Chapter Twenty Three

Battle of the Great Hall

"I still don't understand why we have to get up so early n the morning." Hannah Abbot said, yawning widely behind her hand.

Ernie Macmillan looked up from his porridge. "You know the saying. The early bird gets the worm. That's what we're doing."

Hannah yawned again. "And what worms are we trying to get?" She asked.

Ernie grinned, looking about at the other students. There weren't many. Not many students were willing to get up at such and early hour, which was a good thing in Ernie's opinion. Oh, not good for them, but good for him. He quickly scanned the tables, there was about three score of students, the majority were Slytherins who were once again out to practice Quidditch. Ernie spared them a longer glance.

Every weekend the Slytherin house had been waking up early and practicing nearly all day. They were determined to win the House Cup this year, now that Draco was made captain of the team. Ernie felt a little disinterested in the whole thing. Don't get him wrong, Quidditch was a great sport, exciting to watch, but he couldn't understand the need to go flying about for hours at a time. His pursuits were more inclined toward the academic, not physical. Which brought him to the reason Hannah and he were in the Great Hall with all the other early risers.

"I think we should begin le-" Ernie began.

"Harry! NO!" Someone shouted. Ernie looked up to see Harry suddenly sprinting from the Great Hall entrance to the Slytherin table. Harry? He was up.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, wand suddenly flashing and one of the Slytherin students collapsing to the floor. The Great Hall suddenly went quiet as everyone stared at Harry as he leapt upon the tabletop and continued running toward Draco. The clattering of utensils and the cries of food spilled upon student filled the sudden silence.

Ernie could see Dean and Seamus rushing after Harry, Slytherin students rising to their feet, and wands coming out of pockets. He quickly cast a look around for a professors, anyone to stop what he knew was about to happen. But there was no one. Like most students, most professors tended to sleep late on weekends. The professor's table sat empty while everything plunged into chaos.

There was shouting and Ernie watched as Harry was buried beneath a pile of Slytherins, dragged off the table before he reached his goal. Dean and Seamus plunged into the wall of black robes. Ernie could suddenly feel the surge of emotion that filled the room. He heard more yelling and watch as students from the Gryffindor table sprang to their feet and join their compatriots who had now disappeared among the Slytherins.

"What the he-" Ernie cried, then ducking instinctively as a plate flew by his head. He could feel the wind on it and watched as it clattered along the table, upending a pitcher of milk. "Let's get out of here." He said to Hannah who nodded and they headed for the door.

This was not their fight. This was a Slytherin and Gryffindor thing, old hates, fresh insults, and now the person who all that feeling was about had sparked something that had been simmering for a while now. This was no place for a Hufflepuff.

"Watch out!" Ernie cried, grabbing Hannah as a student nearly collided into her. The student stumbled for a bit and then collapsed upon the floor. Moments later a Slytherin student jumped before him, his eyes glazed over and an expression of rage on his face.

He screamed in Ernie's face and then swung. Pain exploded across Ernie's face, white hot and momentarily blinding. He staggered back, gasping with the pain.

"Stupefy!" He heard Hannah cry and the student flopped to the floor.

Ernie looked up to see that Hannah's defense of him was not gone unnoticed. A small knot of Slytherins made their way toward them. At this time Ernie remembered that the Slytherins numbered nearly half the people in the Great Hall and as he cast a desperate look around, only the Gryffindors seemed to be fighting and they were not winning. The entrance to the Great Hall seemed to stretch farther away.

Spells and curses and jinx jumbled in Ernie's mind as he pulled out his wand. It had been self-defense, but it seemed the Slytherins were taking it as an attack against them. "Run!" Ernie cried.

Later Ernie would wonder if it had been for Harry or the fact that a Hufflepuff was being attacked that had been the spark to get those at the Hufflepuff table to pile in alongside the Gryffindors. Whichever reason, Ernie was relieved when the small group converging on him and Hannah were suddenly broken apart as curses were fired at their backs by students joining in the fight.

Ernie threw several curses and jinx at the distracted students, feeling a suddenly powerful feeling of excitement and power as they toppled to the floor or staggered out blindly in one case. Hannah was tugging at his sleeve and still pulling him toward the entrance.

The fight was not going well, not for the Gryffindors or the Hufflepuffs. They were still outnumbered and Ernie was very surprised to see how well the Slytherins were holding their own. They were clumped together in small groups, taking out the disorganized students. He could no longer see Dean or Seamus, though Harry had resurfaced, his face contorted in rage and fending off half a dozen spells, a small berm of unconscious Slytherins before him holding back the rushing tide. Things were definitely not gong well, but Ernie felt a sense of outrage and anger as he saw a Hufflepuff students knocked to the floor.

Was not the motto of the Hufflepuff house all about loyalty? Loyalty to your friends, family, and your house. Even though Ernie did not really know the student he was already rushing to his defense, Hannah crying out in alarm behind him.

A great weight suddenly smashed into Ernie. He cried out and was thrown upon the table, smashing against the heavy wood and scattering half eaten food and utensils. Shaken for a moment he quickly looked up to see the large hulking mass of Goyle's back and he was making his way toward Hannah.

Ernie quickly scanned the situation. It seemed Draco and his cronies were making a break for it. Crabbe and Goyle clearing the way, using fists and elbows instead of wand and spell. Many a student quickly got out of their way, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. Hannah on the other hand was standing shock still, eyes wide and staring as Goyle barreled down upon her.

Ignoring the disorientating feeling, the nausea, and the other Slytherin student who was picking himself up after being knocked aside by Crabbe, Ernie grabbed his dropped wand and staggered to his feet. More spells and curses jumbled in his mind, but the only thing he could think of was: "Tarantallegra!"

For a moment he thought it hadn't work. Goyle stopped and turned to face Ernie, his brutish face devoid of any emotion, but his fist raised and basically ready to smash anyone. Suddenly he began to twitch, then let out a gasp, and then his legs began to jerk about uncontrollably.

The momentary surge of satisfaction was dispelled when Ernie was struck by a curse from the Slytherin he had been rushing toward. A tingling wave of hot pain flashed though him and Ernie felt himself hit the table face first.

The last thing he heard was a roaring. "WHAT IS THIS?" It seemed a professor had finally arrived on the scene, then there was blackness.