Chapter 15: The Sorcerer's Web
That night after dinner, the two couples quickly made their way to Gryffindor Tower and up to Harry and Ginny's room. Remus and Matilda were waiting for them. Remus was looking at the door to the room in obvious annoyance. "Harry, your door's stuck," he said trying to open it again.
"It's locked," replied Harry. When Ginny looked at him curiously, he added. "Only Ginny and I can open it if no one's in the room.
"We tried the unlocking spell," Remus argued, still looking at the door in frustration. "It didn't work.
"It isn't supposed to," replied Harry, gently pushing his guardian out of the way and easily turning the doorknob and opening the door. He motioned everyone in, and grabbed Ginny around the waist as she passed, making her giggle. As everyone entered, they looked around the room. The cauldron was still in front of the fireplace, but Harry had put out the blue flame. The various ingredients for the potion were scattered around the room, the last set of ingredients that Harry had added the night before tossed carelessly on the floor by the cauldron. Matilda glanced towards the ingredients with interest.
"Are those all the things you used for the Potion?" asked Matilda excitedly. "It would be an awfully useful potion to be able to make.
"Unfortunately only an Arch-mage can make it," replied Harry pointing his wand at the mess on his desk and the mess in front of the fire place, making them all zoom into one of his desk drawers. The cauldron slowly shrank until it was the size of those of the students normal cauldron, which landed on his desk against the wall, looking to all the world as if it were propping up Harry's sixth year spell books which were lined up neatly on the back of his desk. "It requires an enormous amount of power, as well as several complex spells that you won't find in any book. As I told you before, it was only used a handful of times in the past.
"When everyone hears about it, they're going to demand that you produce more," Remus warned Harry, pulling Matilda down into a chair with him. Everyone quickly followed their example, Harry and Ginny occupying their now favorite chair. Midnight quickly jumped into Ginny's lap, begging for attention. Ginny quickly gave it to her beloved half-kneezle cat. Midnight had grown in the few weeks that Ginny had owned her, and was now a beautiful adolescent cat.
"When everyone hears what?" asked Harry, as he too scratched the cat behind the ears, making her purr ecstatically. "No one will believe that Remus has been cured, it's never been done before, so no one is going to believe that a sixth year student, whether or not it's me, could do what countless witches and wizards have tried to do for centuries.
"Don't be so sure," countered Remus quietly. "The wizarding world will believe almost whatever the media will tell them. You could easily have a large number of bitten witches and wizards demanding that you cure them. This could become a big problem for you, Harry, and I feel a bit responsible.
"Don't worry about it," replied Harry waiving his concern off. "It doesn't matter to me whether I have a thousand werewolves coming to me, or zero. It's all worth having you and Matilda finally at peace.
Remus was choked up at Harry's reply and could only nod. Ginny smiled up at Harry extremely proud of her fiancŽ. Harry quickly turned everyone's attention to a different subject, however. "Have any of you noticed anythingÉnot normal going on around the castle?" he asked.
"What sort of things?" asked Ron with a frown on his face. "What should we be looking out for?
"OhÉ students not acting themselves, a group of students out after hours, that sort of thing," replied Harry vaguely.
"You mean besides the people in this room, right?" asked Matilda with a smile, and then her face became serious. "No, I haven't noticed anything, but I don't particularly know the students that well yet, Remus?
Remus thought about it for a while, then said. "Mr. Malfoy and his gang are acting extremelyÉ laid back as of late. I thought before now that it was due to the threat that Minerva gave him at the beginning of school, but now I'm not so sure.
"Yeah," broke in Ron. "He hasn't teased us NEARLY as much as he usually does, and he could say a whole lot more about our relationships than he does. He hasn't even called Hermione a Mudblood yet. Everyone was shocked to hear Ron say the filthy word that he loathed so casually, but quickly turned back to the subject at hand.
"I saw Millicent Bulstode out at night as I was making my rounds one night, I don't think Ron saw her because we had split up that night to make out rounds go faster since we had a lot of Transfiguration homework to finish," said Hermione, looking thoughtful. "When I confronted her, she said that she had thought that that night was her night, and that she was mistaken. I led her back to the Slytherin Commons Room to make sure she went there, and stood outside their entrance for several minutes, but I didn't take points off for the mishap.
Harry, after hearing this, cursed vehemently. Ginny slapped him on the arm, making him look down at her apologetically. "Sorry," he said to her, and then he turned back to the group. "That's what I was afraid of," he informed them. "Looks like the children of the Death Eaters are trying to set up something here in Hogwarts, and I'd bet my broomstick that it has something to do with Death Eaters getting into the castle.
"We'll inform Professor Dumbledore about the secret passages that no one knows about immediately," said Remus.
"Don't bother," said Harry carelessly. "I've already taken care of them. There are powerful spells now within each one so that only those of us in this room, as well as Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall can go through them safely. If any other person tries to enter into the castle using any of those passages, they will be trapped behind extremely powerful shields, and I will be alerted as to the intrusion.
"When did you do that?" asked Ginny in surprise. "I've been with you almost the entire week and I've never even so much as SEEN you go into any secret passageway.
"I did it after you went to sleep on Tuesday," Harry replied, then seeing the annoyed look on Ginny's face, added, "I didn't take you with me, because it occurred to me to secure those passages AFTER you fell asleep, and you looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake you. When she heard his logical explanation, Ginny softened her expression.
"So how do you think that the Death Eaters will try and get in-," started Matilda, but she broke off as Harry suddenly jumped out of the chair he and Ginny were sitting in, making Ginny and Midnight fall to the floor with a large THUMP.
"They're here," he said quickly before Disapparating away.
Remus cursed, and then pulled out a parchment from his robes along with his wand. Touching the tip of his wand on the parchment, he said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," then looked down at the Marauder's map looking for his godson. "I've found him," he said to the group. "He's in the dungeons, moving towards a large group of Death Eaters led by Lucius Malfoy. They are in the Potions classroom with Severus. This can't be good.
Looking around the room, he noticed the determined looks in everyone's eyes. "Ron, Hermione, Go get Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, Ginny, go get-," but broke off when he saw the expression on her face. "Right, Matty, go get Professor Flitwick. Ginny, you follow me, so we can kill my idiot of a charge for scaring us all like that.
Everyone quickly left, going to his or her respective places. Remus led Ginny through several secret passages that not even the twins knew about, and they quickly made their way to the dungeons, catching up with Harry as he entered the Potion's Classroom. The rest of the group as well as the three teachers that they went to fetch soon joined them, everyone stopping short at what they saw.
There were easily fifty Death Eaters in the room, all their wands pointed at Severus Snape, who was tied down onto one of the few tables that had not been broken. Snape's robes were shredded and there were several deep cuts all along his body with blood leaking from them. He was screaming a bloodcurdling scream and writhing as much as he was able to in his condition as several Death Eaters performed the Cruciatus curse on him. What made everyone stop short however was the Golden half sphere of light surrounding the large group. Lucius Malfoy, the only Death Eater without his mask on and the hood of his black cloak up, noticed the new arrivals.
"Ah Mr. Potter, Professors so nice that you could come down and witness out little execution," he said brightly.
"There's not going to be any execution tonight, Malfoy," said Harry calmly, despite the gruesome scene that was before him.
"Well, you see, that is where you are wrong, Mr. Potter," said Lucius smugly. "You don't know what this protective barrier is, do you?
"Of course I do, its a Sorcerer's Web," replied Harry calmly, making Dumbledore draw in a ragged breathe. Lucius looked taken aback at Harry's pronouncement. Everyone else looked a bit confused, but noticed Dumbledore's reaction to Harry's declaration and their confusion quickly turned to worry.
"Well if you know what a Sorcerer's Web is, you know that it is quite impossible to pass through, and that only those who cast the web will be able to perform any magic inside the barrier," said Lucius, a smug expression returning to his face once again. "My Master thought it a good protection from you're new found strength.
"Is that true Harry?" asked Ginny worried, and when he did not answer, she looked up at Dumbledore. "Professor, is that true?
Dumbledore looked down at her, and then nodded tightly. "Yes Miss Weasley, that is quite true," he said his voice full of sorrow at the thought that he would not be able to help the wizard being tortured to death.
Harry, not even hearing Ginny's question, had opened his senses fully for the first time since he returned from Avalon. He noticed all the gaps in the Hogwarts' Wards, as well as the spells around Snape with anger. The Death Eaters had made it so that, no matter how much blood he lost, or pain they inflicted, he would not pass out, or die. Opening himself to the Council again, he quickly filled them in on what was going on.
You need to either break the web, or enter through it and take out as many as you can in their surprise,said Merlin immediately. That's the only way for you to save the man.
Unless of course you reveal your true power and simply blast the lot of them out of existence, added Godric. With Voldemort looking in I wouldn't recommend that.
Nonsense, countered Salazar. Harry, you need not reveal your true potential. Here's what you need to do
Harry smiled at Lucius Malfoy. He knew that only seconds had passed while he talked to the Council, thoughts moving a lot quicker than voices. "Well, if that's how you want things to go Malfoy, I guess I'll have to play by your rules," he said, taking a step closer to the shimmering barrier. As soon as he took a step, Ginny cried out a frightened cry but, for once, Harry ignored her. As the group watched, the young wizard calmly walked through the barrier, as if nothing had happened. They were all so shocked that they could not even move to stop Harry.
Lucius Malfoy was utterly shocked for a moment, and then cried out, "GET HIM! When none of his Death Eaters moved, he added, "He can't do magic within the barriers you fools, he's helpless, GET HIM! At his words, the Death Eaters all raised their wands and pointed them at Harry. Several curses were shot at the young man, who dodged them easily. This went on for several minutes, as the audience gasped and screamed in fright and awe as the battle continued. Harry had not used a single spell that anyone could see, but had somehow managed to take out twenty Death Eaters in the melee. Finally, however, Harry pulled out his wand and attempted a spell. The Death Eaters and Order of the Phoenix members alike were shocked as Harry's spell worked, sending an additional ten Death eaters to the ground, stunned. Everyone paused in surprise, and that was all the time Harry needed. He quickly and methodically stunned, or otherwise took care of the rest of the Death Eaters, except for Malfoy, who was standing stock still, staring at Harry with eyes large with horror.
"HowÉ How did youÉThat was" he sputtered as Harry STALKED towards him, it could not be mistaken as anything but the walk of a predator, as he was about to pounce on his helpless prey.
"If you incapacitate enough casters of a Sorcerer's Web, the web dissolves slowly," Harry said answering the unvoiced question. "Didn't you know?" asked Harry in a too casual voice. When Lucius dumbly shook his head Harry sighed exaggeratingly.
"Careless of you Lucius," he said, stopping in front of the man. "I thought you would at least RESEARCH the method that you were going to use to Ôsafeguard yourself against my newfound strength. Harry looked around the room, then carelessly commented, "Doesn't seem to have worked.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" screamed Malfoy suddenly, a green light shooting out of his wand towards the young man. Harry calmly stood there as he watched the light come closer and closer towards him, ignoring the screams of fright behind him. Then, they cut off as Harry did the impossible and CAUGHT the killing curse in his hand. As soon as the curse hit his hand, the light stopped coming from Malfoy's wand, and collected into a bright green ball in Harry's hand. As the amazed witches and wizards all watched, the ball seemed to freeze, becoming somewhat solid, then Harry carelessly tossed the spell back at Malfoy, making it surround him, not quite touching the adult's skin.
"If you so much as touch the light Malfoy, you will die," Harry informed him in a harsh voice, making the wizard freeze. "Except your death will not be quick, it will be extremely painful, and long. You will be begging me for the Cruciatus Curse before you die, and the spell will NOT let you retreat into insanity. YOU WILL FEEL EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF YOUR DEATH AND IT WILL MAKE YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER BEEN BORN.
Harry, then turned his back on the man, and approached the table. With one wave of his wand, Snape's bonds disappeared, and then Harry methodically closed all the wounds on the man before releasing the spells around him, as well as adding a few spells of his own to keep him awake, and quickly recreate the blood that the man had lost. He then seemed to draw into himself once again for a second, then a goblet appeared in his outstretched hand, and he lifted the tortured man's head and made him drink it.
As soon as Snape finished the potion, he sat up, completely fine, with a look of wonder on his face. Harry smiled at him briefly, and then turned to the group of people still standing right by the doorway.
"Sorry I scared you all so much," he said. "I couldn't let you know what I was planning without also tipping off the Death Eaters. He noticed Ginny trembling slightly and smiled at her. "If it makes you feel any better, if I had gotten into trouble, I could have blasted the Web out of existence at any time.
"WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT?" asked Ron, yelling as his shot nerves got the better of him.
"Because he did not want to alert Lord Voldemort as to his true power," Snape answered, surprising everyone. "Harry probably noticed the added spells around each and every Death Eater that allowed the Dark Lord to see and hear what they did. I can only assume that that greenÉ thing that he created cut of Lucius' connection to Voldemort," he added with a questioning look at Harry, who nodded.
"Are you feeling alright, Severus?" asked Professor McGonagall, sounding quite worried for the younger wizard. "I'm all right Minerva," he answered. "That potion that Harry gave me did wonders, may I ask how you got it so quickly?
"Morgana sent it to me," he replied, not taking his eyes off Ginny who still had not reacted and was still trembling slightly. "It's her own creation, and she has a large supply of it just in case it's ever needed by the Council, so I didn't bother making any once I left.
Finally, Ginny seemed to come to herself a little and asked Harry shakily. "Is this how the rest of our lives is going to be: you running headlong into dangerous situations, while I stand by shocked and worried, not able to do anything to help the man I love?
Harry sighed, his heart breaking at the anguished tone in his fiancŽ's voice, and opened his arms, and Ginny literally flew into them, sobbing against his chest. "ShhÉ It's alright, love," he comforted her. "I will never, ever do anything like that again without you beside me," he told her, wiping her tears away with his thumb gently, "I promise.
Ginny smiled up at him, still shaking, but tears no longer flowing from her eyes. "Oh Harry I just love you so much, and whenever you do the brave things that you do, I can't help but feel helpless, as if I'm going to lose you and I can't do anything about it.
"I know, Gin, I know," he said, ignoring everyone else in the room. "Don't worry it'll never happen again.
A snort from behind them broke Harry and Ginny's embrace, as Malfoy made his presence known again. "Fat luck with that, Potter," he sneered, not moving an inch except for his mouth. "As long as the Dark Lord is around, you're going to be in danger. You can take out as many of us as you wish, but Lord Voldemort will triumph against you in the end! The man's eyes had a maniacal looking gleam in them, and Harry raised his wand again, and stunned him, the green spell dissipating literally nanoseconds before Harry's stunning spell hit the Dark Wizard. The Death Eater literally flew backwards into the wall, obviously breaking several bones in the process.
"That was for putting Ginny in danger four years ago," he informed the unconscious Death Eater softly. He then turned to Dumbledore. "Headmaster, there are several gaps in the Hogwarts' Wards, caused by magical Drills. The Death Eaters have been sending them to their children, who set them up all around the castle, which was how the Death Eaters got here. They slipped between the gaps in the Anti-Apparition Ward.
Dumbledore looked surprised for a moment, and then asked, "Drills you say? What are they exactly?
"Well I call them drills. Drill is a Muggle term. My Uncle owns a company that makes drills, and that is what these things do: they drill through Wards." replied Harry, slipping an arm around Ginny's waist again. "They are special Ward breaking talismans. They are powered by a large amount of Dark Magic, and are very hard to detect until they are finished. With all the Dark activity going on in the castle, not even I could pick them up from everything else.
Dumbledore did not seem surprised to hear that there was OTHER dark activity going on, confirming Harry's assumption that Dumbledore was up to something, but not knowing what. "So in your opinion, are the students still at risk?" he asked. When Harry nodded grimly, Dumbledore immediately turned to McGonagall. "Minerva, have all the students immediately make their way to the Great Hall, each of you," this to Remus, Flitwick, and Matilda, "escorting them. Once the students and the rest of the Staff are in the Great Hall, close and seal the doors immediately and station two Professors at each door with instructions to stun anyone who enters, including myself and Mr. Potter. If we are the ones who enter, we can always be revived. He then looked at the other Prefects standing beside him. "You lot should go with them," then seeing that they were about to protest added, "the other students will be scared and confused and I need you to all calm them down. Also having all of you there safe guards the rest of the students even more.
"Watch out for any known Death Eater's child," Harry added to them all. "They undoubtedly knew about this attack, and might try and retaliate if they think the attack has failed." He then held out his hand and concentrated. Several chains with crystals on them appeared in his hand. They slowly floated in front of the Teachers and Prefects. "Put those on, they are protective talismans, and will protect you against anything that can be thrown at you, including the Unforgivable Curses. They only last a few hours, but that should give us enough time to take care of the gaps in the Wards," They each put one on, including Snape, then left on their missions.
"Severus, I want you to watch over these unconscious Death Eaters," Dumbledore informed him, handing him back his wand from where it had dropped on the floor. "I'm sure that they will be quite peaceful after what Mr. Potter did to them, but just in case, I want someone here, until Alastor and the rest of the Order's Aurors can get here. I've already notified them and they are on their way. Snape nodded in understanding and propped himself on the table that he had been bound to, making sure he had a clear shot at each and every Death Eater on the floor. If they so much as twitched, he would be able to see and react before they had a chance to rise.
Harry, Ginny, and Dumbledore made a thorough sweep of the school, finding all the Drills. Since they were alone, Harry pulled out his Staff, and released his true power. Once they had gathered all the talismans and Harry had wove spells around them, nullifying them, Dumbledore spoke his mind.
"Harry, with holes in the Wards, we are going to have to close the school," he said, regret filling his voice. "If I cannot guarantee the safety of the students, then it would be irresponsible of me to continue on here as if nothing has happened.
"Don't worry Professor," replied Harry, as he waved his glowing Staff above the last of the talismans that Ginny was holding in one of her hands, before she put it in a large sack with the rest of them. There had been exactly fifty, meaning that the Death Eaters had all each used their own special Apparition point. In each place, Harry put protective spells around the place where the a person would be able to Apparate in, making sure that, in the case that someone utilized the gaps in the wards, they would be struck unconscious immediately and encased in a magical prison, as well as alerting both Dumbledore and Harry to their presence. "I've been thinking about it, and I think that I can put up new Wards over the old ones, then destroy the old Wards completely. In fact, the new Wards will probably make Hogwarts much safer. I can weave an Anti-Drill charm into the Wards themselves, making it impossible to enter through the Wards with them, no matter who or what is carrying them. Drills are only dangerous on the inside of Wards, not the outside.
Dumbledore thought about this for several moments, then asked, "How much time would you need to complete a Working of that magnitude?
"I could probably have it done by the end of the night," Harry answered, as they made their way to check on the Death Eaters. They had run into Moody and the Aurors already. When they got there, they saw that the Aurors had all taken care of the Death Eaters, and Moody and Snape were the only ones left in the room, talking quietly between themselves.
"Ah Albus, good," said Moody as he caught sight of the three. "Severus and I started talking while my boys took Potter's latest victims to the Ministry for processing. Oh by the way Potter, the other ones that you captured have all been executed as per your suggestion, and these others will probably get the same sentence. I don't even want to know what you did to poor Malfoy, though. He was half dead when we got here, and if we didn't have a competent healer in the group, he would have died.
"What were you discussing?" asked Dumbledore.
"We were trying to come up with some way to give Harry as well as Ginny here, free run of the school at all times, like the Staff Members have," replied Snape, surprising both students. "It is perfectly clear that Harry is now the best defense we have against the Dark Lord's attacks, andÉ wellÉ in light of my attack, I think it would be a good idea if they were able to react without fear of punishment, not that that is really a problem for these two. Snape smiled down at the young couple, surprising them both. "Oh by the way Potter, since I'm still a residing member of the Staff, even though I'm not teaching currently, I am hereby awarding you five hundred points for saving my life, as well as the stunning display of dueling you exhibited. Furthermore, I am officially asking the Headmaster to bring you on as an unofficial Staff Member and have you start teaching a dueling class, which will be open to all students who wish to better defend themselves.
Harry and Ginny were both stunned at this, and they looked at Dumbledore, who was smiling at them. "Well Harry, Remus has informed me about your wish to reinstate the Dueling club. I can think of no better person to instruct the students of how to protect themselves than you, your Highness," he said bowing, reminding everyone of Harry's formal title.
Harry looked at Ginny, who stared back for a moment, then nodded. "I'll accept on one condition," he said, looking from Dumbledore, to Moody, and finally at Snape. "I'll accept as long as I'm able to attend classes and eat at the Gryffindor House table just like any other student.
Dumbledore thought about this for a second then nodded, "Then it is agreed, welcome to the Hogwarts' Staff Harry," he said with his customary twinkle coming back in his eyes. "Come why don't we all go up to the Great Hall to check on the students and teachers, then you can start on the Wards.
As they walked, Dumbledore quickly filled Snape and Moody in about what happened after they left. As they got closer to the Great Hall, they all heard McGonagall bellowing angrily. Harry stopped everyone, right before they were about to go inside, and let go of his Staff, which disappeared, and then took the bag from Ginny, who was struggling slightly to keep it up. He then whispered a spell over them all and opened the door. Immediately several stunning spells hit the group, which dissipated off of the shield that Harry had erected around the group, Seeing who it was, Professor Flitwick as well as several former members of the D.A. sighed in relief. McGonagall was still yelling at a group of students.
"Minerva, what is going on here?" asked Dumbledore, as he saw the students all clustered together in little groups. McGonagall turned at Dumbledore's voice, her face relaxing when she saw that they were all well.
"Albus, theseÉ theseÉtheseÉ MONSTERS tried to curse several of the students," she said. "If it weren't for Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger here," she went on pointing to Ron and Hermione who were standing beside her, "then they could have seriously injured a lot of people.
Harry looked at the group of about ten students. Draco Malfoy, Crabb, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstode were all a part of it. He looked at all of their auras carefully, and then turned to Dumbledore. "These must be the people who set up those talismans around the school Professor," he said, making sure not to show how much he knew about the Drills. "I would bet my broomstick on it.
Dumbledore took in what Harry was truly telling him in silence, then turned to the group of students, who all shivered at the sudden cold look in his eyes. "Minerva, you will take the wands from each of these students immediately," McGonagall quickly followed Dumbledore's order and soon ten wands were grasped in her hand. "Severus, Remus, Matilda" Dumbledore went on, "if any of them so much as move their hands in the direction of their pockets, you are to stun them immediately. At his words, the three professors pulled out their wands, and pointed them at the students, who now looked to be extremely frightened.Dumbledore then turned to Ron and Hermione, the twinkle back in his eyes. "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, I am proud of you. Not many people would have taken on ten wizards for the sake of others. I am awarding the two of you two hundred points each for your bravery.
"We weren't the only ones Professor," said Ron. "Blaise helped us," he gestured at the pretty blond Slytherine girl standing a bit apart from them. "She stopped Malfoy and Goyle.
"Then two hundred points will be awarded to you as well Miss Zabini," said Dumbledore, smiling at the girl who grinned in response. He then turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, are you ready to finish up around the school?" he asked vaguely, though Harry knew that he was talking about the Working he would be performing.
Harry nodded to him, then looked at Ginny, who had not left his side since after his battle with the Death Eaters. He looked into her eyes, and made a decision. "I want you to stay here Ginny," he said, and he silenced her with a finger to her lips when it looked as if she were about to speak. "I don't know how long I'm going to take, and the more people protecting the students the better I'll feel, and the quicker I'll be able to get this done. I'm NOT telling you to stay because I want to protect you while I go off and do something dangerous. I seriously think that you will be more good here, than out there with me. I want you here, so you can report to me if anything else happens, he sent to her. You have a telepathic gift, and even though it's untrained, if you think towards me, I'll be able to hear you, I'll be listening for it. Ginny considered him for a moment, looking into his eyes, then nodded silently. Harry quickly kissed her and walked out of the Great Hall.
It was several hours later that a tired Harry reentered the Great Hall. All the teachers were still awake, but Dumbledore had conjured sleeping bags for the students, and most of them were fast asleep. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Katie were all still awake, however. All the members of the Order and the three prefects, as well as the Head Girl and Moody were all sitting at a table in the front of the Hall drinking steaming cups of coffee and tea.
Harry quietly made his way towards them and wearily sat down beside Ginny, smiling his thanks as she passed him a cup of hot tea, made just the way he liked it. He sipped it for a few moments, before addressing the tired group. "It's done," he said quietly. "I've put up new Wards, and the old ones are gone. I went ahead and weaved a keying spell for the Anti-Apparition ward, and keyed all of you, as well as the rest of the Order of the Phoenix to it, so you can all Apparate on Hogwarts' grounds now. I've also added several Wards that were never there in the first place on the suggestion of the Four Founders: stuff that will take care of many of the dark creatures that Voldemort could send against us among other things," he informed them, taking another sip of his tea and slipping an arm around Ginny, who leaned tiredly on his shoulder. "Anything happen here?" he asked.
"No," replied Remus tiredly. "Everything was rather quiet. Albus informed the students that the immediate threat to the school had been taken care of, thanks to you, and then told them all that they would have to sleep here for the night for their own safety as the school was secured.
"After a few hours of watching the tenÉ Monsters, as Minerva called them, we finally stunned them all so that we could rest for a while," added Snape. "We decided to go ahead and let them sleep with the others.
"What are you going to do to them?" asked Ron softly. "While we were waiting for Harry to come back, all of us have been so tense with worry that we haven't had a chance to talk about it.
"They are going to be expelled," Dumbledore informed them, his anger at the group of students still apparent, despite his tiredness. "I will personally see that their wands are broken and they are gone from this school before classes start on Monday. To knowingly endanger the entire student body as they have is unforgivable.
Everyone was silent at this pronouncement. Ten students being expelled from Hogwarts was an unprecedented occurrence. Then Harry sighed and changed the subject by asking, "Shouldn't we wake everyone up and send them to their dorms?
"Let them sleep," replied Remus. "Once everyone wakes up, they can be sent back to the dormitory," then he yawned and added, "it's a good thing today is Saturday, because I think that as soon as everyone wakes up, we are all going to fall asleep on our feet.
Harry sipped his tea silently for a few minutes, and then put down his empty cup. "Alastor, is that bounty still up for the Death Eaters?" he asked.
Moody grinned, and nodded at Harry, who then said. "I don't want the rest of the Wizarding world knowing that I can take out fifty Death Eaters without help. Is there any way that you can keep my identity a secret?
Moody thought about it for a few moments. "Well, I can have the money brought directly to you," he said. "As long as no one at Gringots knows that you've gotten five hundred million more galleons, no one should be the wiser.
Harry thought about this for a second, then asked, "Ron does Bill have enough pull at Gringots to be able to get into vaults without anyone else knowing? And I mean ANYONE ELSE. When Ron nodded, Harry looked towards the general direction of his room, and called out Hedwig's name quietly. A few minutes later, Hedwig flew into the hall, carrying a blank piece of parchment and a quill in her claws. Harry pulled a bottle of ink out of his robes, and quickly wrote a note to Bill Weasley, not letting anyone else read what he wrote, then sealed it and tied it to Hedwig's leg. He whispered to his owl for a few moments, who hooted in response then flew away. "Give my best to Archimedes," he called after her, making Ginny giggle, and everyone look at the two of them strangely.
"Archimedes is Merlin's owl," said Ginny when she noticed the looks. "Hedwig and Archimedes hit it off quite well during the summer," and everyone smiled in amusement at Harry's words as well. Ginny handed Harry his teacup back, again full of tea, and he thanked her as he sipped the hot liquid, which seemed to help clear his mind a bit.
"Albus, I'm worried about the moral of the school," he said finally. When he had everyone's attention, he went on. "It's only been a little over a week, and there have been two attacks on the school, and several other surprises for them. Their nerves are probably worn extremely thin at the moment. I mean, look at all of us, and we have been EXPECTING these types of things. I think that we need to do something to get the students' minds off of what happened the past few days.
"Do you have any ideas, Harry?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," he replied. "I think that we should seriously think about having a number of dances over the course of the year, and if we do, it should be announced fairly soon.
"How many dances are you thinking about Harry," asked Remus, sounding interested, even as Professor Dumbledore spoke.
"It would be impossible. We are on an extremely tight budget right now. The only reason why we were able to have the Yule Ball two years ago was because the Ministry was paying for it as a part of the Triwizard Tournament.
"What if I paid for everything?" asked Harry. Everyone looked at him a bit shocked, and he added. "Well I've got plenty of money, I could easily pay for a number of Balls without ever putting a dent in my bank account, especially after last night. I feel partly responsible for the student's frayed nerves anyway.
"None of this was your fault," said Ginny quickly, causing Harry to look down at her with a loving smile.
"I know love, but I still feel a bit responsible, what with curing Remus and all, and I think it would be a big help.
Dumbledore thought about this for a few moments. "What were you thinking?" he asked finally.
"Well I was thinking about having a simple Halloween Dance," Harry began. "Nothing too fancy, maybe have a small group or band come in, and clear off a place for the students to dance along with the usual Halloween decorations. I was also thinking about having two big balls: another Yule ball, and maybe a Valentine's Ball as well.
After talking about it for a bit, everyone agreed. Professor Dumbledore decided to make the announcement Monday morning at breakfast. The talk turned to more general things until the students started waking up. As soon as this happened, the tired Gryffindor prefects, along with Katie, went with the first wave of students going to the dormitories. As soon as they were in their room, Harry and Ginny collapsed on their bed and fell into a deep sleep.