First of all, I apologize for any discrepancies that come about through my writing. I don't have the books with me, so I'm running completely off memory, here. I appreciate when you tell me my mistakes, but you have to take all of this with a grain of salt. My copies of the books are on the other side of the country.
Sorry for the delay. I'll write a little faster, I promise.
Thanks for all the support everybody gave me about my girl problems. It probably wasn't as dramatic as I made it out to be. It all turned out to be kind of funny. The guy she dumped me for doesn't want to have anything to do with her. I don't feel sorry for her.
The first assault of Voldemort's army almost took Professor Flitwick's breath away. The trolls and giants ran down the hill in such numbers that they looked like a wave breaking on to the beach, covering the sand foot by foot. How could there possibly be that many? he asked himself.
THAT many? No, you fool. Voldemort has ten times this many, just on the other side of the hill. This is only a fraction of his true power. And he has things much more dangerous than Giants.
"Doesn't look good, does it, Albus?" Flitwick asked the man standing next to him.
Dumbledore smiled thinly. "We've dealt with overwhelming odds before. Remember in 1945 when you, Minerva and I dealt with the Black Wizard of Germany? We weren't so different from Potter, Granger and Weasley."
Flitwick sighed expansively and ran a tiny hand through his white beard. "Those were the best days of my life, Albus. How many school rules did we break through our years here. We must hold some sort of record. I know the Weasley twins are renowned for their troublemaking, but they never put much effort into covering it up. They always wanted to get caught. We were better at it."
Dumbledore chuckled and put a gnarly hand around his companion's equally gnarly shoulder. "I think Potter's crew beat us years ago."
Flitwick thought about it a moment. He thought about how much the school had changed since Potter had arrived. Almost from day one Potter had been breaking the rules. Flitwick began to laugh. "Yes, I suppose they did. But you're wrong, Albus. Potter, Granger and Weasley are nothing like we were. They're responsible. The responsibility they have taken puts our own childhood to shame. When did we ever think about our next class, let alone the future of the world? They're twice as powerful as we were."
Dumbledore nodded, quietly watching the first wave of Voldemort's army spill down that hill, closing in on the wall of the castle. "They're a good sign for the future."
Flitwick agreed. "Then again, Adolphus didn't have half the numbers the Voldemort does. This will not be easy."
"Few things are."
Flitwick turned to the faculty and students that had camped out on top of the tower. "Get ready!" he yelled to them. "We don't fire until we get the signal from Potter's tower!"
((()))
Harry kept his face as calm as possible. It wouldn't do any good for his people to see that he was scared. Without turning, he shouted his command over his shoulder.
"Send the signal!" he screamed at Draco who stood behind him.
Draco lifted his wand above his head and mumbled a few words. Sickly green light erupted form the tip of his wand. The light soared into the air where it formed a ghostly, horrid image. The Dark Mark.
Harry's breath was stuck in his throat. The Dark Mark? What the hell was Draco doing? Thoughts of deception ran through his mind. Had Draco been with Voldemort the whole time, biding his time until he could do the most damage?
"Draco!" Harry screamed.
Draco ignored him, staring up at the Dark Mark, his wand still extended.
The Dark Mark had a profound effect on those around him. Harry could hear pitiful shrieks of fear coming from all of his towers. Many of the wizards manning the towers weren't even looking at the charging army; their eyes were glued onto the Dark Mark.
The trolls and giants that were running at full speed towards the walls of Hogwarts gave a collective scream of victory and brought their massive war-clubs above their heads as they charged. Harry could see thick lines of saliva running from the mouths of the giants. The Dark Mark was inspiring them. They charged with a new vigor.
Harry pulled his wand and turned to Draco. Draco was still staring up at the Dark Mark, muttering words under his breath.
The Mark was causing too much damage, Harry told himself as he prepared the spell that would knock Draco unconscious. Harry lifted his wand and pointed it at Draco's chest.
Suddenly, the putrid green light erupting from Draco's wand was replaced by brilliant red flame. Harry watched as the fire shot into the air. As it flew, it slowly formed into a very familiar shape; the shape of a phoenix.
When the phoenix reached the Dark Mark, it shrieked loudly into the night. With one sweep of its massive talons, it tore through the Dark Mark. The Mark dissipated in moments. The phoenix hovered in that air, beating it its fiery wings.
Harry, once again heard screams from the towers. But instead of scream of fear, they were screams of joy and determination. Harry looked over to Ron's tower and saw him standing on the stone balustrade, facing the rest of the Sentinels. His massive sword was in his hands and extended over his head. "Hogwarts!" he bellowed in a voice that could be heard across the courtyard.
The call was soon taken up by the rest of the towers. "Hogwarts! Hogwarts!"
The effect the phoenix had on the charging army was considerable. They had been overjoyed to see the Dark Mark. To see the Dark Mark torn apart by a massive phoenix nearly stopped them in their tracks. The charge faltered; trolls and Giants tripping over themselves to come to a stop.
The phoenix shrieked again and began a fast descent towards the cowering beasts. The trolls began a quick retreat, the Giants were too stupid to do anything but stare.
The phoenix fell among the monsters. Every troll or giant in its reach fell to the ground, their hands covering their faces.
Harry knew the phoenix was little more than a cleverly constructed illusion. It couldn't harm the beasts. It was good thing they didn't know it. Harry ran to the railing. As he ran to the railing he pointed his wand at his throat. "Resonatio Amplifia!"
Harry reached the railing and with a newly amplified voice, he screamed. "Fire!"
His voice was heard even above the shrieks of fear coming from the trolls and giants. His command echoed to every tower in sight and it was obeyed immediately.
Massive balls of fire and bolts of lighting shot down at the shrieking beasts from every tower. The effect was devastating. The trolls and giants, finally realizing that the phoenix couldn't harm them had just been getting back to their feet when the first wave of magic hit them.
The spells landed among the beasts and exploded. Trolls and giants alike were thrown in all directions. Harry winced when he saw the head of a nearby giant disappear in a haze of blood and bone as it was hit with a bolt of lighting as thick as Harry's wrist. Trolls were torn apart as they were hit with the balls of flame, their dry skin immediately catching flame. These trolls would stumble around, beating at the fire, only causing it to spread further. The flaming trolls would knock into their brethren and these too would ignite.
Harry saw nearly twenty trolls and giants fall out of sight as the ground below them was liquefied into mud. Moments later, the ground became solid again the only thing remaining of the creatures was a single arm sticking out of the earth.
Within a minute, the charge was broken completely. The few remaining beasts turned and ran, disappearing over the far hill.
Surveying the battle ground, Harry couldn't even count the mangled bodies, there. It was a small victory, Voldemort had thousands more, but it had come with no losses from his side. Harry allowed himself to smile determinedly. "He'll send more."
Draco came up to his side. "And they won't fall for the phoenix trick again."
Harry turned to his friend. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about that? I thought you had gone back to the other side when you sent up that Dark Mark!"
Draco smiled sheepishly. "I just thought it up while I was sending the signal. There wasn't any time to tell you."
Harry allowed for a few moments of silence before he smiled and said, "It worked. I'm sure glad you're on our side."
Draco smiled and clapped Harry on the shoulder.
((()))
The second wave came less than fifteen minutes later. In response to the attack, all towers cast their most deadly spells. The spells fell amongst the trolls and giants and many died, just as before, but unlike before, they were running at full speed when they were hit.
The charge stuttered, but continued to work its way towards the castle walls. When they came too close, Harry informed Draco to call off the firing of spells. Draco sent up a shower of blue sparks that signified the cease-fire. The spells ceased immediately.
The trolls and giants, seeing that they were no longer being fired upon, gave a collective scream and charged forward, intent on crushing the mortar of Hogwarts' walls into dust.
In fact, they were so intent on destroying the castle walls that they didn't see more than twenty figures drop from a close-by tower. Even if they had seen, they probably wouldn't have understood. The figures dropped from a height of nearly one hundred and fifty feet. They should have died as they hit the ground. Instead the figures landed unharmed, holding their loved ones in their arms.
As the Sentinels were forming a line in front of their bond-mates, the first troll caught sight of them. The troll bellowed and the charge changed course. They now ran towards the puny humans that seemed like such easy targets.
Harry could see Ron, who stood at the head of the Sentinel column, draw his greatsword from his back. Even from the distance, Harry could the rage on his face.
Moving faster than humanly possible, Ron met the charge head on, his massive sword flashing. His Sentinels followed at his heals. With a single swing of his sword, Ron finished the first troll.
The Sentinels fell upon the beasts as their bond-mates formed a wedge behind. Hermione gave a stiff command and all of the bond-mates, male and female alike, drew their wands.
Soon, the beasts had to deal with the Sentinels and the deadly spells coming from their bond-mates. With every stroke of Ron's sword and every flick of Hermione's wand a troll or giant fell.
But this charge was much bigger than the last. Apparently, Voldemort wanted it done right, this time. For every troll or giant that fell, two or three took its place. The Sentinels were holding, fighting masterfully, but even they would tire eventually.
Harry was thinking of a solution when he heard a strange sound coming from the woods. He looked in that direction and saw headlights flying above the tree-tops.
"What the hell is that?" Draco asked.
"I'm not sure." Harry muttered.
The headlights closed in fast and flew above the charging horde. Harry finally got a good look at the vehicle and threw his hands up in triumph. "Yeah!" he screamed.
The flying bus came to a halt above the approaching trolls and giants, the one who were still pouring over the hill. Harry could vaguely see figures running inside the vehicle. A window on the near side of the bus opened and a figure stuck its arms out. The figure dropped something bright orange amongst the beasts. The resulting explosion was massive. The monsters were lifted from their feet and tossed hundreds of feet away to a crunchy death, or they were burned to a cinder were they stood.
The charging trolls seeing fire, their greatest weakness, turned tail and ran back in to the forest, the giants following soon after.
Without reinforcements, the currently fighting trolls and giants were quickly slaughtered. They had won again, but the horde would return.
The flying bus flew straight for Harry's tower and landed without a sound. George gave a happy wave from the front seat. The folding door opened with a squeal and Ginny ran out of the opening.
Harry felt his heart shift at seeing the ginger haired girl. He ran forward and caught her in a heavy hug. He had been sure that he would never see her again. At least not all of his predictions were true.
The next chapter is the one. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I've been the busiest person in the world, recently. It's coming.
Sorry for the delay. I'll write a little faster, I promise.
Thanks for all the support everybody gave me about my girl problems. It probably wasn't as dramatic as I made it out to be. It all turned out to be kind of funny. The guy she dumped me for doesn't want to have anything to do with her. I don't feel sorry for her.
The first assault of Voldemort's army almost took Professor Flitwick's breath away. The trolls and giants ran down the hill in such numbers that they looked like a wave breaking on to the beach, covering the sand foot by foot. How could there possibly be that many? he asked himself.
THAT many? No, you fool. Voldemort has ten times this many, just on the other side of the hill. This is only a fraction of his true power. And he has things much more dangerous than Giants.
"Doesn't look good, does it, Albus?" Flitwick asked the man standing next to him.
Dumbledore smiled thinly. "We've dealt with overwhelming odds before. Remember in 1945 when you, Minerva and I dealt with the Black Wizard of Germany? We weren't so different from Potter, Granger and Weasley."
Flitwick sighed expansively and ran a tiny hand through his white beard. "Those were the best days of my life, Albus. How many school rules did we break through our years here. We must hold some sort of record. I know the Weasley twins are renowned for their troublemaking, but they never put much effort into covering it up. They always wanted to get caught. We were better at it."
Dumbledore chuckled and put a gnarly hand around his companion's equally gnarly shoulder. "I think Potter's crew beat us years ago."
Flitwick thought about it a moment. He thought about how much the school had changed since Potter had arrived. Almost from day one Potter had been breaking the rules. Flitwick began to laugh. "Yes, I suppose they did. But you're wrong, Albus. Potter, Granger and Weasley are nothing like we were. They're responsible. The responsibility they have taken puts our own childhood to shame. When did we ever think about our next class, let alone the future of the world? They're twice as powerful as we were."
Dumbledore nodded, quietly watching the first wave of Voldemort's army spill down that hill, closing in on the wall of the castle. "They're a good sign for the future."
Flitwick agreed. "Then again, Adolphus didn't have half the numbers the Voldemort does. This will not be easy."
"Few things are."
Flitwick turned to the faculty and students that had camped out on top of the tower. "Get ready!" he yelled to them. "We don't fire until we get the signal from Potter's tower!"
((()))
Harry kept his face as calm as possible. It wouldn't do any good for his people to see that he was scared. Without turning, he shouted his command over his shoulder.
"Send the signal!" he screamed at Draco who stood behind him.
Draco lifted his wand above his head and mumbled a few words. Sickly green light erupted form the tip of his wand. The light soared into the air where it formed a ghostly, horrid image. The Dark Mark.
Harry's breath was stuck in his throat. The Dark Mark? What the hell was Draco doing? Thoughts of deception ran through his mind. Had Draco been with Voldemort the whole time, biding his time until he could do the most damage?
"Draco!" Harry screamed.
Draco ignored him, staring up at the Dark Mark, his wand still extended.
The Dark Mark had a profound effect on those around him. Harry could hear pitiful shrieks of fear coming from all of his towers. Many of the wizards manning the towers weren't even looking at the charging army; their eyes were glued onto the Dark Mark.
The trolls and giants that were running at full speed towards the walls of Hogwarts gave a collective scream of victory and brought their massive war-clubs above their heads as they charged. Harry could see thick lines of saliva running from the mouths of the giants. The Dark Mark was inspiring them. They charged with a new vigor.
Harry pulled his wand and turned to Draco. Draco was still staring up at the Dark Mark, muttering words under his breath.
The Mark was causing too much damage, Harry told himself as he prepared the spell that would knock Draco unconscious. Harry lifted his wand and pointed it at Draco's chest.
Suddenly, the putrid green light erupting from Draco's wand was replaced by brilliant red flame. Harry watched as the fire shot into the air. As it flew, it slowly formed into a very familiar shape; the shape of a phoenix.
When the phoenix reached the Dark Mark, it shrieked loudly into the night. With one sweep of its massive talons, it tore through the Dark Mark. The Mark dissipated in moments. The phoenix hovered in that air, beating it its fiery wings.
Harry, once again heard screams from the towers. But instead of scream of fear, they were screams of joy and determination. Harry looked over to Ron's tower and saw him standing on the stone balustrade, facing the rest of the Sentinels. His massive sword was in his hands and extended over his head. "Hogwarts!" he bellowed in a voice that could be heard across the courtyard.
The call was soon taken up by the rest of the towers. "Hogwarts! Hogwarts!"
The effect the phoenix had on the charging army was considerable. They had been overjoyed to see the Dark Mark. To see the Dark Mark torn apart by a massive phoenix nearly stopped them in their tracks. The charge faltered; trolls and Giants tripping over themselves to come to a stop.
The phoenix shrieked again and began a fast descent towards the cowering beasts. The trolls began a quick retreat, the Giants were too stupid to do anything but stare.
The phoenix fell among the monsters. Every troll or giant in its reach fell to the ground, their hands covering their faces.
Harry knew the phoenix was little more than a cleverly constructed illusion. It couldn't harm the beasts. It was good thing they didn't know it. Harry ran to the railing. As he ran to the railing he pointed his wand at his throat. "Resonatio Amplifia!"
Harry reached the railing and with a newly amplified voice, he screamed. "Fire!"
His voice was heard even above the shrieks of fear coming from the trolls and giants. His command echoed to every tower in sight and it was obeyed immediately.
Massive balls of fire and bolts of lighting shot down at the shrieking beasts from every tower. The effect was devastating. The trolls and giants, finally realizing that the phoenix couldn't harm them had just been getting back to their feet when the first wave of magic hit them.
The spells landed among the beasts and exploded. Trolls and giants alike were thrown in all directions. Harry winced when he saw the head of a nearby giant disappear in a haze of blood and bone as it was hit with a bolt of lighting as thick as Harry's wrist. Trolls were torn apart as they were hit with the balls of flame, their dry skin immediately catching flame. These trolls would stumble around, beating at the fire, only causing it to spread further. The flaming trolls would knock into their brethren and these too would ignite.
Harry saw nearly twenty trolls and giants fall out of sight as the ground below them was liquefied into mud. Moments later, the ground became solid again the only thing remaining of the creatures was a single arm sticking out of the earth.
Within a minute, the charge was broken completely. The few remaining beasts turned and ran, disappearing over the far hill.
Surveying the battle ground, Harry couldn't even count the mangled bodies, there. It was a small victory, Voldemort had thousands more, but it had come with no losses from his side. Harry allowed himself to smile determinedly. "He'll send more."
Draco came up to his side. "And they won't fall for the phoenix trick again."
Harry turned to his friend. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about that? I thought you had gone back to the other side when you sent up that Dark Mark!"
Draco smiled sheepishly. "I just thought it up while I was sending the signal. There wasn't any time to tell you."
Harry allowed for a few moments of silence before he smiled and said, "It worked. I'm sure glad you're on our side."
Draco smiled and clapped Harry on the shoulder.
((()))
The second wave came less than fifteen minutes later. In response to the attack, all towers cast their most deadly spells. The spells fell amongst the trolls and giants and many died, just as before, but unlike before, they were running at full speed when they were hit.
The charge stuttered, but continued to work its way towards the castle walls. When they came too close, Harry informed Draco to call off the firing of spells. Draco sent up a shower of blue sparks that signified the cease-fire. The spells ceased immediately.
The trolls and giants, seeing that they were no longer being fired upon, gave a collective scream and charged forward, intent on crushing the mortar of Hogwarts' walls into dust.
In fact, they were so intent on destroying the castle walls that they didn't see more than twenty figures drop from a close-by tower. Even if they had seen, they probably wouldn't have understood. The figures dropped from a height of nearly one hundred and fifty feet. They should have died as they hit the ground. Instead the figures landed unharmed, holding their loved ones in their arms.
As the Sentinels were forming a line in front of their bond-mates, the first troll caught sight of them. The troll bellowed and the charge changed course. They now ran towards the puny humans that seemed like such easy targets.
Harry could see Ron, who stood at the head of the Sentinel column, draw his greatsword from his back. Even from the distance, Harry could the rage on his face.
Moving faster than humanly possible, Ron met the charge head on, his massive sword flashing. His Sentinels followed at his heals. With a single swing of his sword, Ron finished the first troll.
The Sentinels fell upon the beasts as their bond-mates formed a wedge behind. Hermione gave a stiff command and all of the bond-mates, male and female alike, drew their wands.
Soon, the beasts had to deal with the Sentinels and the deadly spells coming from their bond-mates. With every stroke of Ron's sword and every flick of Hermione's wand a troll or giant fell.
But this charge was much bigger than the last. Apparently, Voldemort wanted it done right, this time. For every troll or giant that fell, two or three took its place. The Sentinels were holding, fighting masterfully, but even they would tire eventually.
Harry was thinking of a solution when he heard a strange sound coming from the woods. He looked in that direction and saw headlights flying above the tree-tops.
"What the hell is that?" Draco asked.
"I'm not sure." Harry muttered.
The headlights closed in fast and flew above the charging horde. Harry finally got a good look at the vehicle and threw his hands up in triumph. "Yeah!" he screamed.
The flying bus came to a halt above the approaching trolls and giants, the one who were still pouring over the hill. Harry could vaguely see figures running inside the vehicle. A window on the near side of the bus opened and a figure stuck its arms out. The figure dropped something bright orange amongst the beasts. The resulting explosion was massive. The monsters were lifted from their feet and tossed hundreds of feet away to a crunchy death, or they were burned to a cinder were they stood.
The charging trolls seeing fire, their greatest weakness, turned tail and ran back in to the forest, the giants following soon after.
Without reinforcements, the currently fighting trolls and giants were quickly slaughtered. They had won again, but the horde would return.
The flying bus flew straight for Harry's tower and landed without a sound. George gave a happy wave from the front seat. The folding door opened with a squeal and Ginny ran out of the opening.
Harry felt his heart shift at seeing the ginger haired girl. He ran forward and caught her in a heavy hug. He had been sure that he would never see her again. At least not all of his predictions were true.
The next chapter is the one. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I've been the busiest person in the world, recently. It's coming.