Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
The Second Darkness
Chapter 12: Preparing for the Assault
Ron and Hermione followed Harry up down the corridor to the Great Hall. Harry was walking quickly and Ron and Hermione hurried to keep up.
"That wasn't smart, Harry." Said Hermione. Harry shrugged and continued looking out of the window; the fading spring sun was casting an orange glow over the grounds. Harry stepped back slightly as a cold blast of wind blew in through the window,
"For once she's right," said Ron, ignoring the smack on the arm Hermione gave him, "You don't want to be picking fights with people like Moody." Harry turned to face him,
"I didn't pick the fight, Moody started it." Hermione sighed in exasperation,
"Harry, he's your teacher, you don't argue with your teacher." Harry looked at her as if she was crazy,
"He was making a stupid mistake, the fact that he's my teacher doesn't matter, I couldn't let him make that mistake." Hermione considered this for a moment and eventually she relented,
"Still, you shouldn't have argued in like that." Harry turned away and gave a small shrug,
"I guess you're right," he allowed, "But he provoked me."
"Anyway, it doesn't matter now." Interrupted Ron, seeing s frown on Hermione's face as she tried to make Harry see her point of view. Harry turned back to them.
"No, there's one more thing. Thanks." Ron and Hermione looked puzzled, they glanced at each other and then back at Harry,
"What for?" asked Ron, a puzzled frown on his face.
"For being so loyal, for stepping in front of me like that when Moody threatened me, for daring to point your wand at a teacher." The last remark was directed at Hermione and there was a faint teasing tone to it. For a moment she frowned and looked slightly hurt until she saw the funny side and joined in Harry and Rons' laughter.
They walked into the Great Hall and sat down in their usual place, Harry was reaching for the roast chicken when he suddenly remembered something.
"Damn!" Ron looked up from where he was buttering himself a roll,
"What?" He asked
"We need a DA meeting tonight but there is no time to arrange one now using the Galleons" Hermione looked thoughtful,
"Couldn't we postpone it until tomorrow?"
"No." Said Harry firmly, "We need it tonight." Hermione sighed wearily,
"Ok, let's start spreading the word." Harry leaned round the back of a third year to speak to Dean,
"Dean, DA meeting in half an hour, spread the word." Dean nodded and lent across the table to tell Seamus who then turned to Neville and told him. Gradually the word got passed around the Great Hall with pupils from different houses crossing over to their friends to tell them.
Even amongst the loud chatter and the normal movement in the Great Hall as people leaned over tables to talk to their friends or reach for more food Minerva McGonagall still noticed a curious ripple running through the Great Hall that seemed to begin at the centre of the Gryffindor table and spread outwards.
"What do you think that is?" She asked Dumbledore curiously,
"The DA at work." Minerva looked surprised,
"How do you know?" Dumbledore surveyed her over his half moon glasses.
"You don't live as long as I have and not pick up on a few things." He said, chuckling slightly, "See where it starts." McGonagall looked over to the Gryffindor table, sure enough, sitting in the centre were Harry, Ron and Hermione. McGonagall shook her slightly,
"I should have guessed." She said, slightly annoyed that she hadn't spotted that. Dumbledore chuckled again,
"Yes, you should have."
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Harry, Ron and Hermione left the Great Hall and headed straight up to the Room of Requirement. Harry was planning what to say to the DA and Ron and Hermione were bickering under their breaths. The familiar feeling of anxiety settling in his stomach as it always did before a fight, this one ten times worse as he was leading more people, he snapped at them,
"Just shut up." He said heavily. Ron and Hermione looked offended for a moment but then relaxed,
"Sorry." They reached the Room of Requirement and a few minutes later they were sitting inside waiting for the rest of the DA to arrive, Ron cast a sideways glance at Harry,
"Are you going to tell them right away." Harry nodded, he would not keep secrets from the DA for any longer then he had to. He stood up and began pacing up and down the room. Ron and Hermione watched him anxiously. He kept stopping and running his hands through his hair. He turned to them, his face worried,
"How do I tell twenty people that I am about to send half of them to their deaths?" Ron and Hermione looked shocked,
"Well, you might not be." Said Hermione not sounding convincing. Harry gave a nervous laugh,
"Come on, Hermione! You know as well as I do that this won't be a walk in the park." Hermione looked at Ron desperately for help, Ron held up his hands looking alarmed,
"Don't look at me!" At that moment Dean and Seamus followed by Parvati, Lavender and Padma came through the door; Harry sent Ron and Hermione a look warning them to keep quiet. Harry watched with increased nervousness as more of the DA trickled through the door. Eventually everyone was seated and were looking up at Harry expectantly. Harry stepped forward. He looked round at them before speaking. The words he had gone over in his head didn't seem adequate anymore; they seemed pointless. Instead the words he spoke were the words that came from the heart,
"I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to twist the truth to make it sound any better, to make it easier to handle, I'll be blunt," The DA looked around at each other apprehensively, Harry hesitated, he took a deep breath before continuing, "We've found Voldemort's castle, we're assaulting it in two days time." Gasps of horror went round the room and everyone started talking at once. Eventually it subsided although everyone was pale and shaking violently. Harry closed his eyes, not wanting to tell them the rest, knowing he had to and hating himself for it.
"That's not all. I know what the lie of the land is like, I know how high the walls are, I know a lot about it and I will tell you this..." Harry voice faltered, scaring the DA even more, Harry took a deep breath and continued in a stronger voice, "I will tell you this, I do not expect half of you to return." Harry closed his eyes, trying to block out the screams and gasps of fear in the room. Although he was determined to be blunt, he also knew he would have to reassure them. He held up a hand for silence, when everyone was silent again he began to speak, "Theoretically. There will be two and a half thousand Aurors, six thousand Goblins and Lupin said that something like five hundred members of the Order were going aswell so there is a chance that none of you will die. But it is only a small chance so don't be dependant on it. But we got lucky at Hogwarts and at Hogsmeade so maybe we'll get lucky again." He looked around again, gone were the normal looks of determination that were usually there before a battle instead were looks of fear, panic and desperation. Harry shook his head, trying to clear it,
"I will not insist that you fight, but if you want to fight please stand up and walk over here." Whatever Harry had expected it was not what happened. Every one stood up immediately and walked over to Harry without hesitation. Harry felt a lump in his throat, to see them standing there, all on his side, all of them loyal to him, all ready to fight for him and, if necessary, to die for him.
He stood back from the group,
"There will be a briefing tomorrow and we will assault the castle the day after that. Good luck." He smiled at them, "Give them hell." He then turned and strode from the room.
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Harry woke up the next morning a feeling of dread in his stomach, he got up and slipped his dragonskin armour over his head and put on his sword belt. He slowly walked downstairs his mind filled with what would happen in the next forty-eight hours.
Down in the Great Hall Ron's greeting was more subdued then it usually was and he was looking very sick. Harry sat down opposite him and helped himself to some bacon and sausages but found that it was difficult to chew or swallow them. He put his knife and fork down and looked around the Great Hall, it seemed impossible that people could be so happy and eat normally when, in less then forty-eight hours hundreds if not thousands of people will have died, including about ten students.
At that point Hermione entered the Great Hall, her hair was even more dishevelled then it usually was in the mornings and there were dark bags under her eyes, showing she had not slept last night.
"Morning." She greeted, her voice hoarse and lacking emotion. Harry and Ron nodded at her. They ate what they could in silence. Ron looked up at Harry,
"It's final, isn't it? It's going to happen." Harry nodded; he knew he had been living in denial before the DA meeting and by announcing it last night it seemed like it had been made inevitable. The bell rang for lessons and they gathered up their school bags and Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
It came as no surprise to Harry that the rest of the DA looked as sick and scared as he felt. In class Moody was even more bad tempered than usual and even shouted at Parvati Patil for dropping her quill on the floor. None of the DA learned anything in Moody's class, each of them lost in their thoughts. Surprisingly Moody didn't shout at them for that. On the pretence that he had forgotten his quill Harry doubled back to speak to Moody after the bell had rung, signalling the end of class. When Harry approached his desk Moody looked up from where he was marking some work.
"Hello Potter." He said gruffly.
"Hello, sir. I just wanted to know when the briefing was." Moody sighed and put down his quill, which immediately sprung up and began marking the work of it's own accord. Moody looked at it surprised.
"Damn, I forgot it did that, well, that's just saved me a lot of time. Wish I'd remembered before I started marking though. Anyway, sorry Potter, what was your question?"
"When's the briefing?"
"Five o'clock. Dumbledore's office."
"Thanks." Harry turned to leave, but Moody called him back. For a fleeting second Harry thought Moody looked slightly embarrassed, as if what he was about to say wasn't natural for him. That was gone in a second and Moody looked his usual, grim self.
"Good luck, Merlin knows, we're going to need it." Harry smiled,
"You too, Moody."
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The rest of the day passed in a blur of nerves, Harry didn't hear a word in any of his lessons, but none of his teachers punished them, not even McGonagall when she caught Harry staring aimlessly out of the window for the seventh time.
The bell rang announcing the end of their final lesson; charms, and Harry's nerves doubled and his stomach gave a funny lurch. He had an hour before the briefing. Harry, Ron and Hermione caught each others gaze and the three of them grinned weakly at each other. Having nothing better to do and feeling too sick to find anything, the three of them wandered around the castle together, saying little, each of them lost in their thoughts. At quarter to five Harry turned to them.
"Come on, let's go." Dumbledore's office was about as far away as it could possibly get and they spent a terrifying ten minutes walking towards it, the feeling that they were walking towards their fate increasing with every step.
The three of them hesitated opposite the stone gargoyle. Harry smiled at them reassuringly before giving the password in a stronger voice then he expected. They climbed the revolving staircase and entered the room to find everyone staring at them, most of them looking ill. Only Dumbledore looked calm.
Inside were Dumbledore, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Emmeline Vance and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Tonks, Vance and Shacklebolt were obviously Moody's subordinates. Lupin smiled weakly at Harry as he entered, Harry smiled back. A few minutes later everyone was settled and were looking at Dumbledore expectantly. The old man cleared his throat.
"We are all gathered now, so I will get straight to the point, this will only be a short briefing. To assault Voldemort's castle we have six thousand Goblins," Here Moody shot Harry a nasty glare, Harry could not resist smirking back, "Two and a half thousand Aurors, Five hundred Order members and the twenty-one members of the DA. This is how we shall split the forces up, Harry and I will both have two hundred and fifty members of the Order, two thousand Goblins and seven hundred and fifty Aurors. Harry shall also have the DA. Alastor will have two thousand Goblins and one thousand Aurors. The main thing that, even if our army is split under three commanders, we operate as one. To start advancing I will send up blue sparks when I am ready, Moody will send up blue sparks when he is ready and Harry will send up green sparks when he is ready. In that order. The moment Harry sends up green sparks we begin advancing." Everyone nodded and Dumbledore paused for a moment to give people time to ask questions.
"When we get there and start advancing up the slope, be extremely quiet, we want to get as close as we can before the spells start flying. One more thing, the walls must be cleared before we breach, otherwise we get in and we will find ourselves being attacked from every side" This, Harry did not agree with, if Voldemort was receiving reinforcements every minute then it would be difficult to keep them clear long enough to breach them. However every else was nodding their heads and looking at him expectantly; so he decided to trust Dumbledore and nodded his head.
"One final thing, we will leave for Voldemort's castle at ten. All forces must be assembled at seven in the grounds." Dumbledore straightened up and surveyed them all.
"This is it. With a lot of luck this could be the battle that wins the war. Or loses it. Good luck to you all Ladies and Gentlemen." With that everybody turned and left the room their heads filled with hope and fear. Dreamless sleep potions would need to be handed out that night. When fate comes calling it doesn't come quietly.
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Harry woke the next morning and was almost sick. Fear and dread flooded through him, he lay in his bed and closed his eyes willing himself to wake up and find that it was all a dream,
'Yeah, but still this is a huge opportunity for us' He thought as he dragged himself out of bed. He crossed the room to Ron's bed. For a minute he didn't want to wake him, he looked so peaceful. Eventually he shook Ron gently, Ron grimaced as he woke, remembering what was going to happen.
"C'mon, breakfast." Harry said in a dispirited tone. Ron looked as though he was going to refuse, and Harry didn't blame him. The thought of food made Harry's stomach turn as well. Eventually Ron groaned and climbed out of bed. He hurriedly tried to put some robes on. It took Ron a few minutes to realise that he was trying to force his legs through the arms and his arms through the legs. It would have been comical had it been under different circumstances.
Ron finally managed to get his robes on correctly and Harry and Ron walked down to the common room to find a very impatient and ill-looking Hermione waiting for them.
"Morning." Harry greeted her dully.
"Morning, Harry" she replied. Ron smiled at her weakly. The three of them walked down to breakfast. Outside of the Great Hall Harry paused. Taking a few deep breaths Harry tried to calm himself. Ron and Hermione looked at him curiously. Harry flashed them a grin that failed to hide his nervousness.
"I don't want the DA to be more worried because I look scared." After a few seconds Harry opened the door and strode into the room. He sat down opposite Ginny who was toying with her food, not eating a mouthful. She smiled at him feebly, and then she looked surprised and stared at him,
"Aren't you scared?" she asked astonished. Harry nodded,
"Yes." He said shortly, his voice empty of emotion. Ginny continued to stare into his eyes searching for any sign of what he was feeling, but they were unreadable. She shook her head.
"You'll never cease to amaze me." She said in wonder. Harry laughed slightly. He began to eat what he could before the bell rang for the beginning of lessons.
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The day passed in a blur. It passed much too quickly for Harry's liking, even potions and Snape breathing down his neck and scrutinizing his every move did not make it go any slower. There was one benefit of being a few hours away from possible death though, Harry registered dimly as he was gathering his things together after potions, Snape doesn't, or isn't allowed to, take points for mistakes, probably the latter...
Harry's weakening solution, which was meant to be electric blue, had turned out sky blue instead, Snape had stared at it looking desperate to deduct points but didn't. He merely shot Harry a nasty look before glaring at Dean and looking at his potion. Harry put his stuff in his dormitory before hurrying down to the Great hall with Ron and Hermione following him. They got there and none of them registered that something was different. They opened the door and instead of the usual noise of people talking and the chink of cutlery on plates there was a low droning noise of people talking in low voices. No delicious aroma hit them, the house tables were bare. Dumbledore was standing up at the front, waiting for the Great Hall to fill. A few minutes after Harry, Ron and Hermione had sat down Dumbledore seemed satisfied and clapped his hands together for silence.
"I have some good news. Voldemort's castle has been found." There were yells of excitement and joy, people were overwhelmed. This was the best news they had heard in a long time. Hope flooded through people and several people were crying with happiness, for the first time there was a chance. 'Idiots,' thought Harry bitterly, 'they should know that it's not over yet, there's no guarantee that we will succeed, nor will this come cheaply.' Dumbledore waited politely for their excitement to die down before continuing.
"The castle will be attacked tonight by nine thousand of our troops. There is hope in sight." Everybody apart from the DA and a few Slytherins let out a hearty cheer. Dumbledore paused, he flicked his gaze towards Harry, back to the rest of the students and then he let it rest on Harry. Harry understood instantaneously. He shook his head slightly. Only Ron and Hermione noticed. Ron bent over the table,
"What was that?"
"Dumbledore wanted to know whether I wanted him to tell the rest of the students about us going off to fight. I said no." Ron looked surprised,
"When did you become so perceptive?"
"When I realised it could save my life in battle." Came the simple reply, Ron flashed a teasing grin at him,
"Moody would be proud of you." Harry could not help but laugh. Evidently Dumbledore had finished speaking as the tables suddenly groaned under the weight of all the food that appeared. Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.
"Eat as much as you can, it's going to be a long night." They nodded. Harry forced himself to eat his way through three helpings of roast beef even though with every passing second he felt sicker and sicker. He was just about to take some chocolate sponge when he caught Dumbledore's eye. Dumbledore nodded. Harry's stomach gave a terrible lurch.
Dumbledore stood up and once again clapped his hands for silence. People looked up curiously.
"There is something that I omitted to mention earlier. I will mention it now. But first I will tell you this. Our army is about to form up, we will attack Voldemort in a couple of hours." Harry was stunned,
"He isn't, I told him not to, so why is he telling them?" He muttered to himself. Dumbledore looked at Harry and nodded, knowing what he meant Harry sighed and stood up and the rest of the DA followed suite.
"Joining our army will be Harry Potter and the DA. It is time to say our goodbyes, for there is high chance that many of them will not return." Not wanting to hear any more Harry began walking out of the Great Hall, a deathly silence descended, people stared at them, horror written all over their faces, and then somewhere in the Great Hall someone cheered, then other people joined in. Soon everyone in the Great Hall was screaming and cheering. Harry paused, he must have misheard, but there it was again. Somebody was yelling his name, and soon everybody in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff who wasn't in the DA was screaming his name, Harry could not help but smile. He turned around and took out his wand, muttering a few words, a second later large emerald words slowly formed in the air,
THE DA SHALL NOT FAIL YOU; EVEN IF WE DIE WE WILL DIE FIGHTING. WE SHALL SEE YOU AGAIN WHETHER IT IS IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DA.
Harry led the DA out of them room to the loudest cheer yet.
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Harry led the DA out of the Entrance Hall and out into the grounds. Dusk was falling and there was a cool breeze. Harry formed the DA up in six columns, three ranks deep facing the castle. Hermione and Ron stood side by side slightly in front of them, with Harry in front of them. They waited. A few minutes later Dumbledore and Moody came out with a few members of the Order. He and Moody were the only teachers at Hogwarts who were going to fight. The rest had to stay and run the school.
Harry moved forward to speak to Dumbledore.
"How long till the Aurors arrive?"
"Not long, ten minutes at most." There was a constant trickle of members of the Order in their pale blue robes arriving from Hogsmeade. Half of them ran towards Harry whilst the other half ran towards Dumbledore who was standing a few hundred yards away to his right. After a few minutes the trickle of Order members stopped altogether. Harry stared around the grounds; behind him the DA shuffled their feet, patiently awaiting the arrival of the Aurors. The sky was beginning to darken.
Harry stared once more down the road towards Hogsmeade. In the distance he thought he heard the distinct 'crack' of someone Apparating followed by several others in quick succession but he couldn't be sure. He could hear the Aurors arriving before he could see them. The crunch of gravel under their boots as they ran up the road alerted everyone to their presence. A few minutes later a steady stream of Aurors were running into the grounds. Ron leaned forward to speak to Harry,
"There's a lot of them, isn't there?" Harry laughed,
"The bad thing is that it won't seem that way when we're fighting." There was a lot of shouting and shuffling of feet as the Aurors fell in. After half an hour everything was still. Dumbledore stepped forward; he beckoned to Harry and Moody. Harry began walking over to him fully aware that hundreds of people were watching him.
The three of them walked a little way off. Dumbledore smiled at them reassuringly.
"This is it then, we will depart in about an hour. The goblins are already waiting for us. Harry, you will have Ragnok and his warriors, Alastor you will have Lenwok and his warriors, I shall have Karvuk and his warriors." Harry and Moody nodded, Harry remembered Lupin saying something about Ragnok's warriors being the best. He snapped out of his daydream to hear that Dumbledore was saying something.
"Go and talk to your men, fire them up, give them confidence, if they see you are confident then they will be confident as well. You will have no time when we are in the forest; we will need to be absolutely silent. Also give your subordinates their orders. Well, this is it. Good luck, gentlemen." The three parted, Harry walked over to where Lupin, Ron and Hermione and Hermione were standing.
"Right, I'll keep this short. One hour until we leave. Also, when we get there and we get fighting, I need you to be my eyes and ears, I can't be everywhere at once, if you think something needs doing you do it, ok?" They nodded, "Good. Let's do this." They smiled at him,
"Don't worry, we will." Said Ron. Harry grinned at his best friend. Lupin, Ron and Hermione fell back in line. Harry began pacing up and down in front of his section of the army, many of them looked nervous and in desperate need of reassuring, however, a fair few of them were shooting him distrustful looks, as if they didn't want him in command, 'fire them up' he thought, 'how the hell am I meant to do that?' He took a deep breath and paused in front of them.
"I'm your leader. Me. Harry Potter, sixteen years old. Surprised? Me too. I tell you what you're thinking; you're all thinking; what the hell are they doing putting an inexperienced sixteen year old in command?!" He said forcefully, slightly angrily. He did not know why he was angry but he was. Harry saw that many of them looked slightly embarrassed and failed to meet his gaze.
"You want to know how I know this? Because that's what I'm thinking. But what are you going to do about it? I don't give a damn what you think you're going to do in this battle, I'll tell you what you're going to do. Just because I'm young, doesn't mean I'll be pushed around, I'll tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to go out there and kick the shit out of Voldemort and his Death Eaters." Harry fervour was rewarded by a loud cheer, 'sod firing them up, I'm firing myself up' Harry thought, "Why? Because Voldemort murdered my parents. And I don't intend to let him get away with that much longer. So lets go out there and give him what's coming to him. Hell." Another loud cheer, even louder than the first, many of the Aurors looked more confident, but Harry was not done yet,
"The wizarding world's watching us, boys" Harry taunted, "You think Fudge will keep this quiet? So let's make them proud. Who says we're going to win, we might not. But if we don't win then let's go down fighting, let's go down showing Voldemort that his time is nearly up. Why? BECAUSE WE ARE AURORS!" Harry yelled, the loudest cheer yet echoed through out the grounds, "BECAUSE WE ARE THE ORDER!" Another loud cheer, "AND BECAUSE WE ARE THE DA!" A deafening cheer came from them. Harry grinned wryly, "So let's go out there and give them what they deserve, let's go out there and make the wizarding world proud, let's go out there and scare the hell out of Voldemort. LET'S GO OUT THERE AND FIGHT LIKE HEROES!" Harry paused and grinned at them, "Because that's what we are, boys, heroes."
The loudest cheer yet, and not just from Harry's men, but from the entire army. A long time before everyone had stopped listening to their commanders and had started listening to Harry. They were well and truly fired up.
And Voldemort would know fear.
And the Wizarding world would be made proud.
And Harry's army would give them hell.
Because they were heroes.
A/N I hope you enjoyed that chapter, next chapter is the assault.
Any Harry/Ginny fans out there? After I have finished the trilogy, not before, I will do a Harry/Ginny fic called "When Dreams Come True." It should be good, I have been planning it for a long time, it also has an exceedingly happy ending.
Next chapter will be out in about a week.
LogicalRaven – Thanks for the review.
Roselynn Geigel – Thanks, that was an encouraging review.
Anime-Master7 – Thanks for the review.
Colm – Thanks for the review.
The Enchantresses – Don't worry they'll be together soon. More romance between Harry and Cho will be in the next fic. Though there will be some more in this one.
Pixielax06 – Thanks for the review.
The Phoenix King – Thanks for the review. This is fanfic, this is where we make what we want to happen actually happen. As unrealistic as it may be there is not a lot I can do. The plot is set out and you're just going to have to roll with it. Please don't think I am angry with you. It was a helpful review.
FSI – Thanks for the reviews, they were really encouraging.
DDG – Thanks for the review.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy.
The Second Darkness
Chapter 12: Preparing for the Assault
Ron and Hermione followed Harry up down the corridor to the Great Hall. Harry was walking quickly and Ron and Hermione hurried to keep up.
"That wasn't smart, Harry." Said Hermione. Harry shrugged and continued looking out of the window; the fading spring sun was casting an orange glow over the grounds. Harry stepped back slightly as a cold blast of wind blew in through the window,
"For once she's right," said Ron, ignoring the smack on the arm Hermione gave him, "You don't want to be picking fights with people like Moody." Harry turned to face him,
"I didn't pick the fight, Moody started it." Hermione sighed in exasperation,
"Harry, he's your teacher, you don't argue with your teacher." Harry looked at her as if she was crazy,
"He was making a stupid mistake, the fact that he's my teacher doesn't matter, I couldn't let him make that mistake." Hermione considered this for a moment and eventually she relented,
"Still, you shouldn't have argued in like that." Harry turned away and gave a small shrug,
"I guess you're right," he allowed, "But he provoked me."
"Anyway, it doesn't matter now." Interrupted Ron, seeing s frown on Hermione's face as she tried to make Harry see her point of view. Harry turned back to them.
"No, there's one more thing. Thanks." Ron and Hermione looked puzzled, they glanced at each other and then back at Harry,
"What for?" asked Ron, a puzzled frown on his face.
"For being so loyal, for stepping in front of me like that when Moody threatened me, for daring to point your wand at a teacher." The last remark was directed at Hermione and there was a faint teasing tone to it. For a moment she frowned and looked slightly hurt until she saw the funny side and joined in Harry and Rons' laughter.
They walked into the Great Hall and sat down in their usual place, Harry was reaching for the roast chicken when he suddenly remembered something.
"Damn!" Ron looked up from where he was buttering himself a roll,
"What?" He asked
"We need a DA meeting tonight but there is no time to arrange one now using the Galleons" Hermione looked thoughtful,
"Couldn't we postpone it until tomorrow?"
"No." Said Harry firmly, "We need it tonight." Hermione sighed wearily,
"Ok, let's start spreading the word." Harry leaned round the back of a third year to speak to Dean,
"Dean, DA meeting in half an hour, spread the word." Dean nodded and lent across the table to tell Seamus who then turned to Neville and told him. Gradually the word got passed around the Great Hall with pupils from different houses crossing over to their friends to tell them.
Even amongst the loud chatter and the normal movement in the Great Hall as people leaned over tables to talk to their friends or reach for more food Minerva McGonagall still noticed a curious ripple running through the Great Hall that seemed to begin at the centre of the Gryffindor table and spread outwards.
"What do you think that is?" She asked Dumbledore curiously,
"The DA at work." Minerva looked surprised,
"How do you know?" Dumbledore surveyed her over his half moon glasses.
"You don't live as long as I have and not pick up on a few things." He said, chuckling slightly, "See where it starts." McGonagall looked over to the Gryffindor table, sure enough, sitting in the centre were Harry, Ron and Hermione. McGonagall shook her slightly,
"I should have guessed." She said, slightly annoyed that she hadn't spotted that. Dumbledore chuckled again,
"Yes, you should have."
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Harry, Ron and Hermione left the Great Hall and headed straight up to the Room of Requirement. Harry was planning what to say to the DA and Ron and Hermione were bickering under their breaths. The familiar feeling of anxiety settling in his stomach as it always did before a fight, this one ten times worse as he was leading more people, he snapped at them,
"Just shut up." He said heavily. Ron and Hermione looked offended for a moment but then relaxed,
"Sorry." They reached the Room of Requirement and a few minutes later they were sitting inside waiting for the rest of the DA to arrive, Ron cast a sideways glance at Harry,
"Are you going to tell them right away." Harry nodded, he would not keep secrets from the DA for any longer then he had to. He stood up and began pacing up and down the room. Ron and Hermione watched him anxiously. He kept stopping and running his hands through his hair. He turned to them, his face worried,
"How do I tell twenty people that I am about to send half of them to their deaths?" Ron and Hermione looked shocked,
"Well, you might not be." Said Hermione not sounding convincing. Harry gave a nervous laugh,
"Come on, Hermione! You know as well as I do that this won't be a walk in the park." Hermione looked at Ron desperately for help, Ron held up his hands looking alarmed,
"Don't look at me!" At that moment Dean and Seamus followed by Parvati, Lavender and Padma came through the door; Harry sent Ron and Hermione a look warning them to keep quiet. Harry watched with increased nervousness as more of the DA trickled through the door. Eventually everyone was seated and were looking up at Harry expectantly. Harry stepped forward. He looked round at them before speaking. The words he had gone over in his head didn't seem adequate anymore; they seemed pointless. Instead the words he spoke were the words that came from the heart,
"I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to twist the truth to make it sound any better, to make it easier to handle, I'll be blunt," The DA looked around at each other apprehensively, Harry hesitated, he took a deep breath before continuing, "We've found Voldemort's castle, we're assaulting it in two days time." Gasps of horror went round the room and everyone started talking at once. Eventually it subsided although everyone was pale and shaking violently. Harry closed his eyes, not wanting to tell them the rest, knowing he had to and hating himself for it.
"That's not all. I know what the lie of the land is like, I know how high the walls are, I know a lot about it and I will tell you this..." Harry voice faltered, scaring the DA even more, Harry took a deep breath and continued in a stronger voice, "I will tell you this, I do not expect half of you to return." Harry closed his eyes, trying to block out the screams and gasps of fear in the room. Although he was determined to be blunt, he also knew he would have to reassure them. He held up a hand for silence, when everyone was silent again he began to speak, "Theoretically. There will be two and a half thousand Aurors, six thousand Goblins and Lupin said that something like five hundred members of the Order were going aswell so there is a chance that none of you will die. But it is only a small chance so don't be dependant on it. But we got lucky at Hogwarts and at Hogsmeade so maybe we'll get lucky again." He looked around again, gone were the normal looks of determination that were usually there before a battle instead were looks of fear, panic and desperation. Harry shook his head, trying to clear it,
"I will not insist that you fight, but if you want to fight please stand up and walk over here." Whatever Harry had expected it was not what happened. Every one stood up immediately and walked over to Harry without hesitation. Harry felt a lump in his throat, to see them standing there, all on his side, all of them loyal to him, all ready to fight for him and, if necessary, to die for him.
He stood back from the group,
"There will be a briefing tomorrow and we will assault the castle the day after that. Good luck." He smiled at them, "Give them hell." He then turned and strode from the room.
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Harry woke up the next morning a feeling of dread in his stomach, he got up and slipped his dragonskin armour over his head and put on his sword belt. He slowly walked downstairs his mind filled with what would happen in the next forty-eight hours.
Down in the Great Hall Ron's greeting was more subdued then it usually was and he was looking very sick. Harry sat down opposite him and helped himself to some bacon and sausages but found that it was difficult to chew or swallow them. He put his knife and fork down and looked around the Great Hall, it seemed impossible that people could be so happy and eat normally when, in less then forty-eight hours hundreds if not thousands of people will have died, including about ten students.
At that point Hermione entered the Great Hall, her hair was even more dishevelled then it usually was in the mornings and there were dark bags under her eyes, showing she had not slept last night.
"Morning." She greeted, her voice hoarse and lacking emotion. Harry and Ron nodded at her. They ate what they could in silence. Ron looked up at Harry,
"It's final, isn't it? It's going to happen." Harry nodded; he knew he had been living in denial before the DA meeting and by announcing it last night it seemed like it had been made inevitable. The bell rang for lessons and they gathered up their school bags and Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
It came as no surprise to Harry that the rest of the DA looked as sick and scared as he felt. In class Moody was even more bad tempered than usual and even shouted at Parvati Patil for dropping her quill on the floor. None of the DA learned anything in Moody's class, each of them lost in their thoughts. Surprisingly Moody didn't shout at them for that. On the pretence that he had forgotten his quill Harry doubled back to speak to Moody after the bell had rung, signalling the end of class. When Harry approached his desk Moody looked up from where he was marking some work.
"Hello Potter." He said gruffly.
"Hello, sir. I just wanted to know when the briefing was." Moody sighed and put down his quill, which immediately sprung up and began marking the work of it's own accord. Moody looked at it surprised.
"Damn, I forgot it did that, well, that's just saved me a lot of time. Wish I'd remembered before I started marking though. Anyway, sorry Potter, what was your question?"
"When's the briefing?"
"Five o'clock. Dumbledore's office."
"Thanks." Harry turned to leave, but Moody called him back. For a fleeting second Harry thought Moody looked slightly embarrassed, as if what he was about to say wasn't natural for him. That was gone in a second and Moody looked his usual, grim self.
"Good luck, Merlin knows, we're going to need it." Harry smiled,
"You too, Moody."
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The rest of the day passed in a blur of nerves, Harry didn't hear a word in any of his lessons, but none of his teachers punished them, not even McGonagall when she caught Harry staring aimlessly out of the window for the seventh time.
The bell rang announcing the end of their final lesson; charms, and Harry's nerves doubled and his stomach gave a funny lurch. He had an hour before the briefing. Harry, Ron and Hermione caught each others gaze and the three of them grinned weakly at each other. Having nothing better to do and feeling too sick to find anything, the three of them wandered around the castle together, saying little, each of them lost in their thoughts. At quarter to five Harry turned to them.
"Come on, let's go." Dumbledore's office was about as far away as it could possibly get and they spent a terrifying ten minutes walking towards it, the feeling that they were walking towards their fate increasing with every step.
The three of them hesitated opposite the stone gargoyle. Harry smiled at them reassuringly before giving the password in a stronger voice then he expected. They climbed the revolving staircase and entered the room to find everyone staring at them, most of them looking ill. Only Dumbledore looked calm.
Inside were Dumbledore, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Emmeline Vance and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Tonks, Vance and Shacklebolt were obviously Moody's subordinates. Lupin smiled weakly at Harry as he entered, Harry smiled back. A few minutes later everyone was settled and were looking at Dumbledore expectantly. The old man cleared his throat.
"We are all gathered now, so I will get straight to the point, this will only be a short briefing. To assault Voldemort's castle we have six thousand Goblins," Here Moody shot Harry a nasty glare, Harry could not resist smirking back, "Two and a half thousand Aurors, Five hundred Order members and the twenty-one members of the DA. This is how we shall split the forces up, Harry and I will both have two hundred and fifty members of the Order, two thousand Goblins and seven hundred and fifty Aurors. Harry shall also have the DA. Alastor will have two thousand Goblins and one thousand Aurors. The main thing that, even if our army is split under three commanders, we operate as one. To start advancing I will send up blue sparks when I am ready, Moody will send up blue sparks when he is ready and Harry will send up green sparks when he is ready. In that order. The moment Harry sends up green sparks we begin advancing." Everyone nodded and Dumbledore paused for a moment to give people time to ask questions.
"When we get there and start advancing up the slope, be extremely quiet, we want to get as close as we can before the spells start flying. One more thing, the walls must be cleared before we breach, otherwise we get in and we will find ourselves being attacked from every side" This, Harry did not agree with, if Voldemort was receiving reinforcements every minute then it would be difficult to keep them clear long enough to breach them. However every else was nodding their heads and looking at him expectantly; so he decided to trust Dumbledore and nodded his head.
"One final thing, we will leave for Voldemort's castle at ten. All forces must be assembled at seven in the grounds." Dumbledore straightened up and surveyed them all.
"This is it. With a lot of luck this could be the battle that wins the war. Or loses it. Good luck to you all Ladies and Gentlemen." With that everybody turned and left the room their heads filled with hope and fear. Dreamless sleep potions would need to be handed out that night. When fate comes calling it doesn't come quietly.
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Harry woke the next morning and was almost sick. Fear and dread flooded through him, he lay in his bed and closed his eyes willing himself to wake up and find that it was all a dream,
'Yeah, but still this is a huge opportunity for us' He thought as he dragged himself out of bed. He crossed the room to Ron's bed. For a minute he didn't want to wake him, he looked so peaceful. Eventually he shook Ron gently, Ron grimaced as he woke, remembering what was going to happen.
"C'mon, breakfast." Harry said in a dispirited tone. Ron looked as though he was going to refuse, and Harry didn't blame him. The thought of food made Harry's stomach turn as well. Eventually Ron groaned and climbed out of bed. He hurriedly tried to put some robes on. It took Ron a few minutes to realise that he was trying to force his legs through the arms and his arms through the legs. It would have been comical had it been under different circumstances.
Ron finally managed to get his robes on correctly and Harry and Ron walked down to the common room to find a very impatient and ill-looking Hermione waiting for them.
"Morning." Harry greeted her dully.
"Morning, Harry" she replied. Ron smiled at her weakly. The three of them walked down to breakfast. Outside of the Great Hall Harry paused. Taking a few deep breaths Harry tried to calm himself. Ron and Hermione looked at him curiously. Harry flashed them a grin that failed to hide his nervousness.
"I don't want the DA to be more worried because I look scared." After a few seconds Harry opened the door and strode into the room. He sat down opposite Ginny who was toying with her food, not eating a mouthful. She smiled at him feebly, and then she looked surprised and stared at him,
"Aren't you scared?" she asked astonished. Harry nodded,
"Yes." He said shortly, his voice empty of emotion. Ginny continued to stare into his eyes searching for any sign of what he was feeling, but they were unreadable. She shook her head.
"You'll never cease to amaze me." She said in wonder. Harry laughed slightly. He began to eat what he could before the bell rang for the beginning of lessons.
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The day passed in a blur. It passed much too quickly for Harry's liking, even potions and Snape breathing down his neck and scrutinizing his every move did not make it go any slower. There was one benefit of being a few hours away from possible death though, Harry registered dimly as he was gathering his things together after potions, Snape doesn't, or isn't allowed to, take points for mistakes, probably the latter...
Harry's weakening solution, which was meant to be electric blue, had turned out sky blue instead, Snape had stared at it looking desperate to deduct points but didn't. He merely shot Harry a nasty look before glaring at Dean and looking at his potion. Harry put his stuff in his dormitory before hurrying down to the Great hall with Ron and Hermione following him. They got there and none of them registered that something was different. They opened the door and instead of the usual noise of people talking and the chink of cutlery on plates there was a low droning noise of people talking in low voices. No delicious aroma hit them, the house tables were bare. Dumbledore was standing up at the front, waiting for the Great Hall to fill. A few minutes after Harry, Ron and Hermione had sat down Dumbledore seemed satisfied and clapped his hands together for silence.
"I have some good news. Voldemort's castle has been found." There were yells of excitement and joy, people were overwhelmed. This was the best news they had heard in a long time. Hope flooded through people and several people were crying with happiness, for the first time there was a chance. 'Idiots,' thought Harry bitterly, 'they should know that it's not over yet, there's no guarantee that we will succeed, nor will this come cheaply.' Dumbledore waited politely for their excitement to die down before continuing.
"The castle will be attacked tonight by nine thousand of our troops. There is hope in sight." Everybody apart from the DA and a few Slytherins let out a hearty cheer. Dumbledore paused, he flicked his gaze towards Harry, back to the rest of the students and then he let it rest on Harry. Harry understood instantaneously. He shook his head slightly. Only Ron and Hermione noticed. Ron bent over the table,
"What was that?"
"Dumbledore wanted to know whether I wanted him to tell the rest of the students about us going off to fight. I said no." Ron looked surprised,
"When did you become so perceptive?"
"When I realised it could save my life in battle." Came the simple reply, Ron flashed a teasing grin at him,
"Moody would be proud of you." Harry could not help but laugh. Evidently Dumbledore had finished speaking as the tables suddenly groaned under the weight of all the food that appeared. Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.
"Eat as much as you can, it's going to be a long night." They nodded. Harry forced himself to eat his way through three helpings of roast beef even though with every passing second he felt sicker and sicker. He was just about to take some chocolate sponge when he caught Dumbledore's eye. Dumbledore nodded. Harry's stomach gave a terrible lurch.
Dumbledore stood up and once again clapped his hands for silence. People looked up curiously.
"There is something that I omitted to mention earlier. I will mention it now. But first I will tell you this. Our army is about to form up, we will attack Voldemort in a couple of hours." Harry was stunned,
"He isn't, I told him not to, so why is he telling them?" He muttered to himself. Dumbledore looked at Harry and nodded, knowing what he meant Harry sighed and stood up and the rest of the DA followed suite.
"Joining our army will be Harry Potter and the DA. It is time to say our goodbyes, for there is high chance that many of them will not return." Not wanting to hear any more Harry began walking out of the Great Hall, a deathly silence descended, people stared at them, horror written all over their faces, and then somewhere in the Great Hall someone cheered, then other people joined in. Soon everyone in the Great Hall was screaming and cheering. Harry paused, he must have misheard, but there it was again. Somebody was yelling his name, and soon everybody in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff who wasn't in the DA was screaming his name, Harry could not help but smile. He turned around and took out his wand, muttering a few words, a second later large emerald words slowly formed in the air,
THE DA SHALL NOT FAIL YOU; EVEN IF WE DIE WE WILL DIE FIGHTING. WE SHALL SEE YOU AGAIN WHETHER IT IS IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DA.
Harry led the DA out of them room to the loudest cheer yet.
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Harry led the DA out of the Entrance Hall and out into the grounds. Dusk was falling and there was a cool breeze. Harry formed the DA up in six columns, three ranks deep facing the castle. Hermione and Ron stood side by side slightly in front of them, with Harry in front of them. They waited. A few minutes later Dumbledore and Moody came out with a few members of the Order. He and Moody were the only teachers at Hogwarts who were going to fight. The rest had to stay and run the school.
Harry moved forward to speak to Dumbledore.
"How long till the Aurors arrive?"
"Not long, ten minutes at most." There was a constant trickle of members of the Order in their pale blue robes arriving from Hogsmeade. Half of them ran towards Harry whilst the other half ran towards Dumbledore who was standing a few hundred yards away to his right. After a few minutes the trickle of Order members stopped altogether. Harry stared around the grounds; behind him the DA shuffled their feet, patiently awaiting the arrival of the Aurors. The sky was beginning to darken.
Harry stared once more down the road towards Hogsmeade. In the distance he thought he heard the distinct 'crack' of someone Apparating followed by several others in quick succession but he couldn't be sure. He could hear the Aurors arriving before he could see them. The crunch of gravel under their boots as they ran up the road alerted everyone to their presence. A few minutes later a steady stream of Aurors were running into the grounds. Ron leaned forward to speak to Harry,
"There's a lot of them, isn't there?" Harry laughed,
"The bad thing is that it won't seem that way when we're fighting." There was a lot of shouting and shuffling of feet as the Aurors fell in. After half an hour everything was still. Dumbledore stepped forward; he beckoned to Harry and Moody. Harry began walking over to him fully aware that hundreds of people were watching him.
The three of them walked a little way off. Dumbledore smiled at them reassuringly.
"This is it then, we will depart in about an hour. The goblins are already waiting for us. Harry, you will have Ragnok and his warriors, Alastor you will have Lenwok and his warriors, I shall have Karvuk and his warriors." Harry and Moody nodded, Harry remembered Lupin saying something about Ragnok's warriors being the best. He snapped out of his daydream to hear that Dumbledore was saying something.
"Go and talk to your men, fire them up, give them confidence, if they see you are confident then they will be confident as well. You will have no time when we are in the forest; we will need to be absolutely silent. Also give your subordinates their orders. Well, this is it. Good luck, gentlemen." The three parted, Harry walked over to where Lupin, Ron and Hermione and Hermione were standing.
"Right, I'll keep this short. One hour until we leave. Also, when we get there and we get fighting, I need you to be my eyes and ears, I can't be everywhere at once, if you think something needs doing you do it, ok?" They nodded, "Good. Let's do this." They smiled at him,
"Don't worry, we will." Said Ron. Harry grinned at his best friend. Lupin, Ron and Hermione fell back in line. Harry began pacing up and down in front of his section of the army, many of them looked nervous and in desperate need of reassuring, however, a fair few of them were shooting him distrustful looks, as if they didn't want him in command, 'fire them up' he thought, 'how the hell am I meant to do that?' He took a deep breath and paused in front of them.
"I'm your leader. Me. Harry Potter, sixteen years old. Surprised? Me too. I tell you what you're thinking; you're all thinking; what the hell are they doing putting an inexperienced sixteen year old in command?!" He said forcefully, slightly angrily. He did not know why he was angry but he was. Harry saw that many of them looked slightly embarrassed and failed to meet his gaze.
"You want to know how I know this? Because that's what I'm thinking. But what are you going to do about it? I don't give a damn what you think you're going to do in this battle, I'll tell you what you're going to do. Just because I'm young, doesn't mean I'll be pushed around, I'll tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to go out there and kick the shit out of Voldemort and his Death Eaters." Harry fervour was rewarded by a loud cheer, 'sod firing them up, I'm firing myself up' Harry thought, "Why? Because Voldemort murdered my parents. And I don't intend to let him get away with that much longer. So lets go out there and give him what's coming to him. Hell." Another loud cheer, even louder than the first, many of the Aurors looked more confident, but Harry was not done yet,
"The wizarding world's watching us, boys" Harry taunted, "You think Fudge will keep this quiet? So let's make them proud. Who says we're going to win, we might not. But if we don't win then let's go down fighting, let's go down showing Voldemort that his time is nearly up. Why? BECAUSE WE ARE AURORS!" Harry yelled, the loudest cheer yet echoed through out the grounds, "BECAUSE WE ARE THE ORDER!" Another loud cheer, "AND BECAUSE WE ARE THE DA!" A deafening cheer came from them. Harry grinned wryly, "So let's go out there and give them what they deserve, let's go out there and make the wizarding world proud, let's go out there and scare the hell out of Voldemort. LET'S GO OUT THERE AND FIGHT LIKE HEROES!" Harry paused and grinned at them, "Because that's what we are, boys, heroes."
The loudest cheer yet, and not just from Harry's men, but from the entire army. A long time before everyone had stopped listening to their commanders and had started listening to Harry. They were well and truly fired up.
And Voldemort would know fear.
And the Wizarding world would be made proud.
And Harry's army would give them hell.
Because they were heroes.
A/N I hope you enjoyed that chapter, next chapter is the assault.
Any Harry/Ginny fans out there? After I have finished the trilogy, not before, I will do a Harry/Ginny fic called "When Dreams Come True." It should be good, I have been planning it for a long time, it also has an exceedingly happy ending.
Next chapter will be out in about a week.
LogicalRaven – Thanks for the review.
Roselynn Geigel – Thanks, that was an encouraging review.
Anime-Master7 – Thanks for the review.
Colm – Thanks for the review.
The Enchantresses – Don't worry they'll be together soon. More romance between Harry and Cho will be in the next fic. Though there will be some more in this one.
Pixielax06 – Thanks for the review.
The Phoenix King – Thanks for the review. This is fanfic, this is where we make what we want to happen actually happen. As unrealistic as it may be there is not a lot I can do. The plot is set out and you're just going to have to roll with it. Please don't think I am angry with you. It was a helpful review.
FSI – Thanks for the reviews, they were really encouraging.
DDG – Thanks for the review.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy.