Well, after a very long wait, here's chapter 7. I'm sorry, but I had a MAJOR case of writer's block and this chapter get deleted when I got a new computer.
I've decided to write the stories by year, so there's going to be only 2 or 3 more chapters. There's going to be about a 3 week gap between the end of one story and when I start the other, to give me time to work on other stories.
In case you've forgotten, the digidestined understand them because of their digivices and vice versa.
Giramon: At least you're finally getting it in.
Me: Altogether, this story should be around 30,000 words. I've only got 2 more chapters.
Giramon: I just hope you get more reviews.
Me: I probably should review more stories, if nothing else, than to become more known on this website. P.S. There's a joke from Spongebob Squarepants in this chapter. See if you can find it!
Over the next few days, Gryffindor house was almost completely divided. Half of them, Ron and Harry included, thought the 75 points lost was worth seeing Malfoy beg for his life. That, and Slytherin lost 150 points.
The other half, like Hermione, were furious with him, and a few extremists had even gone so far as to hex him in the corridors. Professor Mcgongall was furious at him, but they wouldn't stop.
However, Tai didn't care about any of it. The fact that he was nearly a murderer, even though he was possessed by Voldemort, haunted him to the point where one of his potions exploded and Snape took another 50 points from Gryffindor.
Meanwhile, Kari was talking with Jennifer. Her other roommate was wondering off somewhere, so they were free to talk alone.
"So have you recovered from what happened?" asked Jennifer.
"I still feel a little pain, but I'm fine." said Kari. She was petting Gatomon, who was asleep in her lap. "Besides, my brother could handle it easily."
"It sounds like you really admire him."
"I do. He's the bravest person I know. He can be annoying sometimes, but I wouldn't trade him for the world."
"On to other topics. You want to read Witch Weekly?"
"I've never heard of it, so sure!"
They read the magazine and saw an article about Britain's hottest bachelors. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were rated 2 and 3. Kari didn't understand, but she read it anyway.
"Tai, you've got to snap out of this depression." said Matt. "This was not your fault!"
"Yes, it was, Matt." said Tai. "Voldemort may have possessed me, but I was intending to do harm to Malfoy and his cronies. I deserve everything I got."
"Come on, we should play a prank. We can use Dorian as the guinea pig."
That seemed to lift his depression a little. "Let's sneak into the Slytherin common rooms at night. Harry's got the marauder's map, and he told me the password."
"Today is really going to go slow, especially since it's Saturday."
"But on the plus side, no Snape. I think we better hold off on the pranks in Potions. He wants to get us both expelled."
"Well, he's never going to do it. Besides, once we get older, we can cover our tracks better."
"Now here's what we do. This is for Kari!"
In the Ravenclaw common room, Izzy and Joe had just perfected the salt water ("Aqua Saltina") curse, which could blind an opponent temporarily, and give you time to attack or run.
"You learn very quickly, Izzy." said Terry. "You know more spells than most second years. And Joe is about average for a second year."
"Perhaps we should challenge the Gryffindor pranksters to a duel." said Izzy.
"You better wait until next year." said Terry. "That way, you can do some real spells."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you two can beat them." said Tentomon. "Besides, this is good practice for when we face death eaters. You're only 11 (He turned 11 a few weeks ago) but you are a real fighter!"
"Joe, come on." said Gomamon. "I know you can get this right."
"Vomiticus!" he shouted, firing his wand at Terry, making him vomit. It was a curse that could kill, but it was very rare.
Izzy shot the counter-curse and Joe breathed a sigh of relief. Gomamon and Tentomon were in a very good mood, since it was Christmas in a week. They weren't going home, since Hogwarts was the safest place. Their parents understood, though they weren't happy about it.
"Here's a new spell I found." said Izzy. "Scoritus!"
Joe felt a minor sting, but it didn't do much harm. He looked up the spell, and saw that it was boiling water. He breathed a sigh of relief that Izzy hadn't perfected that spell on the first try.
"Guys, I heard about a tournament for second and third years." said Gomamon. "Next year, all of us can enter and the first prize is 50 galleons. It's a doubles single elimination tournament."
"Tai and Matt have a better shot than we do at winning it." said Izzy. "We may know more spells, but they're a lot quicker and can easily dodge counters, while we move a lot slower.
"You'll just have to work on that." said Terry. "The third years pose a challenge, but they're often too cocky when facing younger opponents."
"Are there any other tournaments?" asked Tentomon.
"There are 2 more separate ones." he replied. "The first is for 4th and 5th years, while the other is 6th and 7th years. The top years are the most interesting, since they know quite a few spells by that time. All of them take place in March, and entries begin after Christmas vacation."
"Come to think of it, Tai and Matt probably won't be together." said Joe. "They'll probably be with their siblings, so the opponents will probably target the younger one."
"Can you have 2 wizards of different years?" asked Izzy.
"It can be something like a 4th and 5th year, but they have to be in the range of the tournament." answered Terry. "This is the first time we've had one, and professor Lupin told me the rules. You can't have something like a 6th year and a 3rd year."
"Well, we better be prepared for next year, then!" said Gomamon.
Once Monday came around, school went like usual. Snape tormented the digidestined in his class, bulling them mercilessly. Dorian Malfoy always insulted them whenever he could. One of Malfoy's friends, Theodore Nott, had taken it upon himself to make Tai and Matt's life a living hell.
All in all, they were glad when Christmas came around. About half the students went home for Christmas, despite Voldemort's growing activity and the fact that about 70 wizard and 400 muggles had been killed in the last months, including 13 children.
On Christmas day, the Digidestined woke up very early, around 5:30 AM. Matt was the first to open his presents, followed by Sora and Kari.
"I can't believe it!" said Sora. "Lavender got me these new shoes!"
"Merry Christmas, Sora." said Biyomon.
"We better get Izzy and Joe." said Tai. "Christmas is a time for family. By the way, Kari, I got a gift for you. I forgot to wrap it. Here."
"Thanks, Tai." replied Kari, holding her marble statue of Gatomon. "This must have cost a fortune."
"It doesn't matter, as long as you're happy." said Tai.
"I see you 12 are enjoying yourselves." said Harry, walking down the stairs. "Happy Christmas!"
"I can't believe I got a whole bunch of nail polish!" squealed Mimi. "Thank you, Sora!" She hugged her friend happily.
"Just wait and see what I got you, Tai." said Matt.
He opened the present and saw a bunch of pranks, from Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes. He smiled and thought of the havoc they could cause.
They opened all their presents and afterwards, Tai and Matt went into the Slytherin dorm and set off some of their pranks, so the room was bright pink. They went back without anyone noticing.
After about 2 hours, most people were up, and the Slytherins were furious. The Malfoys were glaring at them, while Tai just gave them his "Of course I did it, but you can't prove it" smirk. Matt did just the same.
The rest of the day was exciting, with the Digidestined having snowball fights. Kari and T.K. built a snow fortress that felt like it was made of cast iron. They faced Sora and Mimi in combat and won by a long shot.
Izzy and Joe built theirs carefully, and once they were losing against Tai and Matt, decided to cheat. They melted the snow and pelted them with snowballs. Kari threw a snowball at Hermione, who looked extremely miffed, but all Kari did was giggle.
However, the Christmas holidays were soon over and they saw several students did not return. Voldemort was more active than ever, and hardly any death eaters were killed, and most of them were killed by muggles.
The Slytherins were sharply divided. About half of them supported the dark lord, while the other half didn't. There were a couple dozen in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, though most were spies. There were even several in Gryffindor, though no one would suspect it."
"I'll bet anything Zack Smith is a spy." said Ron in the common room. "I've seen his attitude towards all this."
"That doesn't mean he works for Voldemort." replied Harry, ignoring Ron's shudder. "We're going to have to get our own spies."
"Maybe the D.A members will be willing to help us." said Ron. "Unfortunately, we have about a dozen Slytherins in there."
"Not all of them are evil, Ron. It's just that the decent ones don't draw attention to themselves."
"Who do you think we should recruit as a spy?"
"Luna Lovegood, no one would suspect her. However, we're going to have to make sure they're trustworthy. I'll have to get some truth potion from Dumbledore."
"I've heard that the ministry are making combat brooms to counter the increasing attacks."
It's mainly just a waste of time. Most of the attacks are silent killings at night. There have only been a few real battles, like the one where 8 aurors were killed and 14 wounded 2 weeks ago."
"We still killed 6 death eaters."
"I know, but our casualties far outnumber Voldemort's. (Ron shuddered) We've lost more than ΒΌ of our aurors and Voldemort's attacking several countries at once. It's only a matter of time before he strikes the ministry or Hogwarts."
"Michael Corner is on my suspect list. He's been acting very suspicious lately."
"I know, but we don't have any proof. I'm also worried about Hermione. She's been very distant lately."
"On a lighter note, do you want to join the dueling tournament in March?"
"I've been thinking about it, and it would give us an idea of what Voldemort's death eaters at the school are capable of doing."
"We should try to launch the same attacks on You-know-who that he's doing to us."
"I don't think that's possible. Nobody has a clue where the bases are, and even when we find one, they move before we have a chance to attack."
"So we're just going to defend ourselves? We've seen how well the ministry's doing. They're covering up as much as possible to make it seem like it's not bad."
"I know, but we can't do anything else but defend right now."
The war continued to get worse. People were being killed by the dozens, and many were going to Voldemort's side. A few even talked of surrender, but most knew that was not an option.
By the time Feburary came, about 20 percent of the students had lost a relative, and more than 50 percent lost someone they knew. There were increase defenses around Hogwarts, though many doubted that would be enough.
Hogsmeade would probably be the next target, but the ministry had not set up any kind of protection. The brunt of their forces were trying to track down the death eaters and the rest were defending the ministry.
The attacks on muggles were not as frequent, but there was still talk in Parliament about repealing the gun-control laws. They still had no clue who these assassins were, but they had detected a strange substance in their blood, though they didn't know what it was.
Before happy and cheerful, the Digidestined hardly had a smile anymore and often had grim expressions. The whole school had become like this. The pranks pulled by Matt and Tai were very rare.
In a few days, they became a little more cheerful, though it was far from what is used to be. Classes were harder than ever, since the teachers were trying to get the students prepared for the outside world.
"Death eaters are going to attack here soon." said Izzy. "I'm certain of it."
"Why do you say that?" asked Sora. "This is supposed to be the safest place in Europe."
"All the more reason to attack here." said Izzy. "If they take Hogwarts down, Europe will be in a panic."
"Dumbledore's the greatest wizard in the world." said Hermione. "I think he can hold off an attack. Still, this is a tempting target and about 30 percent of wizard children are here. Kill the children and you rob a tree of its roots."
"Precisely, so we're probably going to need the digimon." said Izzy.
"Don't worry, we'll kick their butts." said Tentomon. "No death eaters are a match for us."
"In the attack on Diagon Alley, they managed to beat ultimate-level Digimon." said Tai. "They alone can't protect us."
"Tai, you've got to have faith." said T.K.
"Yeah, we're capable of fighting." added Patamon.
"He never said we weren't, but there are too many death eaters." said Matt. "Thousands have been killed, and they've only taken a few losses."
"I think I know their weakness." said Izzy. "Most are not really trained for actual combat. They attack at night, when most people are asleep and torture helpless victims. Harry told me that his friends were outnumbered 2 to 1, and were able to hold their own for a while."
"I guess that's true, but we don't know enough magic to fight them." said Tai.
"Hopefully, you'll never have to." said Hermione. "But odds are that you will."
"I don't think the casualties list will be quite as high next year." said Izzy. "The ministry didn't have a plan and underestimated his power. Now that everybody's better trained and prepared, we should be able to fight back."
"That's a very logical assumption." said Hermione, hugging him, to Matt and Tai's amusement. (No, they aren't going to be a pairing in this story!)
"Just wait till Ron hears about this." said Agumon.
"I'm scared, guys." said Mimi. "I don't know the first thing about fighting."
"In the summer, you guys will have to learn." said Gabumon.
"Okay, but I hope I don't break a nail." said Mimi
"Don't worry, they always grow back." said Palmon.
"Who cares about some stupid nails?" snapped Hermione. "We're at war, and all you can think about is your beauty?"
"Leave her alone, Hermione." said Neville Longbottom, walking into the room. He was tired and sweaty from dueling with Seamus. "She's only 11; you're 16."
"I was never concerned about that at her age!" screeched Hermione.
"I know, but she's had a different life than you." said Neville calmly. "Just drop it."
"Okay, can we think of any other ways to defend the castle?" asked Matt. "First of all, what are the ways in?"
"Well, the gate is the main once, but they won't use that." said Hermione. "There are secret passages from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, but Dumbledore probably prepared for that. I don't see how he can easily get in."
"No matter what, there's always something we're missing." Tai groaned.
"I think we better get our minds of this right now." said Agumon. "You guys are too young to worry about this."
"War affects everyone, old and young." said Tentomon. "Still, we could use a rest. Besides, I'm hungry."
They all got out of the room of requirement and decided to just have some fun. Tai, Matt, T.K, Kari, and their Digimon were going to fly around on brooms. Izzy was going to work on possible defenses, while Joe practiced his spell work. Amazingly, they all had their homework done, so they had free time.
Voldemort sat in his chair, musing over the war. Thousands had died, but they were easy targets. Now the real war would begin. He was shocked that about half of his casualties were because of muggles, but they were only low-ranking death eaters.
When he revealed his secret weapon, they would fall. For now, he was going to capture Harry Potter. About 15 death eaters were going with him. The forbidden forest was a perfect place to hide.
"My lord, we are ready to move." said Malfoy.
"Excellent, Lucius." said Voldemort. "I do not intend to take Hogwarts just yet. My forces are too spread out, with only 100 death eaters in Britain. They are too few to take it, even with our spies."
"My lord, I am eager to do your bidding." said Rockwood. "I will get the Potter boy."
"Make sure he is not with his friends, Rockwood." said Voldemort. "They would interfere with our plans. The ministry will not suspect that we are hiding under their noses."
"My lord, the half-giant is always in the forest." said Malfoy. "How do we escape detection?"
"How dare you question me?" said Voldemort. "Crucio! Now, as I was saying, we kill the Potter boy and anyone else who dares to interfere. Dumbledore expects me to attack Hogsmeade. When it is time, I will move somewhere else. Now leave."
"Yes, my lord." the death eaters said in unison.
This plan could fail, but if he was there, it was very unlikely. He knew he must disable the governments soon, or he'd have a fight on his hands. Then again, they would kill the weaker death eaters, while the strong ones increased in power.
Wizarding Europe was rapidly becoming like Salusa Secundus, where the weak died and the strong grew stronger. The other continents would have to unite, for if they fought alone, they had a strong chance of losing. The wizarding state was debating about entering the war, but the public was not on their side.
Voldemort was certain of victory. He would lose many death eaters, but he recently got many of the vampires to join him. Now his forces numbered nearly 3000, not counting the 250 dementors.
The European wizards only had one thought:
Merlin help them.
Well, that's chapter 7. Sorry it took so long. Now only 2 chapters to go! Also, the reason I haven't put in the HP characters very much is that I want to get the Digimon characters introduced to it. They'll play a bigger part in the next story.