A/N: Sorry I'm not replying 2 the reviews but I'm posting loads of chapters at once but I'll reply here when I get more reviews. Thanks and enjoy!

CHAPTER 28

"I informed none of you there would be a test today," Snape said silkily, handing out parchment. "It is on the potions we have covered this term. And I will know if some of you..." he glared over at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Have not been paying attention." Harry glared back though he couldn't help feeling nervous. A test? He was sure to fail! Ron appeared to be thinking along the same lines, and then his face lit up. Harry wondered what on earth he could be so happy about. "You may begin." Snape said coldly. "And if I find any of you conversing with neighbours..." He left his sentence hanging. Harry turned over the sheet of parchment and read the first question.

'What colour should a correct dissolving solution be?' Harry wasn't sure of the answer. He vaguely remembered Parvati's had issued steam and his own had shot sparks out, which electrocuted Ron...

"Grey." Came a voice from nowhere. Snape spun round. Harry looked at Ron who was smiling, then at Hermione who looked outraged. Harry laughed at her expression. Automatically, Snape's eyes travelled to Harry.

"Potter?" He muttered raising an eyebrow. Piers Polkiss sitting at the front had exactly the same eyebrow raised as Snape did, and he turned in his seat, grinning at Harry. Harry fought to keep a straight face, if only Piers would turn round...

"I didn't do it." Harry said, still smiling slightly.

Snape lowered his head again.

Where had the voice come from? Harry looked around with everyone else... He scribbled grey in the empty space by question 1 then continued to read. 'What should issue from a dissolving solution?' Harry thought of both his sparks and Parvati's steam. He'd go with steam. At the same time as he scribbled down the word, the same expressionless voice boomed "Steam". Harry quickly looked up, searching round the room as though one of the stone bricks had spoken the words.

Snape reacted quickly. "Who said that?" He asked, looking round, his eyes resting on Harry for longer than with anyone else.

No one spoke. Snape continued to look round. "If it happens again..." Snape warned softly, but as Harry read the next question, his eyes didn't fall back to the work he was marking.

'What is the main ingredient you need for a silencing solution?' Harry didn't know, so skipped it and continued reading. 'What is the main problem with...'

"Boomslang skin" Said the same voice.

Snape looked furious. "What is going on?" He spat, patrolling the rows of students. "Weasley..." He said pausing at Ron's table.

"What?" Ron said rudely.

"What is that quill?" Snape hissed.

Harry watched Ron's face turn pale as Snape picked it up. "The answer to your queries? Indeed." Snape hissed so softly no one would have heard him if the room hadn't already been silent. Harry looked over at Malfoy and Piers who clapped their hands together, grinning like Siamese cats and turned in their chairs, narrowing their eyes at Ron. "I'll confiscate this Weasley," Snape said coldly "And I'll have fifty points from Gryffindor for giving three... answers that may have been... incorrect to the class." Snape returned to the front of the class, putting the quill away in his desk drawer and locking it. Piers and Malfoy were now in silent hysterics. Harry smiled at Ron, Ron grinned back and the pair of them continued with their test.

"Thanks Ron!" Neville stammered after the lesson. "At least I know I've got three questions right!" He smiled.

"Sorry." Ron said to Parvati and Lavender, who were watching with dismay, the diamonds that were rapidly vanishing from Gryffindor's glass.

"Ron!" Hermione snapped. "You really shouldn't have done that! I knew the answers anyway."

"Yeah, well I didn't." Ron said smiling. "How were we supposed to know there'd be a test?"

"Oh I knew there'd be a test." Neville said, as he climbed the stairs to charms with them. "I heard it in my dreams, some voice said that if I did what they said, they would give me full marks in the test. But I didn't do it. Snape would be too suspicious anyway."

"What did the voice say?" Harry asked him curiously.

"I don't remember." Neville said. "I never do." The four of them entered the classroom.

They were supposed to be revising the accio charm. "Accio Hermione!" Ron yelled grinning. Hermione's feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

"Ha ha." She said. "Accio Ron." Ron came whizzing across the classroom, causing the other Gryffindors to be pushed aside. Ron landed in a crumpled heap in the doorway.

"Now really!" Professor Flitwick came hurrying over to them. "It was an excellent spell, but please do use the cushions provided!" He smiled at them and went over to examine Seamus who had been knocked over by a fast flying cushion.

"I can't have hurt you!" Dean protested. "It was a cushion!" Seamus was groaning and massaging his forehead.

Professor Flitwick ended the chaos. "Come on!" He attempted to regain the student's attention. "We need to revise this charm! Your homework is to practise." The bell went for the end of the lesson and they went up to the common room to find that a bunch of second years were already there.

"How could your lesson finish this early?" Ron asked bewildered. Dean and Seamus entered.

"Yeah, the bell's only just gone!" Dean said.

"Professor McGonnagal didn't turn up." Explained a second year girl with lots of little plaits. "We waited and waited, then we came up here."

"Why didn't she come?" Harry asked bewildered. This was so unlike Professor McGonnagal.

"We don't know." Said a second year boy mysteriously. "But my sister said she was there for her lesson which was just before ours."

"That's really weird." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Not really." Said the girl with plaits, over hearing her. "She might have just forgot."

Harry didn't think this was like Professor McGonnagal at all, why did she suddenly vanish? Had something happened to her? A flurry of third years swarmed in all chattering excitedly and taking seats in the common rooms, they listened in astonishment as the second years told them what had happened.

"I know exactly what's going on!" Piped up Michael Corner's brother "My younger sister's in her first year and she said to me after the lesson before last that in the middle of transfiguration, Professor Sinistra came dashing in saying that you-know-who was trying to enter Hogwarts! Then Professor McGonnagal went running out." The mass of students, now joined by the seventh, fourth and fifth years dashed over to the windows and opened them. They could see several cloaked figures and many tall, hooded ones that were unmistakably Dementors. Then they heard a shout, a bang and several loud thuds.

"Minerva!" Shouted a voice. There was another loud bang, then another and another. More shapes appeared, apparently coming from Hogwarts, many smaller shapes emerged. "No!" Shouted another voice very loudly. "Go back into the castle now! Go straight to your houses!"

"Bang!"

"You cowardly!" Roared a voice, attention distracted from the students. Seconds later they heard pounding footsteps and the first years entered, all of them breathless.

"We saw it all!" One of them panted. Gryffindors surrounded them. Even the ones who were sitting in armchairs reading paused, looking up at them for an explanation.

"You-know-who!" Shrieked a first year girl. "He was there! It was awful! He was so ugly! Red slits for eyes, long narrow face, so white!" She was very white herself. She said and sat down, pale and shaking from head to toe.

"What happened!" Urged the onlookers.

"We were... we were in transfiguration then halfway through the lesson Professor Sinistra came in. She said that you-know-who was trying to enter, that Dumbledore was already there..." Began a girl who seemed to have regained breath first. "So she ran out really fast and we just followed her, not wanting to be seen. On our way down we met all the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sixth years who were supposed to be in astronomy. They said they were heading up to their common rooms until the next lesson because that's what Professor Sinistra said. They didn't say anything else so we went down to the Main doors and waited by it, listening. We heard shouts from the teachers. Shouts from... you-know-who. He said he'd destroy the school if he had to!" The girl fell silent and looked round, her face pale and expressionless.

"Come on! What happened next?" Seamus asked impatiently.

"Well..." She continued. "We heard bangs and spells being shouted, then we went outside and we saw him! Lots and lots of Dementors! Professor McGonnagal, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Lovegood and Professor Hagrid! They were all trying to get him to go. He said he would destroy Dumbledore then the school! We were so frightened. No one noticed us for a few minutes, there were so many shouts and spells, then he summoned a woman, and she looked so evil! Then he raised his wand, but Dumbledore snapped it in half, the woman started attacking! Dumbledore and you-know-who looked so angry, Hagrid was shouting, Professor McGonnagal was trying to disarm You-know-who and she was shouting at Professor Lovegood to do something. He was just standing there, staring at you-know-who. But he eventually created a patronus to drive the Dementors away. Then-"

"What form did the patronus take?" Hermione asked quietly.

The first year girl blinked, it obviously didn't seem very important. "Um, I think it was some sort of dog." She said eyeing Hermione suspiciously.

"Get on with it!" Shouted impatient Gryffindors.

"Oh sorry," said the girl. Harry was sure that every one of the Gryffindors were listening now. "Well the Dementors left, and the woman summoned the death eaters. Only a few, but then Dumbledore cursed her, she was in a heap on the ground, but she pointed her wand at Professor McGonnagal and..." The girl suddenly began crying.

"What is it?" Ginny asked her, she was closest to them and none of the Gryffindors could see why she was so upset. The others first years around her looked the same.

"I... It was awful, but I'm not sure, it completely worked." Sniffed the girl. "She's my favourite teacher, you see." There was a snort from William Shakklebolt and Andrew Evans, Hermione glared at them reproachfully but the girl ignored them. "She... The woman... She pointed her wand at Professor McGonnagal... and she... she said Avada Kadavra" Fresh tears ran down her face. "But... It might not have worked. I really liked her, so it was so upsetting seeing her all unconscious or... maybe..." She didn't finish her sentence. No one dared laugh. They just stared at her, mouths hanging open. "That was... that was all we saw. Then Dumbledore saw us. But I think he's OK." She said at last.

Harry couldn't believe it; he had to find out. He looked out of the window. The battle was not over. "Come on." He muttered to Ron and Hermione. He didn't care if they said her was 'acting the hero'. He had to help Dumbledore.

They slipped out of the common room, not wanting to be seen by the others and ran down to the Hogwarts grounds. Harry felt sure that the woman the first year referred to was Bellatrix LeStrange. They arrived to find that Professor Lovegood was still herding the Dementors away, Professor McGonnagal, still lying on the ground, but Harry felt sure that she was not dead. Hagrid was shouting and stunning them and Dumbledore had his wand out. Harry made sure none of them could see him, then suddenly he dashed out from behind the large door and yelled at Bellarix who had straightened up and had her wand pointed straight at Dumbledore "Expelliarmus!" He could not count how many times he had used that spell now, but it was a lot and it had never let him down. Bellatrix's wand flew up into the air and landed in Harry's hand. He stared at Bellatrix for a moment, fully aware that he was looking into the eyes of the woman who had murdered her cousin and Harry's Godfather.

"Harry Ron and Hermione!" Dumbledore shouted in their direction. "Go back into the castle! It is much too dangerous. He dodged a stunning spell sent by one of Voldermort's death eaters.

Harry simply could not. Many of the death eater's wands were on him. "Expelliarmus!" Harry jumped aside. The spell hit Ron.

"Oi!" Ron yelled as his wand was taken from his grasp. "I want that back!"

"Go back to the castle!" Dumbledore pleaded.

Harry ignored him. "OBLIVIATE!" He yelled in no particular direction. It was one of his best spells and although he was dealing with probably the most powerful wizards known, he still hoped it would have made some affect. Voldermort staggered to his feet, glaring at Harry. He was too powerful to have his memory removed, but it did knock him over.

"That the best you can do Potter?" He spat at Harry. He shouted another spell, a killing spell. Harry dodged it. He sent another and it almost hit Hermione it would have done if it wasn't for the large bubble round her, like a shield. The Custodis spell! Harry did the same. Professor Lovegood smiled faintly at them and continued with the Dementors. Why wasn't he helping?

Dumbledore held up his wand. The battle ceased. "Tom, I could stand here all night battling with you, but what good would this do?" He said boldly, addressing Voldermort as though he were back at Hogwarts again. "What is the good of you destroying my school? Why are you here?"

Voldermort snorted with laughter. "Why? Dear Dumbledore? To finish you off that's why?!"

"Wandless?" Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling. "You are nothing, nothing at all without your wand." He said pocketing the broken stick.

"Accio!" Voldermort roared, but nothing happened.

"I suggest you remove yourself from my school." Dumbledore muttered.

"I'm not leaving." Voldermort said infuriated.

"And neither am I." Bellarix spoke out clearly.

"Ah, I see." Said Dumbledore, eyeing the several Death eaters.

Dumbledore was treating this like some game, and they had paused it to explain the rules. Harry looked up at the sky, the full moon, showering the grounds with pale moonlight. Dumbledore muttered something to Professor Lovegood who shook his head. Then he spoke to Hagrid. Hagrid nodded in agreement and charged off towards the forest. What was going on?

"Harry please!" Dumbledore tried once more, "It is safe now, we are safe. Nothing will happen." Even when faced with death Dumbledore remained calm and peaceful. The death eaters and Bellatrix were firing spells but Dumbledore had placed a shield charm in front of them all, so for all they did, they may have just shouted the words.

Harry knew he should return to the common room, but it felt so odd being in the safe common room surrounded by chattering students with the fire blazing, while Voldermort was there, at Hogwarts, now! But even so he, Ron and Hermione did as Dumbledore had asked and returned to the common room. He continued to watch through the windows, many silvery shapes charged from the forest, towards Voldermort, centaurs! Then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Flames began licking the bottom of Voldermort's robes, then rose, Voldermort rising with them, then at once the flames vanished, and so did he. The death eaters and Bellarix followed suit. They were gone.

Harry couldn't sleep at all that night, was Professor McGonnagal all right? He felt sure she was, she had to be. Had Voldermort returned in the night? He doubted it though; he couldn't hear a noise from outside apart from the occasional animal on its midnight stroll.