Harry woke up earlier in the morning than he was used to. Oddly, given the events of the previous night and the early morning, he had had a very good nights' sleep. He felt refreshed and ready for whatever the day would bring. Harry dressed swiftly and went down to eat breakfast. When he got there, he was surprised to see that along with Lupin, Fred and George were Luna and her father. Lupin paused from cooking breakfast to bid Harry a good morning, then he resumed cooking the sausages, bacon and eggs. "Good morning Harry," Luna said brightly when she saw him. "How was your night?"
"Fine thanks, Luna," Harry replied. "I slept better than I have done in ages, actually. What are you doing here?"
"We're a bit low on food at home, I'm afraid," Luna responded, smiling dreamily. "Daddy's given most of it to the werewolves. Professor Lupin was kind enough to suggest that we eat here with you."
"We thought it would be a good idea too," George put in. "The more people we have here the better, since that will mean we can get to Hogwarts faster when we're needed."
"And on top of that," Fred said, a massive grin on his face, "we can have more fun if Luna and her dad are here. They just love our little tricks." Fred proceeded to demonstrate his point, putting on a Headless Hat, his head completely disappearing, then an eerie howling noise came from his direction. Luna smiled delightedly while her father applauded, a huge smile on his face. "See what I mean, Harry?" Fred continued, his grin wider than it was before as he removed his hat. "That was our new two-in-one Headless Howler. We're working on making them work like actual Howlers when the customer demands, but we haven't quite figured out how yet."
"That sounded exactly like the Ghoulish Gremlin of Gibraltar," Mr Lovegood said, his smile still firmly in place. "Could you let me have one of those? It might help me get closer to the Gremlin when I go to Gibraltar next month."
"Of course," Fred replied, bowing deeply in Mr Lovegood's direction. "We've got several prototypes of the Headless Howler and would be happy to give you one. Anything to advance the Quibbler's search for unusual species." Harry raised an eyebrow at Fred's slightly mocking comment and gave him a slightly amused look. Mr Lovegood was apparently delighted at Fred's response and either didn't know or didn't care that Fred was joking with him. Fred was apparently fond of Mr Lovegood though, as it was the sort of gentle teasing he and George tended to use on friends and relatives.
"Breakfast's ready," Lupin cut in, moving over to the dining table with several plates piled high with food, one of which had noticeably more sausages and rashers of bacon than the others and correspondingly less scrambled egg. "There's toast already on the table along with jam and marmalade for those who want them." Lupin set the plates down in front of each person. Fred and George, showing perhaps where Ron got his attitude to food from, attacked their breakfast with relish. They had soon eaten all of the food on their plates in addition to several pieces of toast piled high with butter and jam. Harry and Mr Lovegood ate more sparingly, taking longer to eat all their breakfast. Luna took the longest of all, leisurely taking a bite at a time, oddly dipping each piece in one of the mounds of jam or marmalade that she had piled up on either side of her plate. Lupin unusually ate ravenously; devouring the vast amounts of meat he had piled on his plate while being much more sparing with his scrambled egg.
"Why did you have so much meat, Professor Lupin?" Luna asked when they had all finished.
"It's because of the time of the month," Lupin replied sadly. "You see, when the full moon is near werewolves need to eat a lot more meat than they normally would. Nobody is quite sure why, but it seems to be true of every werewolf that has ever existed."
"How fascinating," Mr Lovegood said, an intrigued look on his face. "Would you mind if that went into next months Quibbler? I'm sure our readers would be fascinated by the life of a werewolf."
"Not at all. The more people that understand my condition the better," Lupin replied. "I wish more people would read about it. Perhaps if they understood werewolves better we would be less feared by others, even if we must always fear ourselves. I suppose it was that hope that made my parents write a book about a young werewolf's life, though it had less of an effect than I think they hoped it might."
"Your parents wrote a book Professor?" Luna said, surprise showing in her wide silvery eyes. "I didn't know that. I've looked in the library to see what books our teachers have written, but there was nothing written by anybody named Lupin. Professor Snape's book was quite interesting though."
"I'm not surprised you looked, Luna," Lupin responded, a sad smile on his face. "You wouldn't have found it though. My parents wrote it anonymously, you see. They didn't want anybody to find out I was a werewolf. It's called Hairy Snout, Human Heart."
"Hairy Snout, Human Heart?" George repeated incredulously. "That's about you?" After Lupin's nod of confirmation he continued, "It's a classic! That's the most famous book about a werewolf ever written."
"Yes, but I'm afraid relatively few wizards and witches have read it," Lupin said dispiritedly. "Most of them simply assume werewolves aren't safe. Even Molly does that some of the time. And when did you read that book?" Lupin continued, a smile returning to his face and a hint of mischief entering his voice. "I remember that I had great difficulty getting the two of you to read anything. How you managed to get an OWL in Defence Against the Dark Arts escapes me sometimes."
"It's quite simple," Fred said, his face completely straight. "We read it after we nicked it from Percy." Everybody laughed at the thought of the twins reading a book they 'borrowed' from their elder brother.
Luna recovered from her laughter much quicker than she sometimes did and said, "That wasn't very nice you know. I hope you gave your brother his book back."
"We did, Luna," George reassured her. "Percy got his book back."
"Eventually," Fred said under his breath to Harry who struggled to contain his laughter. Luna had apparently not heard Fred's comment and simply said, "Good. If you take people's things it's only polite to return them." Fred and George gave her a slightly odd look then shrugged their shoulders, obviously not understanding what she meant. Harry understood exactly why Luna felt that way; since people often took her possessions and hid them from her she felt quite sorry for those in a similar position and felt that those who do 'borrow' things without their owner's permission should return them sooner or later.
A few hours later, while tidying up the Burrow, which Mrs Weasley had apparently left in a hurry, Harry felt a sharp pain in his head, coming from his scar. Fred and George, who were with him at the time asked him what was happening. "It's Voldemort. He's very happy," Harry said
"Do you know why he's happy?" asked Luna who was also with them.
"No, but I can only think of one reason why he would be so happy, especially since he was angry earlier" Harry replied.
"He must have started the attack on Hogwarts," Fred said, voicing Harry's thoughts. "And he must think it's going well. We'd better go and see Remus."
The young quartet rushed down the stairs as fast as they could, calling out Lupin's name. They reached the bottom of the stairs with no response from their old teacher, so they split up to search for him. Suddenly, Lupin's voice could be heard clearly from outside the house. "I'm out here," he said very quietly. Fred, George Harry and Luna rejoined one another and went out to where Lupin stood, a worried look on his face. Mr Lovegood stood a short distance away from him, the smile Harry had seen on his face throughout most of their short acquaintance completely absent.
"What's wrong, Remus?" Fred asked, his usual cheerfulness noticeably absent.
"Fawkes came to me with a letter from Dumbledore," Lupin replied grimly. "Voldemort's attack on Hogwarts is under way."
"We thought it must be," Harry said, his heart heavy with worry about what was happening at the school. "What did the letter say?" he asked.
"Have a look for yourself," Lupin said, handing Harry a roll of parchment. "Sisyphus," he continued, "could you go home and fetch your guests please? I need them here as soon as possible."
"Of course," Mr Lovegood replied. "Glad I can help." As soon as he finished speaking, Mr Lovegood Apparated away, the crack of his departure clearly audible. Lupin turned to talk to the twins, though Harry didn't pay too much attention to what they were saying. Instead he was too focused on Dumbledore's letter. The letter said:
Remus,
I am sorrier than I can say that I must inform you of the success of Lord Voldemort's initial attack. His servants have managed to gain access to the school grounds despite our best efforts, though the charms around the school have at least permitted me to exclude the Dementors while I am still Headmaster. We are still fighting hard, but I fear we will not be able to prevent our enemies entering the castle, even with the help of the wizards 3-23 is bringing from DM. Indeed, it seems some have managed to get inside already.
Please bring everybody who is with you to A Goat at HH, HM. There I hope to be able to meet with you and give you all further instructions. If I cannot, proceed as we have previously discussed.
I hope to see you soon,
Albus Dumbledore
Harry red the letter through twice before looking back to Lupin. When he did so, he noticed Fred and George had left. Only he, Luna and Lupin were still standing just outside the Burrow. "What does it mean?" he asked Lupin, shaking the letter to make sure he was clearly understood.
"Most of it should be quite clear, Harry," Lupin said, smiling ruefully. "Voldemort's attack has been more successful than we might have hoped. The parts you might not fully understand are due to Dumbledore writing in code. Even though Voldemort should not be able to intercept Fawkes, we can't take the chance that he might have discovered a way and might thereby learn our plans."
"So what does the code mean?" Harry asked again.
"It's quite simple, really. 3-23 is Charlie Weasley. It's his initials converted to numbers, see." Harry nodded to show that he understood that part, so Lupin continued. "DM is where he has gone to get support from – Durmstrang. The rest of the letter tells me where Dumbledore wants me to take us. We are going to pay a visit to his brother."
"How are we going to get to get there, Professor Lupin?" Luna enquired, her tone of voice unusually serious. "It would take too long to fly there and I doubt everyone is able to Apparate."
"You're right, Luna," Lupin said, sounding like he did when one of his pupils answered a question correctly. "Not all of us will be able to Apparate, so we are going to use these." Lupin reached into his patched old robes and pulled out several smallish round discs.
"What are they?" Harry asked.
"They are going to be Portkeys," Lupin replied. "I can set them up to return to their starting location after a short duration, in this case 2 minutes."
"Like the Portkeys at the Quidditch World Cup," Luna said happily.
"Exactly like those Portkeys," Lupin agreed. "This will let us move everyone to our destination quickly and quietly. Both speed and silence should work to our advantage. Now then, I'll set up the first three so we can get where we are going and check that it's completely safe. Once I'm sure it is, I'll come back here and oversee the movement of the others. Take hold of these," he said, giving Harry and Luna one disc apiece and pulling out his wand. He tapped his wand to the discs, saying "Portus" as he did so, then he repeated the process with a third disc that he picked up himself. A few seconds after he finished the spell, Harry felt the familiar sensation of being transported by a Portkey. Soon afterwards, he found himself in a cool, dark place with several barrels surrounding him. The place smelt more than a little of goats. A fraction of a second later he noticed that Luna and Lupin were with him. Harry also noticed that Luna had a slightly sickly look on her face due, he assumed, to the way they had arrived. Harry guessed Luna was less than fond of travelling by Portkey.
"Where are we?" Harry asked once he had fully gathered his bearings.
"Exactly where we intended to be," Lupin replied. "The basement of the Hog's Head, the owner of which is Aberforth Dumbledore."
"Who's there?" a slightly gruff voice demanded from above them, cutting short any response Harry might have made.
"It's us, Aberforth," Lupin responded calmly. "Your brother wanted us to come here."
"So Voldemort's made his move at last then," Aberforth said calmly. "You'd better come upstairs then. The cellar will get a bit crowded when the others start arriving."
Luna and Harry went up the stairs and through the door Aberforth had opened. Lupin stayed behind. "I should go back to the Burrow and get the other Portkeys ready. I'll be back as soon as everybody else gets here," he said. "Leave your Portkeys down here. They'll start cycling back and forth soon." Harry and Luna did as Lupin suggested, placing the discs he had given them on the floor. A few seconds later, the discs vanished and so did Lupin.
It was half an hour later when Lupin returned. In the meantime, groups of 6 had repeatedly arrived in the Hog's Head's cellar. As soon as they made their way up the stairs into the bar, they were greeted by Aberforth who gave each person in turn a drink, more often than not Firewhisky, though the occasional bottle of Butterbeer or glass of Gillywater was served along with other less alcoholic substances. As they arrived, Harry kept a close watch on those who had answered the twins' call for assistance. As they had said, Lee Jordan was unsurprisingly prominent amongst the ranks of the former DA members, as were Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. Harry could also see several people who had joined the DA once Umbridge was no longer a factor, including the Fawcett twins Lydia and Camilla; the former prefects Paul Underwood, Zara Young and Caitlin De'Ath; Philip Stebbins and Roger Davies, formerly of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and their counterparts from the Hufflepuff team, Chloe Carter and Christopher Long. There were also several people who Harry was sure had never joined the DA, including several Slytherins and Oliver Wood, who should really have been training with the Scotland Quidditch team for their upcoming match against Egypt. "This is more important than a Quidditch match," he said when he saw Harry's surprised look, answering the unspoken question as to why he was there. "If You-Know-Who wins there won't be much time for Quidditch, will there?" Harry nodded, very much in agreement with his old captain, though he never would have expected to hear such sentiments expressed by such a renowned Quidditch fanatic.
The last former members of the DA to arrive were unsurprisingly Fred and George, both of whom emerged from the cellar with huge grins on their faces. Their companions, however, were somewhat surprising to Harry. The twins were accompanied by only two other people. Harry was not too surprised to see that one of their companions was the beautiful Cho Chang, but he was utterly astonished when he saw the pockmarked face hidden as much as possible beneath curly reddish blonde hair. Harry had not seen that face in over a year, the person it belonged to having done her best to keep out of his way. "What's she doing here?" Harry demanded, furious that the person who had betrayed the DA to Umbridge had arrived.
"Marietta's here because I asked her to come," Cho said diffidently. Harry and Cho had spoken only infrequently since their relationship ended, both of them taking care not to set the other one off.
"Well that worked out so well the last time, didn't it?" Harry responded sarcastically. "It's not as if she got us all in trouble and got Dumbledore kicked out of his own school is it?" Marietta seemed to shrink into herself as Harry spoke, as if she didn't want to face him.
Cho also seemed unwilling to push Harry, so it was Fred who surprisingly spoke up in Marietta's defence. "Give her a chance, Harry," he said quietly, neither he nor his brother grinning any longer. "Cho did check with us and we spoke about it with Remus before Marietta ever came to join us."
"And you all thought it was a good idea?" Harry asked, his incredulity plain on his face.
"We need every ally we can get," George replied solemnly. "Marietta has said she's willing to fight against You-Know-Who and we believe her. Dumbledore's willing to trust Snape and Dung, both of whom have done worse than Marietta ever did. We're just following his example."
Harry calmed down a little while he listened to the twins' explanation, though he was still less than happy with Marietta's presence. "All right," he said finally, "she can stay. But I don't want to see her. You two," he continued, indicating the twins, "had better make sure we don't regret bringing her. Don't let her out of your sight." Harry turned away without another word and stalked off to the far side of the room, Luna following behind him.
"You were very rude to Marietta, you know," Luna said serenely once they had sat down.
"Luna, she betrayed us all. How do we know she won't decide that Voldemort's got the right idea and join him halfway through the fight?" Harry asked, his tone of voice indicating his annoyance at Luna's attitude. "We can't afford to have any traitors in our midst."
"We don't know that she won't," Luna replied, "but we don't know that of anybody else either. Marietta thought she was doing the right thing when she betrayed the DA." Harry opened his mouth as if to disagree, but Luna continued regardless. "She was wrong, of course, but I'm sure we've all done things that we thought were right at the time and later discovered that we were mistaken."
"A mistake? Is that what you call it?" Harry demanded. "Her mistake could have handed Voldemort victory."
"If she realises she was wrong, then yes it was a mistake, one she can learn from," Luna continued, unruffled by Harry's temper. "We all make mistakes, Harry. Don't discard an ally because of one in her past; that may be a mistake of your own."
Harry was surprised at Luna's vehement defence of Marietta. After all, Marietta was her former housemate and if she hadn't actively been involved in the stealing of Luna's belongings she had done little to prevent it either. Luna's stubborn defence, usually reserved for the defence of her father or the Quibbler, made Harry pause to consider what she said. "You may be right," he eventually conceded. "That sneak might come in useful. But how can we trust her?"
"Do you trust Professor Snape?" Luna asked. Harry opened his mouth, about to angrily say that he did not and could not trust Snape, but he quickly closed it again and merely nodded. "And so you should," Luna agreed. "He's proved it often enough. Let Marietta have the chance to prove her trustworthiness. Watch her for signs of betrayal if you want, but give her a chance. Now," Luna continued, suddenly going off on a different tack, "what would you like to drink?" After taking Harry's order, Luna walked over to the bar where Aberforth stood and, after a brief discussion with him, she purchased two bottles of Butterbeer which she and Harry proceeded to consume in silence.
Harry and Luna sat quietly dinking their drinks and watching others buy more drinks of their own from Aberforth while more people continued to arrive from the cellar. Most of the new arrivals were unknown to them, but eventually they saw people they recognised; first emerging from the cellar was Luna's father, then Lupin and finally somebody every bit as large as Hagrid, a woman that Harry had not seen for three years but who he knew both Hagrid and Dumbledore to have been in close contact with, Madame Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy. Lupin had a brief conversation with Aberforth, who pointed towards Harry and Luna, then came over to join them accompanied by Mr Lovegood and Madame Maxime. Seeing this, Fred and George also moved over to Harry and Luna's table.
"Is that everybody?" Fred asked Lupin once they had all taken a seat, Madam Maxime sitting on a stool that was nearly a small table.
"Yes, everybody's here," Lupin replied quietly. "All forty-six of us arrived safely."
"So what now?" Harry demanded. "Do we all just sit here drinking as if it's a normal day?"
"For now, we wait," Lupin said even more quietly. "If he can, Dumbledore will come and tell us what he wants us to do."
"And if he can't?" George enquired before Harry could ask the question.
"If he can't," Lupin said seriously, "we'll know. Then it will be time to act."
"And what do we do about this lot?" Harry asked, indicating the others, all of whom had come to help fight Voldemort but most of which were treating the occasion as a reunion, happily drinking and sharing stories.
"Leave them alone, so long as they don't get out of hand," Lupin replied. He obviously saw Harry's questioning look as he continued sadly, "Let them have their fun, Harry. It may be the last time many of them have the chance."
Harry felt a shiver run down his spine at Lupin's words. He looked around the dank bar at those who had come once again, this time feeling not annoyance at their joviality but a sense of fear. How many of them, he wondered, will not be alive to see the outcome? Or worse, how many of them will be alive to see Voldemort victorious? As he looked at the smiling faces of his friends and allies, Harry knew that he was not going to like the answer.
That's the end of the first half of my version of the final battle. I must admit I'm not 100 happy with it, as I feel that more description might sometimes be needed, but if I put in everything I wanted it would end up absolutely huge. I'm also not sure I got everybody's characterisations quite right.
I'm not sure when the second half will be ready as I am quite inconsistent when it comes to writing. Hopefully it won't be too long. The second half will include a lot more confrontations between the forces of Voldemort and the defenders of Hogwarts. It will also include the deaths of some well-known characters and the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort amongst other things.
Please review and tell me how well (or badly) the story has worked out so far.