Good thing we evacuated all the Muggles a long time ago, thought Harry as he flew over the ruined city of London, Voldemort really doesn't care who he hurts.
Did you really expect him to, replied the griffin, Danderick, telepathically. I realize you weren't alive during the first war, but you have heard about it, no? Can you really be surprised by the level of evil Voldemort displays?
I just didn't think it would be this...terrible.
Concentrate on what we're supposed to be doing, scolded Danderick. Kingsley had ordered Harry and his unit of 20 wizards to assist in defending the ruined Ministry of Magic. It was hardly usable as a base of operations, but it was necessary to use it until it had been stripped of secrets that the enemy could gain. Ron was in command of the forces there, but he had been penned in by the Dark Lord's forces. Harry landed Danderick in front of his troops.
"See anything yet, Harry," questioned Dean Thomas, Harry's second in command.
"Nope," came the reply from Harry, "I'll let you know when I do. These wards are really set far out, I wish there was some way for just us to get through them!" The sword of Gryffindor rattled against Harry's leg as he took off again. He had long ago placed his wand inside the now powerful sword. He used the physical means of the sword much more than the magical ones. The artificial Tebo armor wizards wore protected against most spells, unless it was an especially powerful spell…or an average Dark Magic spell.
I know what you're thinking, said Danderick, but Dark Magic is evil. No matter how good your intentions are, nothing good can ever come of using Dark Magic. Of course, Harry knew this well. Dumbledore had impressed upon him the importance of not using Dark Magic before he died, but still, the temptation was great. How could he stand by and watch while many of his friends, many good wizards were killed by something he was forbidden from using. He knew he was many times more powerful than most of the Dark wizards, but they would be able to defeat him simply based on their willingness to use Dark Magic. Harry snapped back to reality as the raging battle came into his view. He swooped back over Dean, yelling down to him that he could see the fight.
"I'm going to go ahead and find a weak point in their lines, get there as quick as you can, I'll send up sparks," ordered Harry.
"No need," replied Dean, smiling, "I think I can see the weak point from here." Harry turned to see a giant black ridged Norwegian Ridgeback dragon strafing the Dark forces, incinerating all foolish enough to try and hold their ground.
"Norbert," cried Harry with glee. "Charlie said he had been working on something like this!"
I should rather wish to meet this Charlie, said Danderick, he must be quite a wizard to make a dragon do his bidding.
I'm sure you'll meet him soon enough, old friend, said Harry, his mood suddenly improved. He may even be at the Ministry now, if Norbert's here. The half-eagle, half-lion bounded forward enthusiastically in its awkward gait.
Harry drew his blade, muttering, "Incendio," igniting it in flame, while his wizards followed behind him. Harry rode through the brief gap in the Dark forces, cutting down all who crossed his path. Danderick crushed any who escaped Harry's wrath in his powerful beak. The other wizards followed in behind, protected from spells by their Tebo armor as Harry was.
Some of the Light wizards wielded bows of Centaur make. Others had swords and axes crafted by Dwarves. Dwarves were content to stay in their underground tunnels, while Centaurs didn't feel threatened enough to involve themselves quite yet, but both could see the importance of the Light side's victory. When all of the guns the Light possessed were depleted, they had needed other weapons. The Dark side felt all they needed was their Killing Curse, which penetrated the Tebo armor when cast by an especially powerful wizard.
Nevertheless, the Dark Forces managed to close the encirclement of the Ministry before Harry's unit could break through.
"Contumelia," bellowed Harry, pointing his flaming sword at the wall of enemies. An incredibly strong gust of wind blasted away those standing between Harry and his goal. They were flung against piles of rubble and ruined buildings, killed instantly or wishing they had been. Harry was barely fazed as various spells were absorbed by his armor. None of these wizards were powerful enough to harm him. He saw Ron running out to meet them, using the Contumelia spell to clear any enemies out. They met and clasped hands, as Harry leapt off Danderick.
"I thought you'd never show up," exclaimed Ron.
"And miss this," replied Harry, gesturing around at the battle, "Never!"
Ron laughed heartily, "Good humor is short these days, I'm glad to see yours hasn't left you!"
Harry, you might want to watch out, interrupted Danderick, they've sent a giant to attempt to seal us off.
Well, we'll have to do something about that, replied Harry as he swung himself onto Danderick's back. The giant was plainly visible, towering above the Dark wizards. They rode with a surprising speed towards the giant. Harry knew he'd have the element of surprise on the giant. It didn't pay much attention to the tiny wizards, stupidly believing that they could do him little harm. I want you to go behind him, said Harry.
I know what you're thinking Harry, it should work. As soon as they were behind the giant, Danderick took off straight up.
Before the giant could decide what the noise behind him was, Harry stabbed him in the middle of his back. For good measure, he yelled, "Reduct!." As they landed, Harry turned briefly to see the giant slump to the ground, his midsection completely ruined. Harry felled a few more black robes on his way back to join Ron and his forces, which didn't really seem to need his help anyways. Seeing that they would not be able to take the Ministry on this day, the Dark wizards began to flee. Many of them were killed while trying to escape the wards, but still too many of them escaped back to their master's side.
"Well, at least that went well," commented Harry, riding towards the Ministry entrance, "They didn't even push us back inside the Ministry this time."
Ron nodded in agreement, following Harry, "We've had worse battles, that's for sure."
They chatted as they made their way to the room where most of the high-ranking officials sat. As they entered the council room and seated themselves, Harry looked around to see who was there. There was Hermione, of course, leader of the Light side's efforts to discover new spells and such. There was Kingsley, who was in charge of most of the military operations. Severus was seated in the room. After he had been discovered as a spy by Voldemort he had become the leader of their covert operations. There was also Minerva, who was in charge of the whole Light side based in England. Harry smiled as he saw Charlie, knowing that Danderick would be speaking telepathically to him during most of the meeting.
"Harry and Ron are here to inform us how the battle went," introduced Minerva. Ron told the first part, and Harry finished it off with his tale of slaying the giant and the retreat of the Dark forces. "Good, good," said Minerva, "Another giant killed, they probably only have around 20 of those left. And we must've killed at least 100 of their Dark wizards."
"There were no powerful wizards in that group," commented Harry. "They were just keeping us busy. My unit suffered no casualties, mostly thanks to the artificial Tebo armor," he said, nodding towards Hermione.
"How go our spies, Severus," questioned Minerva, apparently satisfied with Harry and Ron's account of the battle.
"Indeed, we have gathered that this attack was not intended to break through. The cruel Dark Lord throws his soldiers unto their death. He never expected most of them to survive." Severus had changed since the years Voldemort returned. He was no longer Snape, the strict, unfair potions teacher to Harry. Now he was Severus, the useful, loyal spymaster of the Light side. Harry respected him greatly, he was the most powerful wizard the light side had, excluding Harry. His power had been achieved through Dark means early in his life, but it was still formidable, and Harry often dueled with Severus to improve both their skills. They could even sometimes be considered friends.
Harry snapped out of his reflections, saying, "Charlie, I must complement you on Norbert, he was quite useful. He probably killed 60 Dark wizards just by himself!"
"Oh, that wasn't me, Harry," replied Charlie. Harry was confused until Danderick filled him in on how Norbert was controlled. Charlie continued, "I see the griffin has filled you in, but I should probably tell the rest of them how this works."
"As you know, all magical animals can communicate telepathically with people they respect and trust." He gestured toward Danderick, "For example, griffins trust and respect Harry, a lot of that due to the sword he carries. Now, the trick is finding someone who the animal can respect. We knew it was possible to befriend dragons, but first they'd have to consider you an equal. Trust is the easy part, you just have to find someone that genuinely means no harm to the dragon, but we weren't quite sure how to get them to respect him enough to begin communication."
"We tried everything, from him fighting the dragon, to him answering challenging riddles in front of the dragon. Still the dragon didn't contact him. Finally, on a whim, we had him tell the dragon his story. From his abusive father, to the pain he'd suffered at the hands of the Dark Lord. How he refused great power because of his morals, how he had saved innocent lives with his sacrifices. How he had wanted to live up to his father, how he didn't want to tarnish the family name, but how he had still been saved from the Dark Lord, and renounced his father's name. Then we had our breakthrough, Norbert contacted him and told him how noble he thought he was, worthy of any dragon's respect. Norbert may have been easier than other dragons, since he was raised by Hagrid, but he is still an incredibly powerful ally to have, and an amazing feat. In the future, we plan to use him to help us solicit the help of other dragons."
"Now, I've kept this person's identity secret up until now, because some of you may not have the best relationship with him, but I assure you that he is a changed man, and will surely be a huge asset to the Light side. I present to you, the first dragon-friend known to wizardkind, Draco Malfoy!"