When Ron, Hermione and Millicent arrived at the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room they were amazed by what they saw. Where there was usually only a stone floor, there was now a gaping hole down which a flight of stone steps could be seen. On the steps were several bodies, all of which where absolutely immobile. Some of the bodies were house-elves and a few belonged to Death Eaters. Most of them, however, were the immobile forms of Slytherin pupils. Other students were examining several of the prone figures, obviously trying to find evidence that there was still life in them. In many of the cases, the students sadly shook their heads after a brief examination, indicating that the body was dead. Several others were relieved when they found signs of life and immediately sent those that still lived to the infirmary where it was hoped Madam Pomfrey could care for them. Milling around amidst this chaos were numerous house-elves, some of whom were trying to repair some of the worse damage while others appeared to be standing guard. After standing still examining the scene for a few moments, Ron voiced the thoughts of both his companions. "What happened here?" he asked.
"The Death Eaters happened," Ursula Smith replied sadly, her face marked by tears. "They attacked us just as we were entering the common room. We tried to run so that they would be cut off when the stones closed behind us, but we found our way blocked by Draco Malfoy and his friends. They had been in the lead, but now they moved forwards only slowly, leaving those of us at the back, mostly Dumbledore supporters, to take the brunt of the Death Eaters attack, then after a few minutes they turned and began stunning the people immediately behind them. They got Ernie first, then Padma and the other non-Slytherins. After they were done with them, they turned on their nearest housemates, opening a path for the Death Eaters to use to enter the common room. Other students came up the stairs from the common room, drawn by the commotion, and they began to fight, mostly against Malfoy's friends though a few chose to join him. Zacharias and the others arrived about then, but they weren't able to do much to distract the Death Eaters. We'd probably have been overwhelmed if it weren't for the house-elves."
"What did the house-elves do?" Hermione asked.
"They saved the day is what they did," Zacharias said as he limped up to stand beside his sister. "They were amazing. They popped out of nowhere, completely surprising the Death Eaters, and then they began to use all sorts of weird magic. Some of the Death Eaters were thrown head-over-heels backwards and as soon as they got to their feet the same thing happened again. Other Death Eaters were blasted off their feet straight into the ceiling. Some of them were like bouncing balls, going from the ceiling to the floor then back up to the ceiling before returning to the floor again. That's how they came to be crumpled like that with several broken bones," he said pointing to the unconscious Death Eaters. "The Death Eaters fought back against the house-elves, killing some of them, but there were too many so the Death Eaters decided to retreat. I've never seen anything like it before. I had no idea house-elves had that kind of power," Zacharias concluded, a new respect for the diminutive creatures clear in his voice.
"House-elves have powers that we don't," Hermione said quietly while glancing at Ron in a way that was both smug and proud, smug that the house-elves had shown what they could do and proud of Ron since he had been the one to think of using them. At the same time, Millicent demanded to know "What happened to Malfoy?"
"The house-elves dealt with him and his allies too," Ursula responded. "They blew everybody who was fighting up the stairs. They were a lot gentler with them than they were with the Death Eaters, though. I think that was because they weren't sure who was fighting for whom. After Malfoy and his friends got to their feet, they ran away. After that, I really don't have a clue what happened to them."
"Did we do right, Miss?" Dobby asked Hermione as he came to her side accompanied by some of the other elves.
"You did splendidly, Dobby," Hermione replied, smiling happily at him. "You've certainly saved many lives."
"It was only our duty, Miss. We have to protect every student in the school miss." Dobby returned Hermione's smile, obviously pleased with her acknowledgement of the elves' role.
Millicent, however, was not so happy. "Why didn't you kill any of the Death Eaters?" she asked belligerently. "They'll have to be dealt with eventually. It would have been easier if you killed them while you had the chance."
"House-elves can not kill, Miss Millicent," Dobby replied, shocked at the idea. "It is one of our conditions of service. No house-elf can be ordered to kill, Miss, and not even the free elves such as Dobby would consider it."
Hermione briefly debated whether to make a comment on the elves' inability to kill if they needed to or to express her distaste at Millicent's question. In the end, her distaste won. "Bulstrode, how can you even think of that with so many of your housemates killed or injured?" she demanded.
Millicent shrugged her shoulders before responding. "I'm only thinking of the future, Granger. They'll need to be dealt with and it would be better if they were dead before they can hurt anybody else. And why should I care about my housemates?" she continued. "None of them would care about me. In any case, it's their own stupid fault they got hurt. If they'd hadn't been daft enough to openly support Dumbledore the Death Eaters wouldn't have known to kill them." Ursula was obviously incensed by Millicent's callous attitude; so much so that the only reason she didn't attack her was that Ron was physically restraining her. "Take that back, Bulstrode!" she ordered.
Millicent set her jaw stubbornly, apparently going to continue the argument with her younger and much smaller housemate. Seeing this, Hermione intervened. "I really think you should apologise to Ursula, Millicent," she said, using the bigger girl's first name for the first time to everybody's surprise, including her own. "Some of her friends are lying there dead while others are injured. In any case," Hermione continued, heading off the argument that Millicent seemed about to make, "we really can't afford to be at each others throats right now. Like it or not, you've chosen a side. I doubt Voldemort would be willing to take you now." Both Millicent and Ursula shivered at the dreaded name, with Millicent reacting the more violently of the two.
"All right, Granger," Millicent said after a moment's consideration, though the grinding of her teeth made it clear that she begrudged every word, for all that her tone of voice was conciliatory. "I apologise for any offence I may have caused. It was wrong of me to create friction at this time." Hermione noticed that Millicent had not retracted a single word that she said, though since Ursula was no longer trying to force her way past Ron she let it go.
"What now?" Ron asked once he stopped restraining Ursula.
"We need to rethink what we're going to do," Hermione replied. "First of all, we need to get the wounded to the hospital wing. Dobby, can the house-elves take care of that?"
"Of course, Miss Hermione. We would be happy to do that." The little elf hurried away to organise the transportation. A few moments later, the wounded were levitated and several elves began to escort them to Madam Pomfrey.
"Zacharias, you should go and see Madam Pomfrey too," Hermione said after watching the elves leave, gesturing at the Hufflepuff's injured leg.
"I'm not going," Zacharias responded stubbornly. "If Mad-Eye Moody can fight with one arm, one eye and a wooden leg I can do the same on this." Zacharias moved his leg around to demonstrate his point, though he winced more than once as he did so. "Besides, I want to get even with the Death Eater that did this to me."
"All right then," Hermione began, accepting that Zacharias would be unwilling to leave. "Zacharias, you revive Ernie and Padma. We also need to know who's still here, who's dead or injured and who left with Malfoy. Ron, you check the Gryffindors. Ursula and Millicent, you do the same for the Slytherin. Hannah will do Hufflepuff and Zacharias and Ernie can help her once he's recovered and I'll sort out which Ravenclaws are still here, with Padma's aid once she's up and about. The rest of you," she continued, turning to face the few NEWT students still standing, "stay here with the house-elves and stand guard."
The group spent the next quarter of an hour finding out exactly what had happened to the students. When they were done, they returned to the top of the stairs into the Hufflepuff common room to discuss what they had discovered. "So how bad is it?" Hermione asked.
The others looked at each other as if silently determining who should speak first before Ron answered. "None of the Gryffindors were killed, thankfully, though a few were injured – about six, I think. I'm afraid that five of them seem to have followed Malfoy, though."
"The same thing's pretty much true of Hufflepuff," Hannah interjected once Ron had finished speaking. "We had a few more injured, about a dozen, I think, though I'm glad to say we could only find two people who went with Malfoy. I'm afraid, however, three Hufflepuffs were killed."
Hermione turned to look at Padma who, still groggy as a result of being stunned, reported what had happened to the Ravenclaws. "Most of the Ravenclaws seem to have kept out of the fighting," she began, "so there were fewer Ravenclaw casualties – just the one dead and three wounded. Unfortunately, some of the brightest have chosen to follow Malfoy's lead. Several of the least brilliant Ravenclaws have too."
"Why?" Ernie asked, every bit as groggily as Padma.
"I can't say for certain," Padma replied after briefly considering the question. "The only one of them I knew at all well was Morag MacDougal. I'm fairly sure Morag chose to join up with Malfoy and You-Know-Who out of a misguided desire to learn. From what her closest friend, Herodotus Runcorn, told me, she became academically interested in the Dark Arts. She wanted to learn more about them, which drove her in to the company of some of the Slytherins. Herodotus also said that many of the others who left with Malfoy had been hanging around with her more than normal too, so I think it's probable that many of them were equally interested in the Dark Arts. And I would guess the less bright ones had a similar reason for leaving – they wanted to learn the Dark Arts so they would know more about something than most of their fellows."
"And the Slytherins?" Hermione asked turning to Millicent and Ursula.
The two Slytherins looked at each other for a long while before responding, each trying to persuade the other that it was they who should respond. In the end, it was Millicent who answered Hermione's question. "It's bad, Granger. About half the house is gone. I'm afraid the only definite numbers we have are for those who died – twenty-two in total. Other than them, I'm afraid it was so chaotic that we can't tell for certain who was injured and who left. Of course, this doesn't include any of the five captured You-Know-Who supporters. I'm afraid none of them are going to be much use to us, though," she continued, answering the question that was on everybody's lips, "since two of them are stupider than Crabbe and Goyle, one of them seems to have been hit with some kind of Memory Charm and the other two are half-blood witches that Malfoy doesn't seem to have trusted much. And no, before you ask, I don't know why they chose to go along with Malfoy. It could be out of some sort of house pride, or perhaps it's that they don't like Muggleborns Whatever the reason, they say they're on our side now because Malfoy left them behind, though I don't know if we can trust them. It's a very Slytherin thing to say."
"Then how do we know we can trust you?" Ron demanded. "Surely you're just as much a Slytherin as they are. And you were part of the Inquisitorial Squad two years ago, for Merlin's sake. Aren't you at least as much of a risk?"
"Weasley," Millicent replied condescendingly, "I've already been daft enough to help you fight Death Eaters. Why on earth would I want to change sides now? In any case, I've already alienated Malfoy too much to join up with his lot. And as for the Inquisitorial Squad, that's the best evidence of all that I'm on your side." The others looked baffled by her logic, so Millicent explained. "I joined the IS because there was more to be gained by helping Umbridge than by resisting, though of course if I'd known how things would turn out in the end I'd have stayed well clear of it. Then I wouldn't have got hexed when you lot overpowered us, or had to endure Granger's awful crying the torture of spending the next half year trying to get everyone, particularly the teachers, to forget it had ever happened. All that bloody grovelling," she concluded sourly.
"That doesn't sound particularly encouraging to me," Hannah said, glaring at Millicent. "Surely you'll just change sides the minute it becomes in your interest to do so?"
"Sod off, Abbott, before I make you," Millicent replied angrily, her heavy jaw jutting violently towards Hannah as she loomed threateningly above her. "You're still sore that I took points off you for holding hands with that Finch-Fletchley boy then physically forced the two of you apart." Hannah, though still glaring daggers at Millicent, chose to avoid a confrontation. "In any case, I've got my own reasons for not wanting You-Know-Who to win. You can trust me."
"Yes, about as far as Hagrid could throw you," Hannah muttered. Everyone else, most especially Millicent, chose to pretend she had said nothing.
"So what now?" Ernie asked after a short silence in which everyone considered what had happened and the tension between Hannah and Millicent was partially defused.
"Well," Hermione began, "we can't all stay here. There's not room and it won't be safe any way if we can't close off the stairs. Is there any chance we can?"
"I'm afraid it doesn't seem that way," Zacharias replied. "The entrance has been stuck open since the Death Eaters attacked. One of the spells must have done something. Nobody I've talked to has a clue how to fix it."
"In that case we'll have to do something different. The other common rooms should be safe, but I don't think it would be a good idea for everyone to go to their common rooms. In any case, I doubt that the Hufflepuffs would be welcome everywhere," Hermione looked specifically at Millicent and Ursula as she said this, neither of whom contradicted her. "I think the safest thing might be to keep everybody moving. That way the Death Eaters should have trouble getting them. I also think it might be best to put everybody in groups consisting of all the houses."
Nobody contradicted Hermione, though Padma did voice a question. "How will they avoid the Death Eaters?" she asked.
"I think I have an idea. We'll need to see if it's possible before we try it, though."
"What do you have in mind?" Ernie asked curiously.
"I don't want to say until I'm sure it will work. All I'll say right now is it involves the ghosts and Filch." The others stared at her disbelievingly. "I know it sounds odd, but I really think it will work. If I'm right, we can have everybody safely mobile in about half an hour, forty-five minutes at most. I'll need Ron, Padma," Hermione paused briefly to consider then continued reluctantly "and Hannah and Millicent. Ernie, Zacharias and Ursula, stay here and look after everybody. If we're not back in an hour, take everyone to the Room of Requirement. Professor Dumbledore will be there and I'm sure he'll have a plan." Everybody nodded in a slightly confused way, and then Ernie, Ursula and Zacharias headed down the stairs. The other four followed Hermione as she led them away from the common room to try and put her plan into action.
It took the five of them only ten minutes to reach the dungeon where the ghosts commemorated their Deathdays, pausing every so often to look at the Marauder's Map to check that there were no enemies nearby. Once there, Hermione told the others what she wanted them to do. "I need you to persuade the House Ghosts that they can and should help us."
"And how are the dead going to help?" Millicent asked sarcastically. "Are they going to kill our enemies for us?"
"Of course they're not," Hermione replied testily, "What I want you to persuade them to do is to act as scouts for us. There's not much anybody can do to harm a ghost, so they can move around safely making sure that when people move around the school they don't accidentally run in to Death Eaters. If we can persuade all the House Ghosts, the other ghosts should be willing to help us too. Ron, you find Nearly Headless Nick. He's reasonably fond of you, so it shouldn't be that hard to persuade him."
"He prefers you and Harry to me," Ron objected. "Why don't you ask him?"
"I'm going to deal with Filch. If you would prefer to ask him for help I'd be happy to talk to Nick." Ron blanched at the idea of trying to deal with the despised caretaker and quickly shook his head. "Hannah, I want you to persuade the Fat Friar," Hermione continued.
"He should be fairly easy to talk in to it," Hannah responded, a slight smile on her face. "The Friar is always willing to help anybody if he can. He even takes Peeves' side whenever getting rid of him comes up."
"All right then, that leaves you two," Hermione said turning to Padma and Millicent. "I would like you, Padma, to talk to the Grey Lady while Millicent has a word with the Bloody Baron."
"The Baron might be hard to talk in to this, Granger," Millicent said. "He's never been the most approachable of ghosts." The others agreed with her – none of them would have relished having to talk to the fearsome ghost.
"I'm not sure how easy the Grey Lady will be to persuade either," Padma said. "She's always been a bit aloof. Most Ravenclaws have actually had more conversations with the Friar or Nick than her. I'll do my best though."
"That's all I can ask of you," Hermione said, smiling at all of them, even Millicent. "If you can't persuade them, we'll have to forget my plan. I'm fairly sure they'll agree, though. Oh, and Millicent? Don't try to threaten the Baron."
"What sort of an idiot do you think I am, Granger?" Millicent sneered back at Hermione. "I know I can't do anything to him so of course I'm not going to threaten him. You just deal with that Squib and leave me to do my part." Hermione bristled slightly at Millicent's response, but chose to ignore it. Instead she turned to head towards Filch's office. Behind her, the others split up to try and find the ghosts of their respective houses.
About five minutes after leaving the ghosts' part of the dungeon, the lamp-like eyes of Mrs Norris spotted Hermione. It didn't take long for her owner to arrive on the scene. "Well, what have we here?" Filch said unpleasantly. "The Head Girl neglecting her responsibilities. You'll have to be reported to Professor Dumbledore when this is over." The caretaker smiled maliciously at the thought.
"I'm not neglecting my responsibilities, actually," Hermione responded calmly. "They're the reason I've been looking for you."
"Is that so? And what can this old caretaker do for the mighty Head Girl?" Filch seemed to be having fun confronting Hermione. It wasn't often he had the chance to talk with a Head Girl. In this case, his face made it clear that he liked it even more as he hoped that she would give him a reason to persuade one of the Professors to punish her.
"I'd like you to help keep the students safe from the Death Eaters," Hermione said, still keeping her cool despite Filch's attempt at provocation.
"And why would they need my help? The Death Eaters aren't going to get into the castle."
"I'm afraid you're wrong there, Mr Filch," Hermione replied respectfully. "Some of them are already inside."
Filch was stunned. His shock briefly showed on his face, but he quickly composed himself. "Why should I care, then? It's not my job to look after children. I'm only here to keep the school itself tidy and in good repair. Get rid of you lot and my job would be easy," he said nastily.
"And do you think you'll be safe?" Hermione said reasonably. "Voldemort," Filch reacted violently to the name, much more so than was normal, "and his Death Eaters aren't exactly fond of Squibs." Filch was both astonished and angry at Hermione's words. He knew his status was an open secret, but nobody had ever dared call him a Squib to his face. His anger was slightly mollified by Hermione's tone of voice, which was sympathetic, though it was still plain to see. Hermione continued before he could say anything, "In any case, if the pupils all die there will be no school and if there's no school you don't have a job. And it's possible they might respect you more if you help them, and if they respect you more they might be more willing to listen to what you say."
Hermione knew her last words were stretching things a bit, but she had shown Filch what was in it for him, as the slight smile on his face showed. "All right," he said, polite for the first time, "what do you want me to do?"
"Everyone knows you and Mrs Norris have a connection. I'd like you to lead a group of students around the school using her as a scout. The Death Eaters won't see her as a threat, so she can tell you how to avoid them."
"You want me to put my cat at risk for a load of children?" Filch said incredulously. "I won't do it!"
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked persuasively. "Mrs Norris should be perfectly safe and I'm sure Professor Dumbledore would appreciate it. He would probably reward you. Oh, and if you're lucky you might get the chance to use you whips on a Death Eater or two, or maybe even some of the students that have chosen to join Voldemort." Filch's eyes lit up at the thought of a reward and a huge smile came on his face as soon as the whips were mentioned. He was so distracted that he didn't even react at the mention of Voldemort's name.
"I'll do it," Filch said, the sadistic smile still on his face. "Where will I find this group of yours?
"Go to the Hufflepuff common room," Hermione told him. "I'm sure you know where it is. I'll meet you there in about ten minutes. Once you've got your group, try to stay out of trouble." Filch nodded then walked quickly back to his office, presumably for his whips, Hermione guessed. She turned and headed back to the dungeon.
When she got there, Hermione found the ghosts gone and her companions sitting at the table on which the house-elves put the rotten food that was the centrepiece of most Deathday parties. Thankfully, there was no such food there now. "Did you persuade them?" Hermione asked eagerly as soon as we saw them.
"The Friar agreed almost as soon as I suggested it to him," Hannah said smiling. "He then went off to talk to the other ghosts."
"Nick agreed pretty quickly too," Ron said. "From what he said, I think the ghosts have been trying to figure out what they could do to help so he was glad to hear of an idea that used their abilities."
"The Grey Lady just hovered there listening to me," Padma put in. "She didn't say a word but waited until I was completely finished then just nodded and floated away. If the other ghosts hadn't left, I'm not sure I would have known what happened."
"The Bloody Baron was difficult, though," Millicent said extremely quietly. She appeared quite shaken by something, though she was obviously unwilling to say anything about it. "He isn't fond of Muggleborns, so he thinks the Death Eaters might have the right idea. It took me a lot of arguing to persuade him that he'd only be helping to keep the students alive and so preserve the future of the wizarding world, though once I did he just floated through me on his way to talk to the other ghosts." Millicent shuddered when she mentioned the Baron going through her, something the others could readily understand.
"The four of them met up over here," Ron said once Millicent was done talking, "then they seemed to have a word with the other ghosts. As soon as they were done, every single ghost left. I'd guess they've all gone to the Hufflepuff common room."
"What, every single one?" Hermione said, surprised.
"Yes, every one, even Myrtle. She came over here to complain before she left," Hannah laughed.
"Peeves is the only one who didn't say he would help us," Padma interjected. "He said loudly that he wanted to have some fun with the Death Eaters. I'm not sure I want to know what he plans to do to them, but I hope it's nothing nice."
"Well, we'd better get back to the Hufflepuff common room then. Filch is going to meet us there and so it seems will the ghosts." The group retraced their steps to the common room, stopping for a brief while to avoid a group led by Rabastan Lestrange that also included several students. They were running away as fast as they could, a cackling Peeves pursuing them. Eventually they returned to the common room where they saw Filch, Mrs Norris and the ghosts waiting at the top of the stairs. After a brief word with them, Hermione and the others went downstairs where Ernie and the Smith siblings met them.
"It went all right then, did it?" Ernie asked.
"It went perfectly, Ernie." Hermione replied. "Now we need to split everyone up in to groups of about twelve, three members of each house per group if possible. Also, I want a group of everybody sixth year and above who got at least an A in OWL Defence Against the Dark Arts that wants to fight the Death Eaters. That group will go and join the DA, Aurors and teachers. I'm tired of just staying away from the fighting." The other DA members nodded their heads, completely agreeing with the sentiment. Ursula opened her mouth to speak but Hermione interrupted her. "No, Ursula, you are not going to fight. I want you to take charge of one of the groups."
"Why me?" Ursula asked, surprised at the idea.
"I want members from every house to take charge of one group. The other houses have prefects who can do that, but all the Slytherin prefects are gone. I know for a fact Snape considered you for prefect this year, just as I know he considered making Daphne Greengrass prefect instead of Pansy Parkinson. I want the two of you to be the Slytherin leaders."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? How will the other houses like being led by Slytherins?" Ron asked.
"Ron," Hermione said seriously, "we all need to stand together or we will die separately. That's what Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat have told us. That includes the Slytherins. This shows we have confidence in them, despite Malfoy. Will you do that, Ursula?"
"All right," Ursula replied, obviously unhappy but willing to do what was necessary. "So who decides who is in which group?"
"Ernie, will you deal with that?" Ernie nodded and set about making it happen. "I'll just talk with Dobby then we'll get everybody moving. Hopefully they'll all be safe." Hermione walked up the stairs calling for Dobby. The little elf soon appeared.
"What does Miss Hermione want with Dobby?" he asked.
"Dobby, the students are soon going to be moving around a lot. Can you arrange for each group of students to have an escort of a few house-elves?"
"Of course, Miss Hermione. Dobby will see to it right away." Dobby hurried off to do as Hermione asked. As he did so, Ron came up the stairs to tell her that Ernie was done. The two of them went back downstairs in time to see reluctant groups of a dozen pupils heading up the stairs. Each group was assigned either to Filch or to a ghost. Within twenty minutes, the Hufflepuff common room was completely clear of everybody except for the students who were going to fight against the Death Eaters and their allies. The group mostly included Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, though it did include Millicent and Blaise Zabini.
"Why are you still here, Bulstrode?" Hannah asked before they left the common room. "Don't you want to be safe?"
"I have no confidence Granger's plan will work," Millicent replied. "And as I said before, I have my reasons for wanting You-Know-Who to lose. You're stuck with me, Abbott." Millicent said the last part with relish and so smiled when she heard Hannah say sourly "Oh joy."
"Will the two of you shut it?" Ron demanded, acting the peacemaker for once. "We're about to go looking for a fight with some of the most dangerous witches and wizards in the world, so now is not the time for you two to pursue a personal grudge." Both Hannah and Millicent, looking suitably chastened, quickly muttered apologies.
"Thank you, Ron," Hermione said, smiling in her friend's direction. "Now shall we go?" Nobody disagreed, so the group headed out of the Hufflepuff common room to search for friends who needed help and enemies to fight. Behind them, a few house-elves stood guard, trying to prevent any more damage happening to the common room.
Well, that's the end of this part of the story. I'm not entirely happy with this "chapter" as it somehow feels a little wrong to me. I had a version I was slightly happier with, but my computer crashed and much of it was lost. The next chapter will return to Neville and Ginny, then I think another Snape chapter followed by one featuring McGonagall, Moody and their group before returning once more to Dumbledore. Hopefully they won't take that long to write, though I can't promise anything.
That's all for now.