The three of them set off at a run, down towards the Great Hall. They got to the last staircase leading from the first floor to the ground floor, right next to the Hogwarts main doors and the doors into the Great Hall, and carnage met their eyes. The front doors had been smashed inwards brutally by some great beast. A never-ending stream of creatures was fighting savagely with a protective ring of wizards standing around the doors, who were hardly ever pausing to draw breath between their cursing. All of the wizards were teachers and prefects. Several of the wizards were dead, but they seemed to be giving an excellent account of themselves judging by the far larger body pile of the creatures just inside the main doors. Harry recognised one of the wizards as Dumbledore. It took so long to recognise him because he looked so radically different now, a fire in his eye, fiercely barking orders and striking down creature after creature with vengeful magic. Harry then noticed what the others didn't; along the corridor encircling the Great Hall a troop of Blast-Ended Skrewts skittered along behind the wizards' peripheral vision, trying and succeeding in sneaking up on the wizards.
He had to save the wizards, which meant cursing the Skrewts. As he discovered in the maze in his fourth year, they could not be cursed directly because of their magical exoskeletons. So he chose to Transfigure a section of floor in front of them into quicksand. Surprising himself, he managed it. A long patch of the floor became quicksand. One of the Skrewts stepped onto the quicksand, and, because of its large weight and the high pressure on its spindly legs, it sank very quickly. The Skrewts behind it paused. Then a black-robed figure behind them took out a wand and transfigured the ground back. The figure looked up, and light glinted off the figure's silver mask.
Flashback to his fourth year, in that fateful graveyard where Voldemort was returned to power, black-robed silver-masked wizards jeered as Harry took cover from Voldemort's curses behind a tombstone.
Death Eaters?!...
Harry had several gifts, one of which was instinctively keeping part of his mind clear in combat. So while most of his brain was blowing fuses from terror and stress, part of his brain ordered his wand arm to steady itself on the banister, and then ordered his mouth to speak the words of an offensive spell. The spell lanced out from his wand and fizzled towards the Death Eater, who saw it and dodged it. The Death Eater then let off a curse of his own, a far more potent Dark Arts curse. It was aimed badly and merely knocked a chunk out of the stairway. Harry repeated his curse. One of the Skrewts blasted into its path, knocking it straight backwards towards Harry, who ducked it. Then the Skrewts ganged up on the protective ring of wizards, who only just noticed them, resulting in the instantaneous slaughter of many of them. The ring quickly retreated into the Great Hall, firing off specialised curses designed to bounce off the floor and hit the Skrewts underneath their armour.
Suddenly the battle inside the main doors was lost and magical creatures were pouring into the school. Some of them charged up each of the two main staircases, right at Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"RUN!" Ron bellowed, and nobody needed any more prompting, they charged back up the few stairs they'd descended, a couple of arrows hissing past, and sprinted off down the corridor. The bestial and tribal growls and screeches which emanated from behind spurred them on. The trio turned down the first corridor they came to and hurtled onwards. They turned down several more paths before Hermione paid attention to where they were going.
"Hey!" Ron shouted at two second-years ahead. "The Forbidden Forest just launched all its creatures at Hogwarts! For God's sake, hide!"
"What's the new password?" one of them asked his friend.
"Veritaserum." the other replied. "Professor Snape chose it personally."
"Where are we going?" Hermione demanded. "What can we do?"
"We need to hole up and wait." Harry answered, the answer suddenly leaping to mind. "Hopefully Dumbledore and the other teachers can hold the creatures out until the Ministry arrives. We should be some of the only students outside of the Great Hall, so all we need to do is get somewhere secure."
"Gryffindor common-room?" Ron suggested.
"Good idea." Harry approved. "If Sirius couldn't get into it without the password, neither will the creatures. Nor the Death Eaters."
"WHAT?" Ron yelled. "Death Eaters?"
"I saw one in the corridor off the Great Hall." Harry said. "Silver masks and black cloaks? Either Death Eaters or people pretending to be Death Eaters."
They turned the next corner and ran up a staircase. Halfway along it, suddenly an imp came around the corner at the top of the stairs. It cackled. Harry didn't even think; he knew how dangerous they were, and how resistant to low-level spells, so in one slashing movement of his wand he howled, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" There was a blinding flash of green light, and the imp flopped to the floor. Six other imps ran from around the corner.
Umbridge then came out of her office. "What is all this racket, Potter?" she smiled widely, not even noticing the deadly thugs just on her left because she was so intent on punishing Harry for using a spell in the corridor. One of the imps cast a minor spell, which caused a great split to appear in the side of Umbridge's head. Dark blood pumped out thickly. She whimpered and dropped. Another few imps came in behind the others.
"No chance we're going this way!" shouted Ron, rebounding down the steps. Harry and Hermione followed, after each performing another killing curse on an imp and blocking a couple of spells each. But because of their delay, the mob of creatures behind was catching up. Thinking far more quickly than usual, when Ron saw a huge impatient procession of things coming down a very thin hallway, Ron fired off an Impediment Jinx at the one in front. It hit its target, an imposing troll, which immediately slowed down to super-slo-mo. Even the frothing spittle from its disgusting mouth was slowed down as it charged towards them in a bloodthirsty rage at the speed of a tortoise, stopping all the creatures behind it from passing. Ron grinned and ran on, Harry and Hermione at his heels. Looking backwards, Harry noticed one of the imps cast a spell at them. Harry used the Shield charm to rebound it while still running. The imp dodged its own spell and it struck a centaur. Harry didn't see what it did to the centaur because then they rounded another corner, with the Fat Lady's portrait at the far end.
The trio saw a griffin at the end of the corridor. They raised their wands but did nothing. Two more griffins came out of a classroom door ahead. Harry, Ron and Hermione performed curses together, and a multicoloured cloud of sparks zoomed down the corridor. The griffins dodged the curses, formed up, and charged. The trio cursed freely and continuously. The griffins dodged well but not well enough, the three were taken down by the merciless barrage. Then no less than a dozen harpies flew in through the window next to the Fat Lady, as well as four Thestrals.
"What are they?" Hermione cried, revolted.
"Thestrals." Harry said, understanding at once that this was the first time she'd ever seen them, as she'd only just recently seen death. The trio took a side hallway to avoid the flying horrors. "Where can we go now?" Harry panted.
"We should maybe try and find another common room." Hermione offered.
Suddenly a massive Hydra stomped into sight at the end of the hallway.
"OH MY GOD!" Hermione screamed, terrified.
"In here!" Harry ordered, pointing to the Teleporting Trunk which sat by the wall innocently. "It goes straight down to the dungeons, but it's better than either of the other two paths!"
The three friends quickly crammed into the Trunk with difficulty. There was a jarring noise and the ambient noise changed very quickly from a Hydra's roar and centaurs' hooves to cold wind, marching creatures and children's screams.
He had to save the wizards, which meant cursing the Skrewts. As he discovered in the maze in his fourth year, they could not be cursed directly because of their magical exoskeletons. So he chose to Transfigure a section of floor in front of them into quicksand. Surprising himself, he managed it. A long patch of the floor became quicksand. One of the Skrewts stepped onto the quicksand, and, because of its large weight and the high pressure on its spindly legs, it sank very quickly. The Skrewts behind it paused. Then a black-robed figure behind them took out a wand and transfigured the ground back. The figure looked up, and light glinted off the figure's silver mask.
Flashback to his fourth year, in that fateful graveyard where Voldemort was returned to power, black-robed silver-masked wizards jeered as Harry took cover from Voldemort's curses behind a tombstone.
Death Eaters?!...
Harry had several gifts, one of which was instinctively keeping part of his mind clear in combat. So while most of his brain was blowing fuses from terror and stress, part of his brain ordered his wand arm to steady itself on the banister, and then ordered his mouth to speak the words of an offensive spell. The spell lanced out from his wand and fizzled towards the Death Eater, who saw it and dodged it. The Death Eater then let off a curse of his own, a far more potent Dark Arts curse. It was aimed badly and merely knocked a chunk out of the stairway. Harry repeated his curse. One of the Skrewts blasted into its path, knocking it straight backwards towards Harry, who ducked it. Then the Skrewts ganged up on the protective ring of wizards, who only just noticed them, resulting in the instantaneous slaughter of many of them. The ring quickly retreated into the Great Hall, firing off specialised curses designed to bounce off the floor and hit the Skrewts underneath their armour.
Suddenly the battle inside the main doors was lost and magical creatures were pouring into the school. Some of them charged up each of the two main staircases, right at Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"RUN!" Ron bellowed, and nobody needed any more prompting, they charged back up the few stairs they'd descended, a couple of arrows hissing past, and sprinted off down the corridor. The bestial and tribal growls and screeches which emanated from behind spurred them on. The trio turned down the first corridor they came to and hurtled onwards. They turned down several more paths before Hermione paid attention to where they were going.
"Hey!" Ron shouted at two second-years ahead. "The Forbidden Forest just launched all its creatures at Hogwarts! For God's sake, hide!"
"What's the new password?" one of them asked his friend.
"Veritaserum." the other replied. "Professor Snape chose it personally."
"Where are we going?" Hermione demanded. "What can we do?"
"We need to hole up and wait." Harry answered, the answer suddenly leaping to mind. "Hopefully Dumbledore and the other teachers can hold the creatures out until the Ministry arrives. We should be some of the only students outside of the Great Hall, so all we need to do is get somewhere secure."
"Gryffindor common-room?" Ron suggested.
"Good idea." Harry approved. "If Sirius couldn't get into it without the password, neither will the creatures. Nor the Death Eaters."
"WHAT?" Ron yelled. "Death Eaters?"
"I saw one in the corridor off the Great Hall." Harry said. "Silver masks and black cloaks? Either Death Eaters or people pretending to be Death Eaters."
They turned the next corner and ran up a staircase. Halfway along it, suddenly an imp came around the corner at the top of the stairs. It cackled. Harry didn't even think; he knew how dangerous they were, and how resistant to low-level spells, so in one slashing movement of his wand he howled, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" There was a blinding flash of green light, and the imp flopped to the floor. Six other imps ran from around the corner.
Umbridge then came out of her office. "What is all this racket, Potter?" she smiled widely, not even noticing the deadly thugs just on her left because she was so intent on punishing Harry for using a spell in the corridor. One of the imps cast a minor spell, which caused a great split to appear in the side of Umbridge's head. Dark blood pumped out thickly. She whimpered and dropped. Another few imps came in behind the others.
"No chance we're going this way!" shouted Ron, rebounding down the steps. Harry and Hermione followed, after each performing another killing curse on an imp and blocking a couple of spells each. But because of their delay, the mob of creatures behind was catching up. Thinking far more quickly than usual, when Ron saw a huge impatient procession of things coming down a very thin hallway, Ron fired off an Impediment Jinx at the one in front. It hit its target, an imposing troll, which immediately slowed down to super-slo-mo. Even the frothing spittle from its disgusting mouth was slowed down as it charged towards them in a bloodthirsty rage at the speed of a tortoise, stopping all the creatures behind it from passing. Ron grinned and ran on, Harry and Hermione at his heels. Looking backwards, Harry noticed one of the imps cast a spell at them. Harry used the Shield charm to rebound it while still running. The imp dodged its own spell and it struck a centaur. Harry didn't see what it did to the centaur because then they rounded another corner, with the Fat Lady's portrait at the far end.
The trio saw a griffin at the end of the corridor. They raised their wands but did nothing. Two more griffins came out of a classroom door ahead. Harry, Ron and Hermione performed curses together, and a multicoloured cloud of sparks zoomed down the corridor. The griffins dodged the curses, formed up, and charged. The trio cursed freely and continuously. The griffins dodged well but not well enough, the three were taken down by the merciless barrage. Then no less than a dozen harpies flew in through the window next to the Fat Lady, as well as four Thestrals.
"What are they?" Hermione cried, revolted.
"Thestrals." Harry said, understanding at once that this was the first time she'd ever seen them, as she'd only just recently seen death. The trio took a side hallway to avoid the flying horrors. "Where can we go now?" Harry panted.
"We should maybe try and find another common room." Hermione offered.
Suddenly a massive Hydra stomped into sight at the end of the hallway.
"OH MY GOD!" Hermione screamed, terrified.
"In here!" Harry ordered, pointing to the Teleporting Trunk which sat by the wall innocently. "It goes straight down to the dungeons, but it's better than either of the other two paths!"
The three friends quickly crammed into the Trunk with difficulty. There was a jarring noise and the ambient noise changed very quickly from a Hydra's roar and centaurs' hooves to cold wind, marching creatures and children's screams.