do we do now?"
"Wait, I guess. Oh, and hope that Voldemort finds his way here all right."
"If he actually falls for this, he's way too stupid."
"Not stupid as such – well, he is stupid, but mostly it's because he's too self-assured. He believes too much in his own plans, and is too foolish to acknowledge his own mistakes."
"I hope you're right." Ginny said. Harry smiled but didn't reply.
***
Voldemort smiled as he crept, invisible, out of the Forest. He smirked to himself, seeing the lights in the Great Hall bright in the surrounding dusk. So innocent, he thought hungrily. So young and happy. Not for long, he promised himself. Just as soon as he had killed those Potter brats, he would go and steal the innocence from those young and careless faces. They'd soon know the wrath of Lord Voldemort. They would scream for mercy before the night was out.
***
Satisfied that they were who they said they were, the students relaxed as the headmaster took charge. "The Deatheaters that attacked Hogsmeade have been…apprehended." There were wild cheers from everyone but a few Gryffindors who, noticing Harry and Ginny's absence, knew that something wasn't quite right. "Voldemort, however, is another matter entirely. We have reason to believe that he may be on the school grounds." As panicked whispers raged around the room, Dumbledore pulled the scroll of parchment that Harry had given him from his pocket. His eyes grew impossibly large as he read it over and read it again, just to make sure that he had read it right in the first place. "Harry Potter, earth elemental, orders the wards to come into action, via permission from the headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore." Despite his low volume, the whole hall seemed to have heard his words, and silence reigned as they sunk in. Suddenly the lights plunged out, and there was the sound of grinding from outside the door. Many people screamed in terror. Suddenly light flared in the hall, reflecting off large crystal formations that covered the windows and filled the cracks between the doors and the walls.
"Wow." Everyone seemed to breath in unison. Hermione and Ron shared a smile – it was very plainly Harry's work. Several people left their seats to go and inspect the formations, including the headmaster.
"This is incredible." He said, touching the crystal. Light flared within it, and Harry's face appeared.
"You did it then." He said, smiling.
"You're an earth elemental?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yeah – I told you granddad, it's amazing what you can hide when needs be."
"What are you planning?"
"Oh, just a little welcoming party. Don't worry, it's all planned out and arranged."
"That's what worries me. Is there anything else you've been hiding from us?"
"Erm…well, now that you ask…yes. But we can go into that when there aren't quite so many eager listeners around."
"Is Ginny with you?" Ron demanded. Harry rolled his eyes and stepped out of their line of vision. Ginny's face appeared in the crystal, looking mildly peeved.
"Yes Ron? What can I do for you?"
"Harry! What do you think you're doing?! That's my little sister!" Ron bellowed. Harry came back into view, looking as if he had known this was coming.
"Really, Ron? Can't say I'd noticed. Of course she's your sister! Merlin, do I really look that stupid?" Ron was beet red now, and looked about to explode.
"If you get my sister hurt in absolutely any way, I will kill you."
"Honestly Ron, you're scaring the first years. Ginny will be fine. I'm a little put out that no one has thought to ask about the kids, but who am I to complain?" Harry said. Dumbledore looked almost amazed.
"You've really thought this through, haven't you?" Harry snorted at the surprise in his Grandfather's voice.
"Granddad, you seriously underestimate me sometimes. Of course I've thought this through. Hence the reason that there were already wards set up around the Great Hall, and various other places in the school."
"Like the tunnel." Hermione nodded.
"Indeed. There were keys to that ward though – there are no keys to any of the others. Well, that's a lie, I suppose. There is one other ward that your keys will open, but as you have no idea where that room is, I don't think it counts. So basically, you all have to stay in there until I give the word to release the wards – which will only happen once Voldemort's gone." Harry paused for a moment before adding an afterthought. "Oh, if I happen to die, which would be most unfortunate, the wards will answer to you, Granddad, but they under no circumstances will they release you before such times."
"If you die? If you die?! Harry Potter, if you so much as think about dying at the hands of that monster, I will personally throttle you." Came Ginny's voice.
"Ah, damn. Good god, Gin. Get off! Ginny Weasley!" Harry's voice boomed out loudly, making a few people snigger and wonder what was going on off screen.
"Damn girl's gonna end up maiming me." He said. He turned to Ron, who looked torn between horror and disgust at some of the rumours that were going around the hall. "And you're worried about her getting hurt? If Voldie had any sense, he'd take one look at her and run away screaming."
"Hey, I resent that comment, Mr Potter." Ginny said.
"Why? It's a compliment. I think. Anyway, it doesn't really matter as Voldie obviously doesn't have any sense."
"Harry, where are the children, just out of curiosity?"
"Right here." Harry said. "In a manner of speaking."
"In a manner of speaking?"
"That's what I said. Oww, Gin, be careful. That is bloody painful."
"What is going on in there?" Minerva demanded. Harry grinned, looking not in the least bit remorseful.
"You really don't want to know, Professor. I don't think I want to know. Ginny!"
"What? If you'd stop wriggling!"
"If you hadn't lost the plot in the first place!"
"That was your fault too."
"I'm sure it was." Harry said dryly. "Ron, your sister is vicious."
"I know." Ron agreed. "What did she do to you?"
"Long story." Harry grimaced. "Ginny, ok. It's fine. Really. Get OFF!!"
"Goodness, you're grumpy today Harry." Hermione grinned. Harry raised an eyebrow as if to say 'you don't say', but before he could answer, his face grew serious.
"Our guest is almost here." He said. Immediately, everyone in the room grew quiet and solemn. "Right, I'm off." He said.
"What? Harry, you can't just cut the connection – how will we know what's going on?"
"You won't. Come on guys, you really thought I'd be letting you all watch me fight Voldemort? I don't think so, somehow. Oh, and Malfoy – if you try anything at all, my wards will not treat you kindly. They don't seem to like Deatheaters." Harry's face flickered and died, thought the crystal remained glowing softly white. The hall was silent.
***
Voldemort snickered as he came across a piece of parchment posted on the notice board – it was for that ridiculous club that the eldest Potter brat had set up – Dumbledore's Army, he had called it. He tore the notice from the wall, grinning as he saw directions to the room. These idiots were obviously exceedingly careless, he thought with a feral grin. Had he been a little less arrogant, he may have decided that it was a little too careless to be entirely accidental. As it was, he followed the instructions and came to a small, nondescript door. Raising a hand, he knocked politely.
