"Gran, I think I forgot my money purse" Neville Longbottom told his grandmother. They had come to Diagon Alley for Christmas shopping. So had many, many other families that day. Diagon Alley was crowded to capacity with witches and wizards from all over the wizarding world. Neville had already seen a lot of his fellow students from Hogwarts. Seamus was just across the alley from him with his family.
"Oh Neville, for goodness sake!" his grandmother complained. Her grandson was forever forgetting things big and small, to her great frustration. She worried what would become of him. He had told her and her brother-in-law Algie Longbottom just last night of his decision to join the army being put together by Harry Potter to fight the death eaters. She had almost a heart attack on the spot.
"Here boy, I'll lend you some money and you can pay me back when we get home." Algie Longbottom said. He handed his grandnephew a fistful of galleons. Algie smiled, as the boy blushed embarrassed at his own forgetfulness. //The last of the Longbottoms!// Algie thought to himself regretfully.
"Uncle Algie take Gran inside Madam Fortescue's and don't come out till I tell you!" Neville suddenly said in a hard and commanding tone his great Uncle had never heard from the boy before. Great Uncle Algie and his sister-in-law looked at Neville about to dispute his right to talk to them so rudely but the look on the boys face stopped them.
Neville's eyes glinted with purpose as he watched a wizard hurry along at the edge of the crowd in Diagon Alley. Neville wondered what had caught his attention about the seemingly normal wizard. Something about the robe, that was it. The man was wearing two robes, one atop another. It was cold but it was unusual for a wizard to wear two robes. The man had a dusty brown robe on top. The fringe of the second robe was just visible at his feet as the man walked, the second cloak was dark, in fact it was black. There could be many explanations for this but Neville knew what the right one was. He did two things right then. He told his great Uncle to take his grandmother to safety in the shop they were standing outside and he also made a hand signal to the nearest Hogwarts student and fellow army of the light member. Seamus had passed on the signal from Neville to others immediately and noticed the direction of Neville's attention. The silent signal was passed from student to student up the busy alleyway in seconds. It had but one meaning.
"You're late!" the masked leader snapped at the last of his troops to arrive as the man shed his outer robe and fixed his own Death Eaters mask in place.
"You know the Lord's Orders. Let no mudblood escape this day." The leader told his men, as they stood ready in their place of concealment within Knockturn Alley. Soon they would sweep out into Diagon Alley and show the wizarding world the power of the Dark Lord and his loyal death eaters. They were the Lords handpicked troops, a hundred and fifty strong and all pureblood. The mudbloods they despised would be swept to their destruction this day. "Cast the Mark and CHARGE!" the leader yelled and lead his men out of concealment and into Diagon Alley with the grotesque skull of the dark mark shining in the sky above them.
Diagon Alley was empty! Deserted! //Where did they all go?// the leader thought puzzled but not for long. He saw many small objects falling from the sky but didn't realise what they were till it was too late.
The vials of explosive potion landed amongst the Death Eaters with devastating results. Many Death Eaters were thrown against the surrounding walls and knew no more of that day. Those that survived this assault had no time to regroup as volley after volley of hex, curse and spell rained upon them from doorways, windows, rooftops and other places of concealment in every possible direction.
The leader screamed at his remaining men to throw their own potion vials at their attackers. The Dark Lord and his most revered followers had crafted those potions. Death they would bring to all that dare interfere with his plans. His men prepared to throw the potion vials at all the places their enemy were concealed.
Neville saw what was happening and knew he had to do something. They were about to throw god knows what at the students. It was bound to be bad, very bad. He could only think of one thing. He stepped out of the doorway into plain view of the death eaters. Their leader actually smiled at him in a grim way. Neville prepared to meet his own death. There were cries of alarm from within Madam Fortescues and from his fellow students that he did not hear. Neville reached deep within himself, deeper than he had ever had the courage to reach before, into his very soul. If he could only…
A wave of pure energy leaped out from the boy's hands and like a tsunami swept towards the death eaters. Amongst the death eaters, the vials containing the foulest potions ever brewed, glowed briefly as the wave of energy passed through them and then they exploded showering their holders and those around them with their contents. The results were too gruesome to describe. Many of the Death Eaters died in agony from the potions they had meant for their attackers. Their screams haunted the nightmares of the people who witnessed that day for many years to come.
The leader was dismayed at the reversal of his fortunes but was not yet defeated. He knew what happened to those who returned to the Dark Lord in failure. His fury was directed at the caster of the magic that had destroyed his followers before they could throw their potions. As many of his men were dying around him, he charged the young wizard who still stood in the open.
Neville was disorientated from the effort required to purposely cast the spell that destroyed the potions of the death eaters. It had taken a lot out of him and he was slow to react with his wand at the death eater's charge. The death eater crashed into him at a full run, knocking his wand from his hand. Neville's training took over and he rolled with the impact turning his attackers own momentum against him in an aikido throw. However his attacker was not alone. Two of his most trusted lieutenants had followed their leader in his attack. As the leader was thrown off balance and fell, the two of them drew concealed knifes and drove them towards the young man who had thrown their leader to the ground. Neville would have had little chance of blocking both weapons but fate intervened in the form of two blue streaks crashing into the death eaters, sending their drawn knifes clattering across the cobblestones. Seamus and Dean had jumped the two knife wielding death eaters. The leader of the Death Eaters had regained his feet at almost the same instance as Neville turned to face him. Neville, Seamus and Dean were now locked into hand-to-hand combat with the three death eaters.
The three Death Eaters began confident in their abilities to defeat the three young men. The leader swung a fist at the boy he had charged. Neville ducked under the swing and struck a blow into the leaders sternum. The death eater leader was now winded and doubled over in pain. Neville brought his knee up into the man's face, smashing his nose and sending him back into a standing position. At the same time the other two Death Eaters attacked Dean and Seamus and found that they too faced worthy opponents. Fists, feet, claws and teeth were all used in the vicious brawl. Dean Thomas after having landed a couple of good blows was grabbed in a crushing bear hug by his much larger opponent. He sank his teeth into the man's neck drawing blood and the death eater dropped him. Seamus blocked first a blow by his opponents right and then his left and moved in to deliver a head butt into the man's face. The death eater fell unconscious to the ground. Dean managed to knock out his opponent with a swift uppercut to the man's jaw. Neville lifted his foot in a high kick right into the face of the leader of the Death Eaters and knocked him cold. Neville, Dean and Seamus stood panting with the effort of the fight.
The other students had not been idol either as the fight went on. Seeing their friends exposed, they redoubled their efforts against the remaining Death Eaters at the end of the alley, hurling spells their way a tremendous rate.
When the Death Eaters had charged into Diagon alley they had numbered one hundred and fifty. Now fewer than thirty still stood able to fight. Curses and hexes were still cutting into their ranks. With the fall of their leader and so many of their fellows lying dead or unconscious around them, they broke and fled back into Knockturn Alley. Curses and hexes still flew into the bodies of the fallen death eaters. The members of the army of the light had been well trained and knew better than to expose themselves until they were sure that the enemy had been rendered totally unable to strike back.
"Seamus, take the younger troops and secure any Death Eaters that are still alive. Dean organise an assault squad to take the left, I'll take the right, alternate move and secure as we go into Knockturn alley. We have to be quick before they can regroup." Neville was barking his instructions to his friends, organising a pursuit party for the Death Eaters who had withdrawn into Knockturn alley.
The emerging students were quickly removing their robes to revel their blue uniforms underneath as they got organised into three groups. Seamus was organising the younger ones to move any unconscious Death Eaters to a more secure area and tying them up just to be sure. Dean and Neville had gotten the older ones into two groups, one at the left of the arched entrance to Knockturn Alley and one on the right. They would move through together in pursuit of the death eaters.
"Everyone get their comlinks on!" Neville said as he pulled the earpiece and microphone unit from his pocket. Professor Bond had given them to the students, a muggle invention that allowed the wears to talk to one another at a distance.
When Neville's was in place and switched on, he spoke quietly into the microphone close to his month. "This is Caldron, all units report when ready."
"Caldron, this is Leprechaun, all secure here. We have your back. Good Hunting" Seamus replied from the area where he had stacked the tied bodies of the unconscious death eaters. He was ready with his men to move in support of the others should they run into trouble. He also had the job of defending their flank from sudden attack.
"Caldron, this is Tomcat. We're ready to rock!" Dean Thomas replied as his troops positioned themselves.
"Caldron, this is Stallion. Do you copy?" Neville heard from his earpiece. He was surprised. He hadn't seen Blaise Zabini during the fight. He replied to the call "Stallion, this is Caldron. What's your 40"
"Caldron, this is Stallion. Me and three little vipers are camped out in unfriendly lands enjoying the view of a birthday party being set up."
Neville frowned. Blaise and three others were in Knockturn Alley and his coded reply had told Neville that Blaise could see the surviving Death Eaters setting up an ambush for them. "Stallion, this is Caldron. Can you bring any gifts to the party?" Neville replied.
"Caldron, this is Stallion. Give us a few minutes to get into position and we'll light all the candles on the cake for you. But you'll have to hurry, they won't last long." Blaise replied.
Neville knew this meant that Blaise and his men would position themselves to attack the Death Eaters from behind to disrupt their ambush but four against 30 would not last long. Neville had to be ready to move the instance Blaise signalled.
"Neville Longbottom what do you think you are doing?" a distraught voice called from behind him.
Neville turned. "Gran, you'll have to move back. It's not safe here." Neville told his grandmother firmly. The look on his face stopped further arguments.
"Come on Gertie, can't you see Neville is busy." Great Uncle Algie told her gently and then, looking towards great nephew he smiled and said, "You go get them lad. I'll look after your gran, but be careful" He had never been prouder of any Longbottom in all his life than he was of Neville today. And it was quite evident that the boy knew exactly what he was doing.
"Leprechaun, This is Caldron, detail a few men to keep people back til it's all over." Neville said into his commlink and Seamus quickly did so. His troops were hard pressed to control the witches and wizards now streaming from the shops they had been pushed into before the attack. Some had managed to see the battle through the windows and now all of them could see the bodies of the Death Eaters still littering the area. They could also see the young men and women in blue uniforms that had defeated them, lined up in formation ready to go after the ones that had escaped.
A very tall man leading about a dozen others in auror robes appeared from the archway of the Leaky Caldron. They looked ready for action. Surveying the scene before him, the man came up to Seamus and asked "What is going on here?"
"There was a death eater attack. We took these ones down but some escaped into Knockturn Alley. Neville is leading the others after them."
"Neville?" He asked.
"Neville Longbottom, over there" Seamus replied indicating the young man who stood just to one side of the entrance to Knockturn Alley. Behind him in a tight formation more young men and women stood. The man could see they all wore the same dark blue uniform and had some kind of device on the sides of their heads.
"Damn there must be over a hundred Death Eaters here, Chief" one of the younger Aurors exclaimed. "These young guys took them all down. What do we do?" he asked the tall man. The tall man was none other than the Chief Auror himself and he and his men had been hard pressed in recent times.
"Three of you start moving these ones to Azkaban. The rest of you follow me." The Chief Auror ordered and his men swiftly obeyed. He led his men up behind the blue uniformed troops.
"Neville Longbottom?" He asked from behind the leader at the front of the others.
"Yes" Neville asked as he turned to be confronted by about ten aurors.
"Are you planning to move into Knockturn Alley?" The Chief Auror asked.
"Yes" Neville replied now uncertain what to do. It was a bit disconcerting to be confronted by the Chief Auror himself. Neville decided he had no choice but to be completely forthcoming. "Four of our men are in Diagon Alley and are trying to get behind the Death Eaters to break up their ambush before we go in."
"Caldron, this is Stallion. Standby!" The whispered voice of Blaise came through Neville's earpiece. Neville signalled the get ready sign and heard crashing sounds and yells from inside Knockturn Alley. "Now!" Blaise's voice came from Neville's earpiece and Neville charged into Knockturn Alley followed by the Chief Auror, his men, and his fellow Hogwarts students.
The Death Eaters had been waiting for them but when they were suddenly attacked from behind they had turned to curse the attackers. But Blaise and his fellows had already melted away into various doorways out of harms way. The Death Eaters moved quickly to get to them and were out in the open when the army of the light reinforced by the Aurors, stormed into the alley behind them. The fight was short and swift. Caught in the open and heavily outnumbered, all the Death Eaters went down before they could even lose a single curse back at their attackers.
"We can take it from here." The Chief Auror told Neville as his men began readying the fallen Death Eaters for transport to Azkaban.
Suddenly a head appeared around the corner of a doorway. "About time you guys got here!" Blaise Zabini said. His men slowly emerged from their hiding places and joined him.
"What were you guys doing in here?" Dean Thomas asked them.
"Christmas Shopping" Blaise answered.
"In Knockturn Alley!" said Dean said astonished.
"Why not?" Blaise continued.
"You Slytherins!" Dean said shaking his head.
"You just be thankful we were. Otherwise you guys would have walked right into that ambush." Blaise said somewhat defensively. He and the other Slytherins who had the courage to join the army of the light, felt they were always treated with suspicion by the others.
"Hey, I'm not complaining" Dean said as he wrapped his arm around Blaise's shoulders. "Three cheers for the Slytherins" Dean yelled to all the others. The cheers went up from everyone loud and enthusiastically. Blaise blushed red with the signs of such genuine friendship. "Lets go the Leaky Caldron. The butter beers are on me!" Dean told the four of them.
Together all the students walked back into Diagon Alley.
Seamus was relieved to see his friends return unhurt from Knockturn Alley. But he had another problem, the crowd of people were pressing in on all sides, threatening to overwhelm his young troops holding them away from the area of the battle. Luckily as the others streamed back into Diagon Alley, the crowd's attention turned to them. Families greeted their blue uniformed children with cries of delight and relief. One wizard waved his wand in the air and sent long multicoloured streamers shooting over the returning troops. Soon the entire alley was filled with coloured streamers and sparkles, fireworks, twitting birds and anything else festive that a witch or wizard could conjure. The cheering of the crowd was deafening.
Neville pushed through the crowd towards his Gran. He was swept up into a massive hug as he reached her. His great uncle Algie Longbottom was yelling to all around. "See this lad, he stopped them throwing their potions and then knocked their leader for six with his bare hands. He's my great nephew, Neville Longbottom!" Algie Longbottom was bursting with pride as he slapped Neville on his back.
"What is the meaning of all this?" a voice yelled. The crowd parted to revel the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge with two of his assistants moving towards the Longbottoms. He got the gist of what had occurred from the many voices talking all at once.
"You had no right to take action. You should have waited for the Aurors. I will be referring charges against you and all the others who took part in this vigilantly action." He yelled red faced at Neville.
"How dare you yell at my Neville! He and his friends risked their lives against the death eaters. We would all be dead now if they hadn't." Neville's grandmother hammered back at Fudge using a finger to poke him in the chest, driving him back the way he had come. She was a formable women and she had the support of her brother-in-law and the crowd. Finally with a much harder shove she pushed Fudge over and he fell onto the ground.
"What's going on here?" the Chief Auror had arrived and loomed over everyone. His presence stopped everyone in their tracks.
"Arrest this women for assault and the boy for his vigilantly actions." Fudge demanded as he got up.
"This young man and his friends were acting under my authority as Chief Auror as specified in the emergency provisions of the decree for magical defence and as for the assault by Mrs Longbottom you'll need a witness." The Chief Auror told Fudge and then to the crowd he asked "Did anyone see Mrs Longbottom assault the Minister? No?" No one in the crowd backed Fudge's accusation. "Looks like you're out of luck today ???" He told the minister.
Fudge was furious. "I have your job for this outrage!" he yelled.
"I should remind you I can only be removed from my position by a majority vote at a general meeting of all the magical department heads. Arthur Weasley was right. You are a fool and I am done with you. I have told you these are much more than just a few Death Eaters getting together to relive old times. This was a major attack. I have just questioned their leader under the Veritaserum potion. You-know-who ordered this attack personally. He's back and there are thousands more Death Eaters ready to strike. With the casualties we have suffered recently there are only about twenty Aurors left. I can't fight a force that large with twenty men." The Chief Aurors tone was now chilling as he stared down at the Minister.
"Nonsense, the man was lying. You-know-who has not returned. It's utter poppycock. Some scheme of Dumbledore's to cause trouble." But the Chief Auror's stare bore into him and he quailed before it. The minister scampered quickly away with his assistants following.
"Gertie you really shouldn't hit the Minister like that. I may not be here to save you next time." The Chief Auror now told Neville's grandmother in a much more friendly tone.
"Charlie Banks, I remember when Frank brought you home for dinner in your brand new Auror robes, still wet behind the ears." Gertie Longbottom replied. "Neville I want you to meet an old friend of your fathers, Charlie Banks, Chief Auror."
"We've already met, Gertie." The Chief Auror told her and as he put out his hand for Neville to shake, he said "Your father saved my life a number of times and I know he would be proud of what you did here today Neville, whatever that idiot Fudge says. Now tell me all about this army of the light. Who commands it?"
"Harry Potter is the commander." Neville told the Chief Auror.
"Potter, eh? Tell me more?" He said as he wrapped his arm around Neville's shoulders.
And so they went to find a quiet corner to talk amongst the celebrations of the victory of what in future would be called 'The Battle of Diagon Alley'. This was the first battle between the army of light and the forces of darkness and it was an overwhelming success for the light. It marked the turning of the tide against the Death Eaters. And it was all because one young man noticed the tinniest of clues and had the courage to act on his instincts.