The usual disclaimers that none of the HP characters are mine...the climax is here...a battle and then some...enjoy!

FlooJacked!

By: CNJ

PG-13

6: On a Wand's End

Hermione:

A knock on the door early the next morning awakened us and revealed Madame Hooch along with Arabella Figg. Quickly and quietly, all of us got up, dressed, had a quick breakfast and gathered around the front door. Professor Lupin and Madame Hooch took silent attendance to make sure everyone was here and ready to go.

"Here, take this, all of you..." Lupin told us, handing each of us a small boxlike object.

"What's this..." Ginny wondered.

"A summoner," Lupin explained. "Tap this blue area here and it summons everyone within twenty feet who also have summoners...it'll be useful for this mission, should we get separated."

With some last minute instructions and plans, we then went. We used three different objects as portkeys in three groups and had promised to stay with an adult as much as possible.

I was with Harry and we whispered, "Good luck..." as we faded out of the hill at the back of the woods near Grimmauld Place...to an empty street with a row of houses and buildings. The sun was rising in the sky now. We'd all dressed in muggle clothing so we hoped to be inconspicuous.

"Is everyone here?" Hagrid called.

"Yes..." we all nodded.

"It's a bit...strange being back on a muggle street..." Harry whispered to me as we headed toward Murdock storage, our wands hidden within various pockets, muggle jackets and bags.

"Quietly..." Madame Hooch whispered.

There was a row of buildings that had appeared on the parchment. A cloud of soft fear drifted over us as we realized how vulnerable we were at this minute. Beside me, I could hear Harry swallow as we crept low the maze of buildings.

There didn't seem to be any activity outside, but Merlin knew what was inside any of the buildings. I held a copy of the parchment with the buildings and we had an idea that it was near the back of the maze.

"It's here…" Harry spoke softly. Waving the rest of us over, he pointed silently toward the second to last building.

"How…?" I started to ask, then remembered how much Harry has accomplished this year as a ligilimens.

"I sense it…" Harry whispered, staring that the building, his eyes appearing wide and fearful. He drew a bit closer. His hand slowly went up to his scar as he frowned.

"Do you think Voldemort is in there?" I asked.

Harry thought a minute, tilting his head toward the building as if he were trying to "feel" who or what was inside. "No…but the place has spells and is heavily guarded by death eaters…they've stepped away at the moment, but the spells are there…and I think this is where are classmates are being held." Harry rubbed at his scar, attempting to ease the dull pain that I could see was there.

"Let's do it…" Lupin told us. "First we need to undo the spells."

We slowly surrounded the building in groups. Hagrid slowly climbed a high tree in back of the building so he could get a view of the ceiling.

"I wish that invisibility cloak could stretch to all of us..." Harry whispered beside me as we stooped under a short staircase.

"Yeah..." I nodded. "There's a window..." We sneaked on over and peered in through the cloudy glass. It was a large storage space, but there didn't seem to be anyone there.

"Oh, God...I hope they hav..." Harry swallowed again, this time mid-word. We clutched each other a minute, shaking.

"There're other rooms; it's a big building," I whispered, trying to reassure myself as well as Harry. Then I saw a movement along one side. "Shhh...there's somebody..." I pointed, then we caved back, so whoever it was didn't see us, should it be a death eater.

We then slowly pulled out our wands, pointing them toward the windows. The person moved again and we gasped as we recognized Padme, Ernie Macmillan, and Luna. They seemed to be talking among themselves and looking around. A dim light was on and they seemed to be maybe looking for an escape. I quickly pulled out my summoner and contacted the others in our group. They came quickly and we were all outside the window.

"We haven't seen any death eaters," Ginny told us. We then made a quick plan for a few teachers to remain outside and climb the trees and peer into the window and summon for backup aurors if they saw or heard trouble inside.

We crept back to a narrow door around back. "Stand back, everyone..." Hooch told us. She held out her wand and said strongly, "Lacurum splitalo..." The door split in half and came apart on one side. We ran forward and one by one, squashed through. Hagrid was last and since he was so big, Hooch used her wand to undo the hinges and pull the door off, so Hagrid could come in.

The first spell we hit appeared to be a huge gate. I remembered the unlocking spell for it, which was a more advanced version of the alomora spell, so I employed it and the gate slid to one side and seemed to sink into the wall.

Walking down a narrow dark hallway, we next encountered bright flames. We conferenced briefly. Ginny remembered a spell she'd seen used to deduct heat from flames; Snape then suggested that he could magic a common mineral from ordinary rocks, charm it to turn the cooler gases into solids, then throw it over the flames, then all of us could knock it down to clear a path.

"But how will we know it'll be breakable?" Susan asked.

"The mineral can turn it into a thin glass…" Snape told us. "You all will have to use caution, however to not get cut." Snape pulled a small bag out of his pocket, then whispered the magicking spell and several rocks appeared and plocked into his bag. Chanting the separating spell, he weeded out the mineral he needed.

Meanwhile, Ginny chanted to spell and the flames seemed to slow down and the heat faded some.

"We'll see if this powder is worth the hours of research I put into it…" Snape muttered, then adding his spell, he tossed it over the flames. The flames sputtered, then froze into a sparkling glass.

"We'd better close our eyes…" Harry warned us as we started to kick over the glass and punch it in. The glass splinted and flew and we groped our way through, keeping our eyes closed to protect them. Other than a few arm and leg scratched, we got through and to the other side.

The hallway continued until we reached a door. In front of the door near the edges were large spidery-looking yellow flowers. They appeared still at first, but when we approached, they seemed to rise, turn toward us and hiss.

"Webweed…" Neville told us softly. "Their scent can cause us to faint…" he fumbled around in the small bag he had with him and pulled out a bottle. "I brought this just in case there were dangerous plants…" Chanting a spell, he sprayed the webweed until the webweed fell silent and drooped. "This will silence it for an hour or so."

"Good thinking…" I told him as we opened the door and came through. He's really become an Herbology whiz, especially this year. We headed down a short flight of stairs into a darkened basement and finally, finally heard familiar voices…those of our classmates.

"Ron...Luna..." Harry, Ginny, Neville, and I called. The others also called for their friends.

"Over here..." a few voices called and we rushed down the rest of the staircase into the big storage room and yes...there they were. Our friends.

"Ron...Luna!" I bellowed, running over and hugging them. Harry joined me and so did Ginny. I had to wipe away tears at seeing Luna and Ron unharmed. Near me, the Patil twins were hugging, tears streaming down their faces.

"We have to go..." Ron told us. "They could be back any minute..." As if Ron's words were a jinx, flashes lit up around us and in about two seconds, we were surrounded by a horde of death eaters.

"Oh, stars of shit..." I whispered in terror as I recognized Wormtail and Bellatrix among them.

"So..." Bellatrix said in a low vicious voice. "We have more for our little gathering, have we?"

"Yes…the more the merrier…" another voice added and our eyes widened in horror to see who the voice belonged to as he pulled down his hood.

"Percy…" Harry gasped, his legs shaking and seeming to buckle beneath him. Thank Merlin he didn't faint, but now it was confirmed about Percy.

Malfoy:

"...so, Potter comes at me with some stupid question about what do I want in this life, as if we're some pansy philosophers who waste their time pondering over this deep life meaning since they have no life," I finished telling Crabbe and Goyle that afternoon in the Slytherin Common Room. They were laughing their heads off at Potter's idiocy and I laughed too just thinking about that pathetic little worm.

I really wish I could just crush his soul to nothing. He gets worse by the year and I'm really sick of seeing his ugly face and watching him curry favor with the teachers here and butter up others in that sickeningly polite little way he has. Ever since the floo-jacking deal started, almost everyone else has been acting like they're at a funeral.

"I heard the Gryffindors even had a cry-fest one night in their common room," Crabbe volunteered.

"Really?" I smirked. "Was Potter in on it?"

"Don't know..." Crabbe drawled. Shame I didn't see it if he were; how I'd love to see Potter in tears. Might as well be their funeral, I thought. Especially since those floo-jacked will probably be dead soon.

"Well, I really can't wait until this is over," I declared. "This is ridiculous that Dumbledore isn't letting us off grounds. We can't even go to Hogsmeade! If the death eaters are going to kill them, they should do it already. Then they can have their little funeral and then things can get back to normal around here."

"The Gryffindors have been the worst," Goyle put in. "Moping around and acting like it's the end of the world. The other day, Potter was answering some question and the whole time, his brows were like this..." He demonstrated. "Pointed upward at the bridge of his nose, worse on his right brow. And of course, the Withered Stick Insect gives Potter her sympathetic look." The Withered Stick Insect is my personal nickname for McGonagall, who favors Harry and his Gryffindor cronies.

"Face it, this faculty is the pits," I stated. "I thought Snape was decent, but he turned out to be a rot too. Maybe once the hostages are dead, we'll see some change around here. It's getting boring just sitting around here, so let's go play some Quidditch."

With that, we headed out. I'm the Slytherin Seeker. Crabbe and Goyle aren't on the team, but often play Quidditch with me informally when none of my other Slytherin teammates are around. Now with everyone cooped up inside and moping around, we had the field to ourselves.

It was late that afternoon after we'd played a few rounds that I saw the official-looking people heading into Hogwarts. "Look there..." I pointed. The others peered over.

"So, there's those aurors and rubbish all over Hogwarts since this saga started," Goyle shrugged.

"Not aurors, idiot..." I snapped. "Ministry members! Lucky Merlin I have my prefect badge with me and learned how to charm it to resemble something close to a Head badge. They'll think I'm Head Boy and listen to me." I told the others and started to dart off the field. Crabbe and Goyle looked at me stupidly for a minute.

"Where are you going..." Goyle asked one of the stupidest questions in wizard history.

"To inform these people of what's being going on around here!" I told his thick skull." Remember the other night I told you that I thought I saw Potter and Weasel Two sneaking out to Hogsmeade? Not to mention what this Order of the Phoenix has been up to."

I ran on, Crabbe and Goyle following behind. Wouldn't that be just great, if Potter and his cronies got into real trouble for a change! He could be expelled and so would be his downfall...right before his seventh year too.

"But isn't Fudge out of office?" Goyle topped his stupid question with even a stupider one to break his own record of idiocy.

"I know that, but the parliament members and other Ministry members aren't." I stated in the vain last hope of getting even a dent in that hard head of his. "When I tell them, they'll report back to the new Minister, who'll then order them to be expelled and fire Dumbledore and McGonagall, not to mention most of those jerks in power here."

I didn't stop until I reached the Ministry officials, who were headed down the hallway toward Dumbledore and McGonagall's offices.

"Sirs!" I called, trying to keep the note of triumph out of my voice. I pasted on a concerned look on my face and looked over at their important, serious faces as they stopped talking with each other and turned.

I then pulled out my badge, which I'd charmed to look like a Head Boy's. "I am Draco Malfoy, Head Boy of Hogwarts," I told them importantly with what I hoped was a look of serious concern.

"Sir…?" One of them raised an eyebrow and peered at me. I was glad that I was taller than three out of five of them.

"You are members of the Ministry, is that correct?" I asked.

"Yes…" One of them nodded and they looked at each other, then back at me.

"The teachers here are wreaking havoc again…" Crabbe started to announce, but I glared at him and elbowed him in the stomach to shut him up. If he blabbed it out, he'd get it all wrong and they wouldn't believe us. I also quickly glared at Goyle so he wouldn't open his hole and say something stupid to ruin our plan.

I then turned back to the Ministry officials and continued. "You work for Mr. Fudge and are loyal to him, is that right?" One of them shrugged, but the others nodded.

"None of us are in the renegade group we've heard about who has split from the Main Ministry, if that's what you're asking us," Another one told me. Good, then none of them were on the Order's side.

"Good…then I wanted to let you know that several students and teachers here have taken unnecessary liberties and are acting out on their own in an attempt to rescue the floo-jacked students." I went on. "I'm sure they mean well and they along with the rest of us are very worried about our missing classmates."

I pasted on what I hoped was a serious, somber, concerned face. "But their acting on their own without approval from the authorities could not only put Hogwarts at great risk, but endanger the Ministry's plan for the rescue of the floo-jacked, resulting in many unnecessary tragic deaths. Although Mr. Fudge is no longer in power, I am sure you would do well to notify the temporary Senior Ministry, who can act to prevent disaster."

And the makeshift Ministry can pass the word on to the new Minister who takes over eventually and this new Minister will give most of these lame excuses for teachers and Heads as well and that entire Order the boot and possible even some prison time, I thought to myself.

The Ministry officials looked at us for a minute, then at each other. A couple of them muttered comments I couldn't quite understand.

"Thank you, Mr…" One of them patted my shoulder. She seemed to forget my name.

"Malfoy…" I stifled my flicker of annoyance at the woman. "Draco Malfoy." If they're not thick enough to forget my name, the Ministry will remember me as the one who blew the whistle on the Order and turned Hogwarts around.

"We'll look into the matter," another one told me. "Right now, we are on our way to meet with Professor McGonagall and we'll see what she says."

"But…she's in on this corruption too!" I exclaimed, taken aback. "She'll just deny it and probably blame the three of us as troublemakers!"

"I see…" she nodded. "We will be discreet in any questioning then. Good day." They walked onward down the hall. Once they were out of sight, I turned to my friends.

"Good. This time they'll pay." I told them as we walked back out to play more Quidditch. "Potter will be so sorry he ever came to Hogwarts and crossed me."

Harry:

"Ron, Ron, Ron…" Percy purred. "Didn't I warn you in my letter last year…Harry is a dangerous person to be around. But I can see you didn't listen to me, so you along with Potter will pay for your impudence."

"We'll see about that…" Ron muttered, glaring at Percy, but I could see he was trembling slightly.

We all trembled, but pulled out our wands as the death eaters surrounded us. I could hear my heart banging in terror and felt a bit light-headed. My scar was killing me, but I willed myself not to clutch my forehead and hoped the pain didn't show in my face.

"Let meee guess..." Bellatrix grinned maliciously. "You wanted to rescue your friends, didn't you?" He's right, I thought fearfully. "Looks like your little plan backfired. Ohhh, I've been helping the Dark Lord plan this for a very long time. The floo incidents earlier this year were our practice for the real thing. See, Voldemort has been planning the perfect revenge, but I'm the one executing this floo-jacking. Lord Voldemort developed the miscoding spell for the floo fireplaces, then had me plan the places and when this would occur. Wormtail put the cursed floo in the fireplaces so the daily floo would malfunction and send many of you...here."

We're trapped here, I realized with a hard swallow. Bellatrix saw me and met my eyes and grinned that same malicious grin she'd grinned last year at the Department of Mysteries when she'd killed my beloved godfather. I shuddered as fear and revulsion skittered through me like rats inside a wall.

"Nooo, you're not going to run this time," Wormtail cackled and I shuddered. Frightened whispers rippled through the group and we realized we only had one choice. Fight to the death.

"We'll have the pleasure of seeing all of you dieeee..." another death eater crooned and what followed were our wands going back and forth in a frenzied battle. I had to fight to keep back a gasp of horror as several of us fell. I hoped they were unconscious and not dead. Several of us were thrown back, but so were several of the death eaters.

"I think the ones outside have gone for help!" Hermione bellowed.

"Where..." I hope Hermione was all right.

"They apparated back..."

Then we were both tossed by a powerful spell across the room and slumped against the wall. I had to struggle to keep consciousness and stand again. I don't know how long we battled, but it seemed like years before a wall caved in.

We had to struggle to keep the fight contained, so it wouldn't spread to any of the houses and endanger any local muggles. I gasped in horror as both Hagrid and Madame Hooch went down next to each other. No...no! I thought.

"Ohhh, God!" Ron wailed. I felt my stomach turn over, but tried not to focus on the injured just yet and with my friends, concentrated on attempting to disable as many death eaters as possible until help came.

It seemed hours, but it was probably just a half hour. The storage building we'd been in was totally destroyed by the spells and we found ourselves outside. Another building collapsed and revealed a tall jetty of rocks with water rushing over them.

"Got him…" Ginny muttered as she downed Wormtail and bound him. Hermione managed to bat Bellatrix's wand away, then hang her upside down from a high piece of wall, then bind her.

Ron hexed several death eaters to be glued together in one huge clump, then bound them up.

Percy was still going and with a sudden motion was in front of me. We glared at each other, our wands drawn, each one daring the other to strike first. I fought to keep my fear from showing at the cold look in Percy's eyes.

"Shame you never stayed out of our family, Potter," Percy hissed. "So because of you, the Weasley name has been dragged through the mud…the rest of the family's too blind to see it, but I see you for what you are, Potter…a traitor and a troublemaking liar."

"You're the traitor, Percilleville Weasley," I told him evenly, fighting to keep the tremor out of my voice. "Molly and Arthur loved you and raised you decently…how do you pay them back but to betray them and facilitate the kidnapping of your own brother." As we spoke, I was backing up and Percy was advancing.

I feared we were getting dangerously close to the rocky area and I'd fall. One glance back was all Percy needed and in a split second he raised his wand and chanted, "Avera Kedevra…" but his words were nearly drowned out by another spell spoken and Ginny was suddenly there, pointing her wand. I felt the jolt and everything went black.

Ginny:

I hoped my spell had weakened Percy's killing curse and that Harry had only been knocked unconscious. Then it was Percy and I standing face to face, our wands poised at each other.

"So, little sister, come to your crushes' rescue, ehhh?" Percy sneered.

"I come to protect all of my friends as well as even not friends from the likes of you," I retorted.

Just as Percy and I blocked each other's spells, I was aware of more activity. There seemed to be more people rushing at us as it grew dark. But I didn't let it break my concentration. I had to find a way to disable or stun Percy…but our spells acted as magnets and blocked each other. We seemed to be in a deadlock.

"You and your brothers and parents…" Percy went on. "One of a kind…I was wise to break away from your sorry excuse of a family…all of you did nothing but try to drag me down…I tried to bring some respect and decency to our name…to rise all of you out of the trash we all had to live in…but your parents wouldn't have it…I had to grow up with tattered robes and put up with rude comments from the rich kids…I complained to all of you, but none of you cared…the twins carried on with their little pranks and brought even more embarrassment to the family name…then what with you and Ronald latching onto a troublemaker like Potter…"

"If anyone brought down our family, it was your actions, Percy," I told the man whom I'd once looked up to as an older brother. "In doing so, you've also lowered yourself to the Malfoys' low level."

Once again we deadlocked for the longest time. Just then someone rushed behind Percy and cast the binding spell. Lupin.

The next few seconds were a long blur, but from what I was able to gather later, it appeared that Lupin had bound Percy, but in the process, Percy turned the killing curse on him, but they were still bound together and tumbled over the jetty and landed into the water.

I looked up and almost collapsed with relief to see a horde of aurors along with Professor McGonagall. The aurors worked triple-time to stun all the death eaters.

A few death eaters managed to escape, but most of them were rounded up. Slowly, the aurors managed to get the stunned ones transported to the Ministry authorities. Out of a fog, I saw Wormtail being portkeyed away.

I waved some of the aurors over and called their attention to Lupin and Percy over the rocks, then leaned over and checked on Harry. I was relieved to find that he was not dead, but only unconscious.

We students more or less fell anywhere on the grass, exhausted and still very shaken by the day's events. McGonagall then went around us, asked who was all right and who wasn't.

My friends found Harry and me and we gathered around as I reassured the others that Harry was still alive. McGonagall then contacted Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey by then, telling them that several stretchers were needed as she felt for Harry's pulse.

"Are you all right?" she asked us. We all nodded silently.

"Thanks, Professor McGonagall," we all told her simultaneously.

"They've been taken away," An auror come up then. "The apparating spell is still disabled, so we'll have to portkey it back the way we did here." He held up several old cans, ripped jumpers, and a couple of pens.

"Take the injured ones first," I told them.

"We will," a second auror added coming up with several cups. She held one out to McGonagall. "Hold on to the unconscious..."

We stepped back and let McGonagall transport Harry and the other injured students and teachers back to the hospital wing. The aurors then transported with the rest of us in groups.

Ron:

It was amazing how different, yet the same Hogwarts looked once we returned. And it was only nine in the evening when I'd thought that it was later.

I had a broken wrist and bruised ribs while Hermione had whiplash, so we were headed to the hospital wing to be treated along with several other mildly injured students. Once we were treated, we looked over at the still-unconscious.

Among them were Madame Hooch, Professor Trelawney, and Hagrid. Also Harry was still out. We walked over and talked to him softly, hoping he could hear us.

Many other students were there, visiting friends. There were tears also and my own eyes filled up seeing Harry so still and rather small-looking. Pomfrey had reassured us that he'd be all right, but it was scary seeing him so...inert.

"Lupin..." I whispered fearfully, looking around.

"I'm afraid it's bad news," McGonagall whispered. "Lupin died an hour ago"

All of us gasped and sank into a stunned silence for a very long time, tears forming in our eyes. McGonagall patted our shoulders softly and went on to comfort other students.

As we looked around in a daze, we heard snatches or news from around the hospital wing, hearing that death eaters had attacked many other areas of the London magical areas and the Phoenix and other Order members had battled them courageously.

I knew Dumbledore would announce today's events at the feast tomorrow and hoped Harry would be conscious by then, even though I was sorry he'd have to get the news about Lupin upon awakening.