Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
The Second Darkness
Chapter 8: The Attack on Hogsmeade
Voldemort was furious. He paced around the room with Wormtail cowering in a ball in its centre. There would be hell to pay. Pointing his wand at Wormtail, he performed the cruciatus curse. Wormtail writhed in agony, screaming at the top of his lungs. Eventually Voldemort lifted the curse,
"I thought I told you to make sure that the assassin didn't fail." Voldemort said to the panting Wormtail coldly.
"My lord...I am truly sorry...I didn't realise Harry Potter was so well trained." Voldemort sat down in the chair.
"No matter, next time we will have to be better prepared. Severus." One of the Death Eaters lining the wall stepped forward and bowed low,
"My lord?"
"When is the next Hogsmeade weekend?" Snape thought quickly,
"Next weekend." Voldemort nodded.
"Excellent. We will capture Potter then." He looked at Wormtail with
great disgust.
"Get up." He snapped at him. Wormtail hurried to his feet. He looked up at Voldemort,
"Yes, my lord?"
"Send Marveck to me." Wormtail bowed low and hurried out of the room. He returned a few minutes later with a tall, muscular man.
"Marveck, I want you to summon a few of our best Death Eaters and a couple of assassins and then return here. There is an attack I want you to carry out."
******
Snape hovered hesitantly outside the Gryffindor common room. Entering the common room of his least favourite house to get his least favourite pupil was not something that Snape enjoyed doing.
Taking a deep breath he blurted out the password to the Fat Lady. The Portrait Hole swung open and Snape stepped inside. He looked around, great dislike etched onto his face. He saw Harry and his friends sitting in front of the fireplace playing chess.
"Potter." He said coldly, Harry looked up in surprise. He muttered something to Ron and Hermione who were looking equally surprised before walking over to Snape.
"Professor?" Harry's voice was politely incredulous which caused Snape to let some of the dislike in his voice to leave.
"I have found something out that the Headmaster feels you ought to know. Weasley and Granger had better come too." Harry turned round and beckoned Ron and Hermione over. When they had both joined them Snape turned around and swept out of the Gryffindor common room.
He led them towards Dumbledore's office at a fast pace. They got there and Snape gave the password to the stone gargoyles. They climbed the revolving stairs into Dumbledore's office. Inside were the Headmaster, Lupin, Tonks, Moody and McGonagall. As soon as they were all settled Dumbledore spoke.
"Professor Snape has discovered something extremely alarming. Next weekend, a Hogsmeade weekend, a group of Death Eaters will attack the village." Gasps went round the room. Judging by the reactions of everyone else only Snape and Dumbledore had known about it before now.
"How many Death Eaters?" asked Harry quickly. Snape stepped forward.
"Voldemort said a few but when there are a lot of us present a few does not necessarily mean a few. If there are a lot of us present he is not accurate. For security reasons." Harry nodded,
"I presume it is for me?" Snape nodded. Harry looked thoughtful.
"I reckon we can make a fairly accurate guess as to how many Death Eaters will attack." Tonks looked at Harry surprised,
"How?"
"First of all there is only going to be ten to twelve Death Eaters." Snape stepped forward again.
"Plus a couple of assassins." He said coldly. Harry nodded,
"Plus a couple of assassins then. We know this because we know that this is not a full-scale attack. This is a kidnapping. Voldemort is not going to send too many Death Eaters for two reasons. One, this is only a kidnapping and it does not require many Death Eaters. Too many Death Eaters would increase the risk of the plan being discovered. Also," Harry grinned broadly, "And this is our greatest advantage, Voldemort doesn't know we know. So he does not expect much, if any, resistance." Dumbledore and the rest of the adults looked impressed.
"What we need to know is where they will attack from." mused Lupin. Harry grinned at him before turning to Professor Dumbledore.
"Do you have a map of Hogsmeade and the surrounding area, Professor?"
"I do." Dumbledore opened a box by his desk and pulled out a large piece of parchment bound tightly with a piece of red silk. Dumbledore untied the silk and unrolled the map on his desk so Harry could see it. Harry studied it for a minute before grinning.
"Here," said Harry pointing to an area on the southern outskirts of Hogsmeade, "Is where they'll attack. On a small ridge-like hill there was a line of trees, about a hundred metres from one side to the other width-wise and about a hundred metres long. Behind the tree line was Hogsmeade, about two hundred metres away. In front of the tree line was a piece of flat land, which the map said was bushes and shrubbery. The flat land was about two hundred metres long and then there was a hill that hid the land beyond it.
Lupin looked surprised,
"How do you know?"
"Easy. It's the only place they can attack from. Hogsmeade is built on a hill that overlooks the surrounding area. To the east and west it is just flat open land so the Death Eaters won't be able to Apparate there, they'd be spotted immediately. To the north is Hogwarts; I don't need to explain why they can't Apparate there. The south is the only place. They can Apparate between the hill and the trees and they won't be seen."
"You've really thought this through, Potter." Said Moody. Harry shrugged,
"It is better to think it through and be prepared then not to bother and be caught unprepared. Plus I want to take full advantage of the fact that Voldemort doesn't know we know he's going to try and get me."
"You're certainly full of surprises tonight, Potter." Said Professor McGonagall. Tonks stepped forward.
"How do we know that the Death Eaters won't just Apparate into the village?" Harry smiled,
"By just Apparating into the village the Death Eaters would cause an enormous amount of panic, which would make me harder to find amongst it. Say they Apparate where I expect them to, they can use the trees as cover to observe the village and, when I'm in the right position, that's when they'll strike." Harry looked around the room. The faces on the adults were those of immense shock. Harry's logic and sudden grasp of tactics left them stunned.
"You have certainly grown up quickly recently." Said Dumbledore
"When you live a life like mine it's difficult no to." Snape was the first to recover,
"Well, seeing you're the expert what do you propose we do about it? You've laid down their battle plans now lay down ours." He sneered. Harry smirked at him. He was sick of Snape's attitude towards him.
"Give me a handful of the Order, let me take the DA and I will fight them off." For the first time there was doubt on the Professors' faces.
"Are you sure you could do this? Without taking heavy casualties? Without any deaths." Dumbledore said slowly.
"Trust me, plus, we have the advantage of surprise." Dumbledore nodded hesitantly.
"Fine, which Order members would you like?"
"Give me Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Emmeline Vance." Dumbledore nodded,
"Just out of curiosity, why not me, or Minerva or some of the Aurors?" asked Dumbledore,
"I want to make this look like chance, look like sheer coincidence that we were there. Not planning. Say we take Aurors, they will realise that it was not chance. The same applies to the Headmaster of Hogwarts." Dumbledore nodded.
"That makes sense. But what happens if they do realise that it is not chance and that the attack was discovered."
"We kill them all before they can report to Voldemort and hope that Voldemort thinks its pure chance that we were there." There was a steely glint in his eyes and his voice was hard.
"One more thing though," Harry turned to Snape, "Professor, you do realise that by telling us this you have put your life in even more danger. If Voldemort realises that it was not chance that we were there then he will realise that there is a spy in his inner circle, how else would the plan have been discovered?" Snape paled but recovered quickly.
"I know, but that won't stop me from spying." Harry grinned at him; for once in his life he had respect for his potions master. He turned and looked at Dumbledore,
"If you'll excuse me Professor, I must go and call a DA meeting, but first can I ask one thing?" Dumbledore nodded, "Could you be in the Three Broomsticks with a couple of teachers just in case we need help?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
"If you wouldn't mind I would like you to be back here afterwards, there are a couple of things we will need to fine-tune." Harry nodded and bowed before sweeping out of the room with Hermione and Ron behind him.
They got to the bottom of the stairs and Harry took out the fake galleon. He began changing the numbers. Ron exhaled deeply,
"An attack on Hogsmeade!"
"I know." Said Harry distractedly.
"You're not worried about it are you?" Ron asked Harry surprised.
"Not really." Ron shook his head and leaned in towards Hermione,
"He's changed." He whispered to her.
"Of course he has, look at what he's been through." She whispered back. Harry finished changing the numbers. The moment he finished Ron let out a yelp of pain. Harry and Hermione looked at him curiously.
"I just found out there's a hole in my pocket." He said ruefully, taking the still warm galleon out of it. Harry and Hermione didn't stop laughing until they reached the Room of Requirement.
They entered the Room of Requirement to see that everybody was already present and looking up at Harry expectantly.
"Ok, I've got some really bad news. There is going to be an attack on Hogsmeade this weekend in order to capture me." Harry stopped and looked around. There was an only trace of fear on people's faces. They all looked determined, ready to fight. Harry grinned slightly. "I know where the Death Eaters are going to attack from so we won't need to worry about that. Basically we are going to be defending in a small group of trees. The Death Eaters need to get into those trees so we need to stop them. In order to stop them getting into the trees we are going to have to cover the whole of one edge of the tree line. To do that I will split you up into groups, each group with a leader, I will lead the group in the centre, Ron the group on my left and Hermione the group on my right." He paused for a minute and looked around the room, quickly calculating groups.
"Ok, the groups are, in the centre, under me: Ginny, Dean, Cho, Terry, Parvati, Susan and Justin. Under Ron: Lavender, Colin, Ernie, Padma, Seamus and Hannah. Under Hermione: Neville, Dennis Zacharias, Michael, Luna and Anthony. Ok, that's everyone. Good luck. You've done it before you can do it again. Give them hell."
******
The next few days passed in a blur for Harry, occasional bouts of worry but mainly going over plans in head over and over again until he knew them off by heart.
Before he knew it Saturday had arrived and, as they had planned, Harry, the DA, Lupin, Tonks, Moody and Vance were sprinting down to Hogsmeade half an hour before the rest of the school.
They reached the tree line and Harry called Ron, Hermione and the four adults over to him. He turned to Ron and Hermione first.
"Listen, I want you two to act like leaders and not keep asking me for help. Do as you think fit. Get them to stay behind trees at all times, make sure they don't present themselves as easy targets, these aren't going to be ordinary Death Eaters. They are going to be much better. This is, after all, a very important mission." Ron and Hermione nodded, "A couple more things. You two must stand where I can see you an you can see me and also, keep coming over to give me regular reports, I need to know what's going on. Finally don't start firing spells till I tell you." They nodded again and ran off to get set up. Harry turned to the four adults.
"Do what you want, you're not under my command." Moody shrugged,
"Maybe so but we would follow you to the bowels of hell. You tell us what to do and we'll do it." Harry was slightly shocked by this statement but recovered quickly.
"Ok, protect our flanks then, Lupin I need you to stay close to me, I have a feeling that before the day is out there will be a need for some sword work." Lupin nodded. Moody and Tonks moved towards Ron's group who had drawn their wands and were settling behind trees looking over to the flatland between the hill and the trees. Lupin and Vance hurried over to Hermione's group who were already settled. Hermione had placed her stronger fighters on the outside while the weaker fighters were relatively close to where Harry's group were about to go.
Harry led his group over to the centre of the front of the tree line. He indicated where people were to go before settling himself behind a thick oak tree from where he could see Ron and Hermione and the flatlands. He saw Ron give him the thumbs up; he returned the gesture before settling himself more comfortably against the tree.
"And now we wait." He muttered to himself.
After half an hour Harry was beginning to wonder where the Death Eaters were. He looked over to the flatlands once again. Still nothing. He looked around the DA; it had to be handed to them. They were being incredibly patient. They were not fiddling or making themselves obvious. They were just standing there, waiting for the Death Eaters to come.
Suddenly Parvati hissed his name. He looked at her and she pointed over to the flatlands. Harry looked round and sure enough about a dozen Death Eaters had Apparated there. Harry swore and stuck his hand up in the air. Ron and Hermione looked at him and nodded. By now everyone had noticed the Death Eaters and had tensed. Harry watched the Death Eaters approach slowly, cautiously. When they were thirty feet away, Harry let his hand drop. The spells flew.
The Death Eaters' reactions were incredible. Only one of them was hit by a stunning spell. The rest had shield charms up and were slowly retreating backwards under the cover of them, two of them dragging their fallen comrade.
The Death Eaters took cover behind bushes and logs and quickly retaliated. Harry fired a stunning spell at a Death Eater who had poked his head out from behind a bush. Harry was quickly forced to duck behind a tree as a spell flew at him. He watched it fly passed the tree he was behind and hit a rock. Harry glanced to his left. Ron's group were doing ok, they weren't giving ground but two of them, Harry couldn't see which two, were lying on the ground.
He sent out another stunning spell at a bush that a Death Eater was hiding behind. Harry watched as the spell buried itself in the bush's leaves. Harry swore. The Death Eaters were staying well under cover.
He threw out a bunch of spells at a Death Eater who had stood up to get a better shot. To his annoyance the Death Eater dropped to the ground and Harry's spells flew harmlessly over the Death Eater's head.
Harry cast a glance to his left. All of Ron's group were up and fighting but a few of them were still sporting deep cuts. Ron caught Harry's eye and sprinted over to him.
"We're in trouble, they're hitting us but we're not hitting them." Harry nodded,
"Listen, just keep their heads down, I'm trying to think of a plan." Ron nodded and ran back over to his group. Harry looked over at Hermione's group. To his surprise they were slowly advancing. He beckoned Hermione over. In an instant she was by his side.
"Tell them to hold their ground, I don't want you to lose the tree cover." Hermione nodded and ran back. Harry saw one of the Death Eaters creep forward. Harry edged round to the right and fired a slashing curse at the Death Eaters neck. At the last moment the Death Eater stood up slightly and the curse hit him on the shoulder. The Death Eater clapped a hand to his shoulder and looked round to where the curse had come from. He saw Harry; shot a stunner at him before ducking back under cover.
Harry swore and rolled back behind the tree. He felt someone tap his shoulder and he turned round. Ron was standing there looking ashen and worried.
"What is it?" asked Harry quickly.
"The Death Eaters are slowly moving forward and we can't hold them back. We spend more time doing healing spells on our troops than firing spells at them." Harry thought quickly,
"Send a few people round to the right and to the left, try and get a crossfire going." Ron nodded and ran back to his group. Halfway there a slashing curse hit his leg. He stumbled and fell, a second spell flying over his head. Harry sprinted over to him. He quickly cast an advanced shield charm. Three stunners immediately deflected off of it. Harry healed Ron's leg in a second.
"Cheers." Said Ron leaping to his feet.
"Get to that tree, I'll cover you." Barked Harry. Ron nodded and sprinted towards the tree Harry had indicated. Harry unleashed a barrage of stunners and burn curses. As soon as Ron was safe behind the tree, Harry sprinted towards his ground, head down with spells hitting the ground around him and flying over his head. Dean and Susan saw him running towards them with spells narrowly missing him. They turned to their left and fired spells at the Death Eaters trying to hit Harry.
Harry sprinted and ducked behind a tree next to Dean.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Dean looked around the tree and fired a couple of stunners at a bush that was hiding a Death Eater, "How we doing?"
"Not bad. Ron's not doing too great but Hermione's group is doing well." Harry glanced across at Hermione's group. Lupin could be seen firing slashing curses at a Death Eater who had taken cover behind a fallen tree trunk.
Harry clapped Dean on the shoulder and ran off towards the right, sending out stunners as he did so. He dived behind a tree when a green jet off light flew towards him. He sat with his back to it, he looked round,
"Stupefy!" To his satisfaction the jet of red light hit the Death Eater who had stood up and pointed his wand at Ginny. The Death Eater fell forward and, throwing caution to the winds, Harry darted forward, drawing his sword as he did so, and sprinted to where the unconscious Death eater was lying. Harry raised his sword and then plunged it down into the Death Eater's neck. The blood gushed for a minute before slowing to a trickle, and then stopped altogether. A cheer went up from the trees.
Harry turned and started running towards the trees, suddenly something struck him in the back of the leg that sent him sprawling. He rolled onto his back and threw up an advanced shield charm, several spells hitting it less than a second later. Three figures darted out from the trees, jets of light flying out of their wands. Dean and Terry covered Justin as he helped Harry to his feet. Under the cover of four shield charms the teenagers sprinted back towards the trees.
Harry leant against a tree panting,
"Thanks." The other three nodded before running off. Harry stuck his head around the tree, jets of red light flying from his wand. Harry looked around and it felt like someone had poured a bucket of icy water into his stomach. Several of the DA were lying on the floor and the rest were injured.
Ron and Hermione were suddenly by his side,
"What the hell happened? One minute were doing fine the next were dropping left, right and centre." Harry yelled over the noise of the battle. Ron shook his head despairingly,
"I dunno, they suddenly started getting more hits on us. I can tell you one thing, we can't hold them for much longer."
"Lupin said he saw some more assassins arrive." Said Hermione. Harry pushed Ron's head down, a jet of light narrowly missing him.
"Hermione, send some of the DA round to the right, try and distract them, Ron get everyone who's left to start healing, I'm going to speak to Lupin." They nodded and ran off. Harry sprinted towards Lupin who was taking cover behind a large rock firing stunning spells. Harry dived behind the rock and fired a burn curse at a Death Eater who had stood up to get a better shot at him. An agonised scream told him that he had hit his mark.
"Lupin, we're in trouble."
"I know, they've got reinforcements."
"Listen, in a couple of minutes I want you to come and find me. I've got a plan, but we need most of the DA to be up and fighting to be able to do it." Lupin nodded and then ducked as a spell hit the rock and knocked a chip off.
Harry stood up and ran towards a tree right at the very front, he ducked behind it. He looked over to the right where spells could be seen flying out of a small group of bushes. Hermione had managed to get a group of people there then, thought Harry. He leant round the tree,
"Incendare!" A jet of bright orange light flew out of Harry's wand, hitting a bush and setting it on fire. A figure leapt up from behind it, burning furiously. Harry's stunner hit him square in the chest. The burning figure fell to the ground. A few minutes later he was nothing more than a pile of ash. Several people looked at Harry in surprise.
Harry was forced to duck behind the tree as a group of burn curses came flying towards him. Harry heard the sound of them hitting the tree, leaving black scorch marks.
He edged round to the left and fired a group of stunners at a Death Eater who was slowly edging forwards, moving from cover to cover. Harry's stunners hit him as he was halfway to a large, moss covered boulder. A few well-placed slashing curses later and the Death Eater was dead. Harry darted forwards to a tree in front of him, spells hitting the ground all around him.
He side stepped to the left and fired a banishing spell at a Death Eater behind a bush. At the last second the Death Eater ducked and Harry's spell flew over his head. The Death Eater saw him. Harry fired a burn curse at the Death Eater who had a shield charm up in a second. Harry jumped to the right and his own burn curse shot past him and hit a tree behind him leaving a scorch mark there.
He looked round to see Lupin running towards him. Harry caught Ron and Hermione's eye, Hermione having moved back round, and beckoned them over.
"Listen, I want you to get your groups to increase the amount of spells the fire, don't worry about aiming, just keep their heads down. I have a plan. It will be over soon, hopefully. One thing, tell everyone that when me and Lupin are amongst the Death Eaters, stop firing." Ron and Hermione nodded and ran off. He turned to Lupin,
"Wait here for a minute, I just need to go and get a few people." Harry said quickly. He darted towards Ginny, keeping low and watching spells fly over his head. He ducked behind the tree she was firing spells from behind.
"Ginny, you're in command." She looked at him shocked.
"Why?"
"Just do it." She nodded. Harry sprinted off and got Seamus, Dean and Terry Boot. He led them back to the tree, which Lupin was behind.
"Listen, I'm going to take you round, behind the Death Eaters and me and Lupin are going to be doing some sword work. I need you three to cover our retreat if things go bad." They nodded. Harry led them round to the left, they passed Moody who was firing spells from behind a tree at two Death Eaters who had taken cover behind a large rock.
Finally they were all hidden behind a bush looking at the Death Eaters' backs. There were ten left, four of them assassins.
"Ready?" Harry said to Lupin. Lupin nodded, they drew their swords and sprinted towards the Death Eaters. Harry got there first and plunged his sword into the back of one of the Death Eaters. Hearing the Death Eater's scream another one of them turned around,
"What-" He made a strange gurgling sound as Harry's sword plunged into his gut, silencing him. Suddenly a shout went up,
"They're behind us!" the rest of the Death Eaters turned, two of them falling to spells from the trees. The spells of the DA stopped and Lupin and Harry leapt towards the Death Eaters.
Lupin slashed a Death Eater's gut open and the dying man vaguely tried to hold his guts in as he died. Lupin was quickly forced to parry as one of the assassins swung his sword at Lupin's head. Harry quickly plunged his sword into the assassin's side.
Harry cut down the last ordinary Death Eater as the man reached for his wand, which had fallen on the ground.
The three assassins drew their swords and readied themselves for a fight. Harry and Lupin were just about to cross swords with them when a cry went up from the trees.
While the assassins' backs were turned, Lupin cast an anti-apparition jinx. The DA and the other three adults were sprinting towards them. The assassins tried to Apparate away but found they couldn't. They threw their swords and wands on the ground and Lupin quickly bound their wrists with lengths of thick rope he conjured.
Harry saw that most of the DA were sporting injuries and a few were limping heavily. This fight had been harder than the Battle for Hogwarts.
Broken, bleeding and weak the victorious DA led the assassins back towards Hogsmeade.
The wizarding world was safe once more.
But hell was not done yet.
******
A/N VERY IMPOTANT PLEASE READ.
Ok, I'm really sorry but term has ended so I'm back off to Malaysia for a few more weeks (For those of you who don't know my Dad is in the RAF and is currently posted out there). Therefore I won't be able to update for a few weeks, the next update should be about the 24th of April.
I am not stopping this story, I fully intend to continue.
I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I decided to throw in a fight before I left. Thanks to everyone who reviewed.
Anime-Master7 - Thanks for the review.
Colm – Don't worry, that won't be the last fight in the fic! There will be one more. I know I said the 28th of April in the e-mail I sent you, the actual date is the 24th. Thanks for the review.
Kyntor – Normally he would be expelled, but Malfoy needs to stay. You'll see why in the third part of the trilogy.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy
The Second Darkness
Chapter 8: The Attack on Hogsmeade
Voldemort was furious. He paced around the room with Wormtail cowering in a ball in its centre. There would be hell to pay. Pointing his wand at Wormtail, he performed the cruciatus curse. Wormtail writhed in agony, screaming at the top of his lungs. Eventually Voldemort lifted the curse,
"I thought I told you to make sure that the assassin didn't fail." Voldemort said to the panting Wormtail coldly.
"My lord...I am truly sorry...I didn't realise Harry Potter was so well trained." Voldemort sat down in the chair.
"No matter, next time we will have to be better prepared. Severus." One of the Death Eaters lining the wall stepped forward and bowed low,
"My lord?"
"When is the next Hogsmeade weekend?" Snape thought quickly,
"Next weekend." Voldemort nodded.
"Excellent. We will capture Potter then." He looked at Wormtail with
great disgust.
"Get up." He snapped at him. Wormtail hurried to his feet. He looked up at Voldemort,
"Yes, my lord?"
"Send Marveck to me." Wormtail bowed low and hurried out of the room. He returned a few minutes later with a tall, muscular man.
"Marveck, I want you to summon a few of our best Death Eaters and a couple of assassins and then return here. There is an attack I want you to carry out."
******
Snape hovered hesitantly outside the Gryffindor common room. Entering the common room of his least favourite house to get his least favourite pupil was not something that Snape enjoyed doing.
Taking a deep breath he blurted out the password to the Fat Lady. The Portrait Hole swung open and Snape stepped inside. He looked around, great dislike etched onto his face. He saw Harry and his friends sitting in front of the fireplace playing chess.
"Potter." He said coldly, Harry looked up in surprise. He muttered something to Ron and Hermione who were looking equally surprised before walking over to Snape.
"Professor?" Harry's voice was politely incredulous which caused Snape to let some of the dislike in his voice to leave.
"I have found something out that the Headmaster feels you ought to know. Weasley and Granger had better come too." Harry turned round and beckoned Ron and Hermione over. When they had both joined them Snape turned around and swept out of the Gryffindor common room.
He led them towards Dumbledore's office at a fast pace. They got there and Snape gave the password to the stone gargoyles. They climbed the revolving stairs into Dumbledore's office. Inside were the Headmaster, Lupin, Tonks, Moody and McGonagall. As soon as they were all settled Dumbledore spoke.
"Professor Snape has discovered something extremely alarming. Next weekend, a Hogsmeade weekend, a group of Death Eaters will attack the village." Gasps went round the room. Judging by the reactions of everyone else only Snape and Dumbledore had known about it before now.
"How many Death Eaters?" asked Harry quickly. Snape stepped forward.
"Voldemort said a few but when there are a lot of us present a few does not necessarily mean a few. If there are a lot of us present he is not accurate. For security reasons." Harry nodded,
"I presume it is for me?" Snape nodded. Harry looked thoughtful.
"I reckon we can make a fairly accurate guess as to how many Death Eaters will attack." Tonks looked at Harry surprised,
"How?"
"First of all there is only going to be ten to twelve Death Eaters." Snape stepped forward again.
"Plus a couple of assassins." He said coldly. Harry nodded,
"Plus a couple of assassins then. We know this because we know that this is not a full-scale attack. This is a kidnapping. Voldemort is not going to send too many Death Eaters for two reasons. One, this is only a kidnapping and it does not require many Death Eaters. Too many Death Eaters would increase the risk of the plan being discovered. Also," Harry grinned broadly, "And this is our greatest advantage, Voldemort doesn't know we know. So he does not expect much, if any, resistance." Dumbledore and the rest of the adults looked impressed.
"What we need to know is where they will attack from." mused Lupin. Harry grinned at him before turning to Professor Dumbledore.
"Do you have a map of Hogsmeade and the surrounding area, Professor?"
"I do." Dumbledore opened a box by his desk and pulled out a large piece of parchment bound tightly with a piece of red silk. Dumbledore untied the silk and unrolled the map on his desk so Harry could see it. Harry studied it for a minute before grinning.
"Here," said Harry pointing to an area on the southern outskirts of Hogsmeade, "Is where they'll attack. On a small ridge-like hill there was a line of trees, about a hundred metres from one side to the other width-wise and about a hundred metres long. Behind the tree line was Hogsmeade, about two hundred metres away. In front of the tree line was a piece of flat land, which the map said was bushes and shrubbery. The flat land was about two hundred metres long and then there was a hill that hid the land beyond it.
Lupin looked surprised,
"How do you know?"
"Easy. It's the only place they can attack from. Hogsmeade is built on a hill that overlooks the surrounding area. To the east and west it is just flat open land so the Death Eaters won't be able to Apparate there, they'd be spotted immediately. To the north is Hogwarts; I don't need to explain why they can't Apparate there. The south is the only place. They can Apparate between the hill and the trees and they won't be seen."
"You've really thought this through, Potter." Said Moody. Harry shrugged,
"It is better to think it through and be prepared then not to bother and be caught unprepared. Plus I want to take full advantage of the fact that Voldemort doesn't know we know he's going to try and get me."
"You're certainly full of surprises tonight, Potter." Said Professor McGonagall. Tonks stepped forward.
"How do we know that the Death Eaters won't just Apparate into the village?" Harry smiled,
"By just Apparating into the village the Death Eaters would cause an enormous amount of panic, which would make me harder to find amongst it. Say they Apparate where I expect them to, they can use the trees as cover to observe the village and, when I'm in the right position, that's when they'll strike." Harry looked around the room. The faces on the adults were those of immense shock. Harry's logic and sudden grasp of tactics left them stunned.
"You have certainly grown up quickly recently." Said Dumbledore
"When you live a life like mine it's difficult no to." Snape was the first to recover,
"Well, seeing you're the expert what do you propose we do about it? You've laid down their battle plans now lay down ours." He sneered. Harry smirked at him. He was sick of Snape's attitude towards him.
"Give me a handful of the Order, let me take the DA and I will fight them off." For the first time there was doubt on the Professors' faces.
"Are you sure you could do this? Without taking heavy casualties? Without any deaths." Dumbledore said slowly.
"Trust me, plus, we have the advantage of surprise." Dumbledore nodded hesitantly.
"Fine, which Order members would you like?"
"Give me Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Emmeline Vance." Dumbledore nodded,
"Just out of curiosity, why not me, or Minerva or some of the Aurors?" asked Dumbledore,
"I want to make this look like chance, look like sheer coincidence that we were there. Not planning. Say we take Aurors, they will realise that it was not chance. The same applies to the Headmaster of Hogwarts." Dumbledore nodded.
"That makes sense. But what happens if they do realise that it is not chance and that the attack was discovered."
"We kill them all before they can report to Voldemort and hope that Voldemort thinks its pure chance that we were there." There was a steely glint in his eyes and his voice was hard.
"One more thing though," Harry turned to Snape, "Professor, you do realise that by telling us this you have put your life in even more danger. If Voldemort realises that it was not chance that we were there then he will realise that there is a spy in his inner circle, how else would the plan have been discovered?" Snape paled but recovered quickly.
"I know, but that won't stop me from spying." Harry grinned at him; for once in his life he had respect for his potions master. He turned and looked at Dumbledore,
"If you'll excuse me Professor, I must go and call a DA meeting, but first can I ask one thing?" Dumbledore nodded, "Could you be in the Three Broomsticks with a couple of teachers just in case we need help?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
"If you wouldn't mind I would like you to be back here afterwards, there are a couple of things we will need to fine-tune." Harry nodded and bowed before sweeping out of the room with Hermione and Ron behind him.
They got to the bottom of the stairs and Harry took out the fake galleon. He began changing the numbers. Ron exhaled deeply,
"An attack on Hogsmeade!"
"I know." Said Harry distractedly.
"You're not worried about it are you?" Ron asked Harry surprised.
"Not really." Ron shook his head and leaned in towards Hermione,
"He's changed." He whispered to her.
"Of course he has, look at what he's been through." She whispered back. Harry finished changing the numbers. The moment he finished Ron let out a yelp of pain. Harry and Hermione looked at him curiously.
"I just found out there's a hole in my pocket." He said ruefully, taking the still warm galleon out of it. Harry and Hermione didn't stop laughing until they reached the Room of Requirement.
They entered the Room of Requirement to see that everybody was already present and looking up at Harry expectantly.
"Ok, I've got some really bad news. There is going to be an attack on Hogsmeade this weekend in order to capture me." Harry stopped and looked around. There was an only trace of fear on people's faces. They all looked determined, ready to fight. Harry grinned slightly. "I know where the Death Eaters are going to attack from so we won't need to worry about that. Basically we are going to be defending in a small group of trees. The Death Eaters need to get into those trees so we need to stop them. In order to stop them getting into the trees we are going to have to cover the whole of one edge of the tree line. To do that I will split you up into groups, each group with a leader, I will lead the group in the centre, Ron the group on my left and Hermione the group on my right." He paused for a minute and looked around the room, quickly calculating groups.
"Ok, the groups are, in the centre, under me: Ginny, Dean, Cho, Terry, Parvati, Susan and Justin. Under Ron: Lavender, Colin, Ernie, Padma, Seamus and Hannah. Under Hermione: Neville, Dennis Zacharias, Michael, Luna and Anthony. Ok, that's everyone. Good luck. You've done it before you can do it again. Give them hell."
******
The next few days passed in a blur for Harry, occasional bouts of worry but mainly going over plans in head over and over again until he knew them off by heart.
Before he knew it Saturday had arrived and, as they had planned, Harry, the DA, Lupin, Tonks, Moody and Vance were sprinting down to Hogsmeade half an hour before the rest of the school.
They reached the tree line and Harry called Ron, Hermione and the four adults over to him. He turned to Ron and Hermione first.
"Listen, I want you two to act like leaders and not keep asking me for help. Do as you think fit. Get them to stay behind trees at all times, make sure they don't present themselves as easy targets, these aren't going to be ordinary Death Eaters. They are going to be much better. This is, after all, a very important mission." Ron and Hermione nodded, "A couple more things. You two must stand where I can see you an you can see me and also, keep coming over to give me regular reports, I need to know what's going on. Finally don't start firing spells till I tell you." They nodded again and ran off to get set up. Harry turned to the four adults.
"Do what you want, you're not under my command." Moody shrugged,
"Maybe so but we would follow you to the bowels of hell. You tell us what to do and we'll do it." Harry was slightly shocked by this statement but recovered quickly.
"Ok, protect our flanks then, Lupin I need you to stay close to me, I have a feeling that before the day is out there will be a need for some sword work." Lupin nodded. Moody and Tonks moved towards Ron's group who had drawn their wands and were settling behind trees looking over to the flatland between the hill and the trees. Lupin and Vance hurried over to Hermione's group who were already settled. Hermione had placed her stronger fighters on the outside while the weaker fighters were relatively close to where Harry's group were about to go.
Harry led his group over to the centre of the front of the tree line. He indicated where people were to go before settling himself behind a thick oak tree from where he could see Ron and Hermione and the flatlands. He saw Ron give him the thumbs up; he returned the gesture before settling himself more comfortably against the tree.
"And now we wait." He muttered to himself.
After half an hour Harry was beginning to wonder where the Death Eaters were. He looked over to the flatlands once again. Still nothing. He looked around the DA; it had to be handed to them. They were being incredibly patient. They were not fiddling or making themselves obvious. They were just standing there, waiting for the Death Eaters to come.
Suddenly Parvati hissed his name. He looked at her and she pointed over to the flatlands. Harry looked round and sure enough about a dozen Death Eaters had Apparated there. Harry swore and stuck his hand up in the air. Ron and Hermione looked at him and nodded. By now everyone had noticed the Death Eaters and had tensed. Harry watched the Death Eaters approach slowly, cautiously. When they were thirty feet away, Harry let his hand drop. The spells flew.
The Death Eaters' reactions were incredible. Only one of them was hit by a stunning spell. The rest had shield charms up and were slowly retreating backwards under the cover of them, two of them dragging their fallen comrade.
The Death Eaters took cover behind bushes and logs and quickly retaliated. Harry fired a stunning spell at a Death Eater who had poked his head out from behind a bush. Harry was quickly forced to duck behind a tree as a spell flew at him. He watched it fly passed the tree he was behind and hit a rock. Harry glanced to his left. Ron's group were doing ok, they weren't giving ground but two of them, Harry couldn't see which two, were lying on the ground.
He sent out another stunning spell at a bush that a Death Eater was hiding behind. Harry watched as the spell buried itself in the bush's leaves. Harry swore. The Death Eaters were staying well under cover.
He threw out a bunch of spells at a Death Eater who had stood up to get a better shot. To his annoyance the Death Eater dropped to the ground and Harry's spells flew harmlessly over the Death Eater's head.
Harry cast a glance to his left. All of Ron's group were up and fighting but a few of them were still sporting deep cuts. Ron caught Harry's eye and sprinted over to him.
"We're in trouble, they're hitting us but we're not hitting them." Harry nodded,
"Listen, just keep their heads down, I'm trying to think of a plan." Ron nodded and ran back over to his group. Harry looked over at Hermione's group. To his surprise they were slowly advancing. He beckoned Hermione over. In an instant she was by his side.
"Tell them to hold their ground, I don't want you to lose the tree cover." Hermione nodded and ran back. Harry saw one of the Death Eaters creep forward. Harry edged round to the right and fired a slashing curse at the Death Eaters neck. At the last moment the Death Eater stood up slightly and the curse hit him on the shoulder. The Death Eater clapped a hand to his shoulder and looked round to where the curse had come from. He saw Harry; shot a stunner at him before ducking back under cover.
Harry swore and rolled back behind the tree. He felt someone tap his shoulder and he turned round. Ron was standing there looking ashen and worried.
"What is it?" asked Harry quickly.
"The Death Eaters are slowly moving forward and we can't hold them back. We spend more time doing healing spells on our troops than firing spells at them." Harry thought quickly,
"Send a few people round to the right and to the left, try and get a crossfire going." Ron nodded and ran back to his group. Halfway there a slashing curse hit his leg. He stumbled and fell, a second spell flying over his head. Harry sprinted over to him. He quickly cast an advanced shield charm. Three stunners immediately deflected off of it. Harry healed Ron's leg in a second.
"Cheers." Said Ron leaping to his feet.
"Get to that tree, I'll cover you." Barked Harry. Ron nodded and sprinted towards the tree Harry had indicated. Harry unleashed a barrage of stunners and burn curses. As soon as Ron was safe behind the tree, Harry sprinted towards his ground, head down with spells hitting the ground around him and flying over his head. Dean and Susan saw him running towards them with spells narrowly missing him. They turned to their left and fired spells at the Death Eaters trying to hit Harry.
Harry sprinted and ducked behind a tree next to Dean.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Dean looked around the tree and fired a couple of stunners at a bush that was hiding a Death Eater, "How we doing?"
"Not bad. Ron's not doing too great but Hermione's group is doing well." Harry glanced across at Hermione's group. Lupin could be seen firing slashing curses at a Death Eater who had taken cover behind a fallen tree trunk.
Harry clapped Dean on the shoulder and ran off towards the right, sending out stunners as he did so. He dived behind a tree when a green jet off light flew towards him. He sat with his back to it, he looked round,
"Stupefy!" To his satisfaction the jet of red light hit the Death Eater who had stood up and pointed his wand at Ginny. The Death Eater fell forward and, throwing caution to the winds, Harry darted forward, drawing his sword as he did so, and sprinted to where the unconscious Death eater was lying. Harry raised his sword and then plunged it down into the Death Eater's neck. The blood gushed for a minute before slowing to a trickle, and then stopped altogether. A cheer went up from the trees.
Harry turned and started running towards the trees, suddenly something struck him in the back of the leg that sent him sprawling. He rolled onto his back and threw up an advanced shield charm, several spells hitting it less than a second later. Three figures darted out from the trees, jets of light flying out of their wands. Dean and Terry covered Justin as he helped Harry to his feet. Under the cover of four shield charms the teenagers sprinted back towards the trees.
Harry leant against a tree panting,
"Thanks." The other three nodded before running off. Harry stuck his head around the tree, jets of red light flying from his wand. Harry looked around and it felt like someone had poured a bucket of icy water into his stomach. Several of the DA were lying on the floor and the rest were injured.
Ron and Hermione were suddenly by his side,
"What the hell happened? One minute were doing fine the next were dropping left, right and centre." Harry yelled over the noise of the battle. Ron shook his head despairingly,
"I dunno, they suddenly started getting more hits on us. I can tell you one thing, we can't hold them for much longer."
"Lupin said he saw some more assassins arrive." Said Hermione. Harry pushed Ron's head down, a jet of light narrowly missing him.
"Hermione, send some of the DA round to the right, try and distract them, Ron get everyone who's left to start healing, I'm going to speak to Lupin." They nodded and ran off. Harry sprinted towards Lupin who was taking cover behind a large rock firing stunning spells. Harry dived behind the rock and fired a burn curse at a Death Eater who had stood up to get a better shot at him. An agonised scream told him that he had hit his mark.
"Lupin, we're in trouble."
"I know, they've got reinforcements."
"Listen, in a couple of minutes I want you to come and find me. I've got a plan, but we need most of the DA to be up and fighting to be able to do it." Lupin nodded and then ducked as a spell hit the rock and knocked a chip off.
Harry stood up and ran towards a tree right at the very front, he ducked behind it. He looked over to the right where spells could be seen flying out of a small group of bushes. Hermione had managed to get a group of people there then, thought Harry. He leant round the tree,
"Incendare!" A jet of bright orange light flew out of Harry's wand, hitting a bush and setting it on fire. A figure leapt up from behind it, burning furiously. Harry's stunner hit him square in the chest. The burning figure fell to the ground. A few minutes later he was nothing more than a pile of ash. Several people looked at Harry in surprise.
Harry was forced to duck behind the tree as a group of burn curses came flying towards him. Harry heard the sound of them hitting the tree, leaving black scorch marks.
He edged round to the left and fired a group of stunners at a Death Eater who was slowly edging forwards, moving from cover to cover. Harry's stunners hit him as he was halfway to a large, moss covered boulder. A few well-placed slashing curses later and the Death Eater was dead. Harry darted forwards to a tree in front of him, spells hitting the ground all around him.
He side stepped to the left and fired a banishing spell at a Death Eater behind a bush. At the last second the Death Eater ducked and Harry's spell flew over his head. The Death Eater saw him. Harry fired a burn curse at the Death Eater who had a shield charm up in a second. Harry jumped to the right and his own burn curse shot past him and hit a tree behind him leaving a scorch mark there.
He looked round to see Lupin running towards him. Harry caught Ron and Hermione's eye, Hermione having moved back round, and beckoned them over.
"Listen, I want you to get your groups to increase the amount of spells the fire, don't worry about aiming, just keep their heads down. I have a plan. It will be over soon, hopefully. One thing, tell everyone that when me and Lupin are amongst the Death Eaters, stop firing." Ron and Hermione nodded and ran off. He turned to Lupin,
"Wait here for a minute, I just need to go and get a few people." Harry said quickly. He darted towards Ginny, keeping low and watching spells fly over his head. He ducked behind the tree she was firing spells from behind.
"Ginny, you're in command." She looked at him shocked.
"Why?"
"Just do it." She nodded. Harry sprinted off and got Seamus, Dean and Terry Boot. He led them back to the tree, which Lupin was behind.
"Listen, I'm going to take you round, behind the Death Eaters and me and Lupin are going to be doing some sword work. I need you three to cover our retreat if things go bad." They nodded. Harry led them round to the left, they passed Moody who was firing spells from behind a tree at two Death Eaters who had taken cover behind a large rock.
Finally they were all hidden behind a bush looking at the Death Eaters' backs. There were ten left, four of them assassins.
"Ready?" Harry said to Lupin. Lupin nodded, they drew their swords and sprinted towards the Death Eaters. Harry got there first and plunged his sword into the back of one of the Death Eaters. Hearing the Death Eater's scream another one of them turned around,
"What-" He made a strange gurgling sound as Harry's sword plunged into his gut, silencing him. Suddenly a shout went up,
"They're behind us!" the rest of the Death Eaters turned, two of them falling to spells from the trees. The spells of the DA stopped and Lupin and Harry leapt towards the Death Eaters.
Lupin slashed a Death Eater's gut open and the dying man vaguely tried to hold his guts in as he died. Lupin was quickly forced to parry as one of the assassins swung his sword at Lupin's head. Harry quickly plunged his sword into the assassin's side.
Harry cut down the last ordinary Death Eater as the man reached for his wand, which had fallen on the ground.
The three assassins drew their swords and readied themselves for a fight. Harry and Lupin were just about to cross swords with them when a cry went up from the trees.
While the assassins' backs were turned, Lupin cast an anti-apparition jinx. The DA and the other three adults were sprinting towards them. The assassins tried to Apparate away but found they couldn't. They threw their swords and wands on the ground and Lupin quickly bound their wrists with lengths of thick rope he conjured.
Harry saw that most of the DA were sporting injuries and a few were limping heavily. This fight had been harder than the Battle for Hogwarts.
Broken, bleeding and weak the victorious DA led the assassins back towards Hogsmeade.
The wizarding world was safe once more.
But hell was not done yet.
******
A/N VERY IMPOTANT PLEASE READ.
Ok, I'm really sorry but term has ended so I'm back off to Malaysia for a few more weeks (For those of you who don't know my Dad is in the RAF and is currently posted out there). Therefore I won't be able to update for a few weeks, the next update should be about the 24th of April.
I am not stopping this story, I fully intend to continue.
I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I decided to throw in a fight before I left. Thanks to everyone who reviewed.
Anime-Master7 - Thanks for the review.
Colm – Don't worry, that won't be the last fight in the fic! There will be one more. I know I said the 28th of April in the e-mail I sent you, the actual date is the 24th. Thanks for the review.
Kyntor – Normally he would be expelled, but Malfoy needs to stay. You'll see why in the third part of the trilogy.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy