Chapter 14

Once he reached the common room he looked to make sure there was no one watching him. He pulled out a piece of parchment and started writing the letter.

Father,

I heard Dumbledore talking to Potter and Pansy. I think Potter had a vision of some kind. He saw one of your meetings and he knows that the Dark Lord is planning to attack the school in June. I thought I should warn you.

Draco

Once he was finished he went straight to the owlry to send it. Quite pleased with himself he returned to the common room.

The next few days went by rather quickly for Harry. He constantly had to go to the hospital wing to get some cooling potion to put on his scar which kept burning more than usual. He also kept getting called out of class to go to Dumbledore's office. They wouldn't tell the professors why. The only teachers who knew why were McGonagall and Snape. The truth was that they were holding secret Order meetings and they needed Harry there to tell them exactly what he heard. He would always have to leave directly after this, but from what he could gather, they were discussing two things: how they could formulate a defense against dementors and giants, and him. It was clear that Dumbledore had told the others what had happened that day in the hospital room. Harry saw the way that they looked at him, with slight apprehension and fear. However, he could not allow himself to get angry. Dumbledore had explained to him that his anger might have strengthened the connection between himself and the Dark Lord, which is what allowed him to become possessed.

It was a few days after the incident that Harry finally decided to tell Ron and Hermione what he had heard. He figured that since their lives were in danger also, the deserved to know. After all, he didn't want anything bad to happen to them even if he was angry at them. The conversation had gone exactly how he thought it would. Ron completely freaked out and Hermione remarked "Oh, Harry!" before apologizing for everything and hugging him until he thought he wouldn't be able to breathe. But at least, now they knew.

Pansy's days went by a little slower. The weight of being a target of the Dark Lord's was visibly stressing her. Harry tried his best to comfort her but what could he say? He couldn't tell her that everything would be alright because what if it wasn't. What if they all died? What if Harry wasn't able to vanquish the Dark Lord and the entire wizarding world was wiped out. These were just a few of the worries on Harry, Pansy, Ron, and Hermione's minds.

There was, however, another person who also walked around differently. Draco was acting very smug these days. And it all started after he received a letter one morning.

He had anxiously been awaiting the reply from his father even since he had sent him the warning. When it finally came he made sure no one else could read it. It was a very short note and only read: You will be repaid for your loyalties, son. Unfortunately, for Draco, he wasn't very good in coming up with a way to destroy this letter. One night in the common room, Pansy was sitting on the couch reading and Draco came to join her. He had the parchment in his hands and he pulled out his wand. He opened it up and said incendio. This caused the parchment to immediately catch fire. Before it was burned to the crisp, Pansy was able to see what the note said. When she let out a gasp and Draco looked at her, she told him she had a stomach ache and was going to the nurse. In reality, she went straight to Dumbledore's office and told him. This put an extremely heavy load on his shoulders. When was Voldemort going to attack now?

The day after Pansy had delivered her message to the headmaster, he decided it was time to warn the staff. He called a staff meeting one day while all of the students where eating dinner in the Great Hall. One by one the students saw their teachers disappearing to a chamber that was connected to the hall. Only three Gryffindors and two Slytherins could guess why.

"He's going to tell them," said Hermione in a whisper.

"Yup," was all Harry could say in return.

*In the chamber*

"It is my unfortunate duty to tell you all grave news. Lord Voldemort is planning to attack Hogwarts." With this said Professor Flitwick gave a small squeak of horror and fell off his chair. All the other professors while looking just as shocked said nothing but listened intently. "He has allied himself with the dementors and the giants. He also has a few hundred death eaters supporting him. Now you might ask yourselves why I do not simply evacuate the school. My answer is only this: Voldemort wants Harry dead and this school destroyed. And if he can kill our students while doing it, he will. Therefore, simply shipping the students off on the next train home will not cut it. Voldemort could attack the train just as simply as he could attack the school, but at least the school is our territory. I have a few ideas that will help us, but I need to know if you are all willing to fight for our school when it is obvious that some will perish."

Dumbledore looked around the room and saw only nods of agreement so he continued. "We must try to find all the help that we can get. I propose that we try and get the centaurs on our side. I know that they are a very proud race of creatures, but I believe that if we can explain to them what would happen if Voldemort should win this battle, they will agree to help, if not for us then for themselves. They view the forest as their own and they would not let anyone do any harm to it." Again he received nods of agreement. "What I am about to ask of you is very serious. I need for each of you to contact your friends, family, and anyone that you trust who will be a help to our cause. We need more wizards. I know that many people will not be willing to fight, which is why I ask you to fully explain to them the risk if they decide to help. Now, we need to get the students prepared." With this statement some of the professors shifted uncomfortably in their seats. "It is obvious that the smallest children should not be told what is happening. When the attack comes they will be hidden safely in their common rooms. Then we will magically seal the portraits locked so that no one may enter, and we shall also put a silencing spell on the rooms so that they will not hear what is happening and be tempted to help. The only problem is, how to get the students into the common rooms at the right times. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

Professor McGonagall was the first to speak. "Perhaps we can make a challenge out of it. We can tell them that the house who returns to their common rooms the quickest will get some kind of reward," she suggested.

Then Professor Vector, the arithmancy teacher spoke up. "Yes, we could have a certain sound that signals when they are to go to their rooms. They'll simply think it's a game."

"That is a good idea," said Dumbledore. "Now the only thing we need to decide, which will not be simple, is…who will fight?" Dumbledore mentioned no students, but everyone knew that's what he was talking about. No one wanted to speak. Everyone felt as thought choosing the students would be like sealing their fate. Only Snape was the bravest to say what they were all reluctantly thinking. "Headmaster, I think we all know who should fight. The problem is how young, is too young. I for one think that anyone in fifth year and above should be more than capable of learning to defend themselves in any situation."

p"Sadly, Severus I agree. Does anyone disagree?" When no one responded he continued, "Well then it is settled. We will need to tell the younger students about our challenge for them. Once they have gone, we will tell the older students that all classes here on out shall be devoted to self defense. I have a list of things that should be taught in each class that I will give you in a moment. Does anyone have any questions or comments," Dumbledore finished.

Only one whisper was heard, "Merlin be with us."

Dumbledore nodded solemnly then with a flick of his wand a stack of parchment appeared in his hands. He handed one to each professor who intently looked it over. McGonagall saw that her main job was teaching the students how to transfigure large, live animals into smaller, harmless ones. Flitwick was in charge of teaching them charms that would make inanimate objects come to life and be able to protect them, much like how Dumbledore made the fountain come to life in the ministry of magic. Snape looked at his list, if you could call it a list because there was only one thing on it: invisibility potion. This made him rather upset. Why was he only given one thing? He didn't realize that his one item was more important than any of the other lists combined.

"Headmaster, I couldn't help but notice that there is only one thing on my list."

"Ah, yes Severus. Alas, it may be only one, but it is by far the most important." At this statement, everyone had stopped looking at their lists to listen. "I did not tell you all this part of my plan in case it was not possible. But, it was my hope that Severus, along with his students, would be able to make enough invisibility potion for all those who are to fight. It may be the only way for us to come out of this fight victorious. I am aware that it is a difficult potion that you usually only make with your N.E.W.T. level class, but I am asking you to also make it with your other students. We need enough for everyone. Do you understand the importance of this?"

"Of course headmaster."

At that moment Harry came charging into the room, sending poor Flitwick right off of his chair again.

As soon as he recovered his breath he was able to speak. "Professor, I know who can help us fight the giants!" he said.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at him. "Well," he asked gently.

"I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I only just remembered when Hermione mentioned she hasn't seen Hagrid in a while."

"Mr. Potter, would you kindly get to the point," Snape said becoming impatient.

"Grawp!"