Jay Morris

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; just the gremlins in my head.

"Chapter 12: The War Bringer"

Harry looked at the calendar, and his jaw dropped. It was almost the two month marker of their stay, and it felt like it had taken forever. Neal and Janette were toddler "age", and were almost ready to go to pre-school with Lavender Brown, and then all too soon they would disappear when the spell ended. A tear always came to Ginny's eye when she thought about this, and Harry knew this, even though she tried to hide it. But, soon it would be time for Devine's second party. Ginny came into the kitchen to see Harry furrowing his brow.

"What's wrong Harry?"

"It's almost time for Devine's second month party."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing's happened since the last one."

"That's not true. Remember when mum and dad went over to Ron and Tanya's and then Hermione and I both got sent a Howler for not telling them about Ron and Tanya's baby. I'll never forget seeing Ron walk around for a week with dad's shiner."

"Yeah, that's about it though."

"Just what are you driving at Harry?"

Harry turned to face Ginny, and looked her dead in the eyes. He needed her to understand his concerns, and he needed it badly.

"Voldemort " Ginny did not flinch, she was used to this by now "is out there, and he hasn't attacked us, threatened us, or even caused mischief. It's as if he gave up on us."

"I see. Have you talked to Draco and Hermione, if not Devine, about it?" Ginny was beginning to see where Harry was going with this.

"No, I know I should have, but I just didn't have the heart to tell it to Draco or Hermione, let alone Devine. Draco and Hermione have been living in a dream, and I don't want to bring back those old nightmares of theirs."

"What about Devine?"

"His friends decided to take a vacation and live up here with him until he can get his self under complete control. Somehow, he has been having problems with his alter ego."

"And you didn't want to spoil him his having his friends back in his life?"

"Exactly."

Ginny looked down, as if the floor could give her the words she needed to tell him what she felt about it. "Have you at least talked to Sirius?"

"Yes, and he agrees with me that silence is not necessarily, in this case, the best news we could be having."

"I don't know what to tell you Harry. I think you should tell Devine at least though. He needs to know what's eating away at you Harry, it's not good to keep things bottled up inside."

"You're right."

"I usually am."

"I'll tell him after the party tomorrow night."

"Agreed."

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Harry, Neal, and Ginny walked over to Draco and Hermione's to walk over to the party with them. Draco and Hermione ran into them, after Janette ran into Ginny almost knocking her down.

"Janette what did daddy tell you about running into people?" Draco asked. He had his hands on his hips and looked like a full out father scolding his little girl.

Janette looked at Ginny and very sweetly said, "Sorry Miss Ginny. I sorry."

Ginny bent down and helped Janette up to her feet, and brushed the dust off of her. "It's quite allright Janette, it woke me out of my daze."

"Is okay now daddy?" Janette asked looking at Draco.

Smiling, Draco nodded.

"Shall we?" Hermione asked.

Like last time everyone was there, when they got to the party at about seven thirty. Devine was playing a game of Hearts with Laura, Maurice, and Albus Dumbledore. Ron and Tanya were once again playing a game of chess, this time Ron was winning. Scott, Emma, Pansy, Seamus, Lavender, and a boy none of them recognized were playing a heated game of Twister. And once again Luna and Neville were running the child drop off. After Ginny and Hermione dropped off Neal and Janette, Draco came over and tapped Neville on the shoulder.

"Neville?"

"Yes?"

"Two questions: one, can you forgive me of all those hurtful things I said about you; and two, why are you so good at being yourself all of a sudden."

"Yes, and I don't know. After living with Luna for just two weeks, I found I didn't have any problems with anything, even magic. I just don't get it, but I haven't had a single problem. I even remember those really abstract things without my Rememberall." Neville shrugged and pulled a little girl into his lap to read her the story she wanted him to. Draco smiled and went to find Hermione.

Dumbledore stood up in front of the assembly and waited for the applause to die down before he spoke. "I would like to inform you all that in your absence Quidditch has suffered. None of the house teams will take to the field, and that is not an understatement. Also all of the houses are tied in the house cup, and oddly enough none of the students seem to mind it. Mr. Filch is almost ready to quit, because very few students are acting up. Also " Dumbledore's next sentence was cut short by all the lights going out. Some of the girls shrieked, but Dumbledore clapped his hands and the lights were back on. "Sorry if any of you were scared by that "once again Dumbledore's sentence was cut short. This time all the windows had shattered, and a lot of the students had ducked to the ground. Next, the oak doors to the front of Devine's house burst into purple flame, and disappeared before everyone's eyes. A dark mist crept into the room, and many of the students were backing away from the door. Before anyone could blink twice, bursts of vibrant blue magic came flying through the void where Devine's doors once stood. Anyone unfortunate enough to be hit by them instantly turned to stone. Tanya was frozen mid move, and many more of the students were frozen in mid movement trying to avoid the beams. Dumbledore's wand fired a red light through that same void, and an unearthly cackling filled the air.

"Is that the best you can do old man?" came a voice.

"Show yourself!" Dumbledore yelled. His wand was at the ready, and his old persona had melted away to reveal a younger warrior. Devine was on his feet with his wand and Laura and Maurice had taken to either side of Dumbledore with wands at the ready.

A wave of black cloaks stepped into the room. From the middle of them stepped a deep, deep, green cloak, and the cackling started again.

"What do you want here Voldemort?"

"I wish to settle a score, of course."

"Who's?"

"Is it not obvious? I made myself very clear with attacks I made previously. Of course I didn't waste the energy on them, but my ideas they were nonetheless."

Every pair of eyes, under and outside of a hood, turned to Harry and Draco. Dumbledore's glanced and were back on Voldemort.

"And just how do you plan to settle that score Voldemort?"

Voldemort hissed beneath his hood. "It's Lord Voldemort to you!"

"I follow the golden rule, get used to it. You knew that when you were my pupil."

"That was ages ago. I don't care about stupid rules."

"I noticed."

"I want to face Potter myself, and allow an old friend of Draco's will settle his score."

Dumbledore pointed his wand at Voldemort. "You will leave, or you will be forced to. Which is it?"

"Oh, I thought everyone was invited. Wasn't that what the invitation said Jerry?"

The boy that nobody recognized, nodded and walked over to Voldemort.

"There's no more need for the masquerade, reveal yourself."

Jerry took a vial out of his pocket and emptied it's contents onto his head. His features shifted until it was unmistakable one person, Lucius Malfoy.

"Hello Lavender," Lucius said. His malicious grin spread from ear to ear.

"You sick son of a . . . " Lavender fell to the floor screaming, and her body was cold to the touch when she hit the floor. Her pulse still beat, but it was weak.

"Good evening Draco." Lucius turned his attention to Draco and Hermione. Draco tried to shield Hermione behind himself, as though Lucius's look alone might kill her. "Is that how you treat your own flesh and blood I'd like to know?"

"I could just as easily ask you that question." Draco's eyes, for once in his life, were filled with enough righteous venom to turn a Basilisk's stomach. His father seemed oblivious to it, and turned to Devine.

"Thanks for throwing this little party and gathering everyone we needed together. It saves us a lot of trouble."

Dumbledore had had enough. "Why do you want to kill these children?! They've done nothing to hurt you!"

Lucius looked at Voldemort and stepped back. Voldemort pulled down his hood and everyone gasped. He was hideous, his features were a mix of human and serpent, and his eyes were the most serpentine of all. "Because children grow up. And not all of them will join me. So rather than waste any more of their time, I'll just get rid of them now!" Voldemort started advancing on the students only to find Devine, Draco, and Harry in the way. Voldemort started laughing.

"A muggle, and two pathetic wizards think they can defeat me? How funny. I think I'll take you three up on this just for fun."

Voldemort pulled up his wand and made to hex Devine when Harry, spun towards him, swung his leg in a swift kick and kicked the feet out from under Voldemort. Draco took this moment to collect his thoughts and tell Hermione Get the students that you can out of here. Do it quietly. If Voldemort finds out, it'll get ugly. Draco didn't have the chance to hear Hermione's response as a recently conjured sword thrust itself toward his stomach. Draco stepped to the sword, kicked it up, and rolled under it to the right of the attacker. Lucius's eyes jumped in surprise, as Draco jumped up and kicked him in the face. Before anyone could figure out who started the fight, weapons were conjured out of thin air, and steel against steel clangs were ringing throughout the hall. Dumbledore, along with Hermione and Ginny, had begun herding as many students as they could out of the building as Laura and Maurice jumped into the battle. Devine was wielding his double-lariat again, and Maurice was handling his recently acquired scythe with great flare. Laura had conjured a chain mace, and was keeping more than a few Death Eaters off their feet. Draco and Harry were fighting sword against sword with Lucius and Voldemort.

The tide had turned against Voldemort, and he knew it. Devine had proved a better adversary than at first thought. He himself was holding three Death Eaters, each with a sword, alone. Voldemort took one more slash at Harry, and then retreated into the sea of black cloaks.

"Any one not fighting is to follow those brats and kill any they can. NOW!" Four of the Death Eaters turned and ran. Laura saw this, and with a quick word and motion, transformed her chain mace into a bow with a quiver of arrows on her back. Neatly springing over the last two Death Eaters she ran after the four that ran after the children. Voldemort watched her run, and then anyone who could, saw the blood run out of his face. The village witch and wizards were running toward Devine's house, each armed with their wand.

"Retreat! You may have won this battle, but you won't win the war!"

"Let them go!" Dumbledore yelled from the stage.

Harry and Draco stopped at the doorway, mid-run. They each wanted blood, and only the fact that it was Dumbledore that said it stopped them.

Later that night . . . Dumbledore sat every key individual down at a table and made them tell everything that happened. After the four Death Eaters had run out, and been followed by Laura, three of them had fallen to her bow shots. The fourth avoided it, but not Neville's right hook. His knuckles were still sore after hitting Peter Pettigrew directly in the jaw, but Pettigrew was out and on his way to the Ministry to clear Sirius's name, and put Peter in a new prison known only to a few wizards, as Azkaban was not safe for anyone. Maurice had taken one Death Eater's head off, and nearly killed another one, but Voldemort's retreat order stopped him. Devine hadn't killed any, but none would be walking in a straight line for a while. Draco had put a good slice in his father's left leg, and received a cut in his arm for it. Harry hadn't scratched Voldemort, but did wear him down a lot. Everyone who wasn't Lavender or turned to stone had been sent home with an Alarm Charm on their house alerting if anything wrong happened there. Hermione and Ginny were both out of breath, but after a few Butterbeers they were able to explain everything they knew.

"It is clear that Voldemort has not wasted any time in declaring war," Dumbledore said. "I want you all to be alert now. Professor Devine I'm afraid I must ask you to revoke your spell to allow the families to have their children. It is too dangerous for anything to happen to them."

Professor Devine nodded without looking up. He didn't have to look up to sense the tears in the eyes of Draco, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. Ron didn't flinch, as he was still in shock of Tanya being a statue of granite now. The spell didn't affect the pregnancy, so he was basically a vegetable now.

"Furthermore, I will now end this experiment, and return all students to Hogwarts, where better security measures can be made, and I can keep a better eye on everybody. You will all go home now, pack, and then return here to be transported back to Hogwarts is that clear? Everyone else will come back to Hogwarts in the morning, as it is Friday night."

Everyone nodded their heads, and left.

N/A: I'm sorry if I got you hooked on the children and now they're disappearing. But, I had to find a way to get to my next part of the story. I hope you'll like it. Oh. PEOPLE TALK TO ME! I'm getting only silence, and it's making paranoid. I don't know if I'm doing okay, or if I've just given someone a stick of dynamite to blow me up with.