Hope's End

Chapter Sixteen

The Siege of Hogwarts Part III

The Dark King Voldemort stood outside the mighty Gates of Hogwarts, as he observed his Aqua Death Eaters get into the boats and glide off, with a division of Dementors. He turned back to his grand Army of Darkness, and surveyed them. Behind the Army, stood the burning ruins of Hogsmeade they had just recently annihilated.

"My fellow Dark Wizards! This is a great time! Here we are, standing at the Gates of Hogwarts, with an Army that no one before has ever achieved!" Here he paused for the deafening cheers of the Army. He motioned for quiet, and they quickly silenced. "Now, I have read up on the history of sieges against this mighty castle, and I was disappointed to find that all of them had failed. The reason for this is the magnificent shield that encompasses Hogwarts. Now look, for I shall demonstrate the power of this shield!" With that, Voldemort turned and faced Hogwarts. He raised his wand, and screamed out,

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" A huge jet of green light exploded from Voldemort's wand and headed toward Hogwarts. However, just as the light was about to pass into the skies of the ground, it impacted with a suddenly visible, bright blue shield that went all around Hogwarts and the grounds. The Killing Curse exploded into shards of death, that quickly dissipated.

The Death Eaters stared in disbelief. The Killing Curse was just blocked. Nothing could stop it. Nothing. Voldemort turned back to his Death Eaters. "MY LOYAL SERVANTS! RAISE YOUR WANDS WITH MINE, AND CAST THE DEATH CURSE AT THIS INFERNAL SHIELD!" roared Voldemort. As one, the entirety of Death Eaters within in the Army, plus Voldemort, raised their wands toward the now invisible shield, and cried out, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" Over a hundred thousand Killing Curses swept toward Hogwarts. Just like before, the Shield once again flared into existence and stopped the wave of Killing Curses. This time however, the Shield gave a sort of groan, but stood strong. Voldemort's eyes narrowed in anger, then surprise. He quickly spotted legions upon legions of Broomwizards taking off from the Battlements of Hogwarts.

"Rookwood!" he snapped at a nearby Death Eater. The Death Eater quickly strode over and bowed.

"Send the Dragons to deal with our new enemy!"

"Yes, My Lord."

Rookwood ran off, and told some other Death Eaters. Those Death Eaters than ran to the Dragon handlers, and soon, twenty Dragons were airborne. The Hogwarts broomwizards quickly formed up, and soared toward the Dragons in a charge. Among the Broomwizards was Amanda Hooch, Quidditch instructor of Hogwarts, and the four Hogwarts Quidditch teams. Voldemort laughed cruelly, and ordered his own broomforce to the skies. Hundreds of Death Eaters were now airborne, around the Dragons. Voldemort conjured up a nice chair, some popcorn, a wonderful Muggle treat he had recently discovered, and sat back to watch the show.

Air Lieutenant John Marshall, of the Hogwarts Air Defence, floated in front of the legions of broomwizards and witches who had volunteered to defend Hogwarts from an aerial attack. He looked around. Approximately six hundred, not including the Quidditch teams. The six hundred included Wingsweepers, Aurors who used brooms from the Ministry, that survived the attack, local civilians from Hogsmeade who had managed to escape, and an assortment of others. Also flying was Amanda Hooch, one of the best Wingsweepers, formerly retired, now fighting to defend her home.

He looked toward the Dark King's army, and shuddered. Twenty Dragons were airborne, and now hundreds of Death Eaters were flying up to accompany them. He tapped his wand against his throat, and murmured, "Sonorus." He turned toward the air force, and began to speak.

"BROOMWIZARDS AND WITCHES, THIS IS THE HOUR! THIS IS THE HOUR WHERE WE DEFEND HOGWARTS! THE DARK KING WILL NOT TAKE IT! THIS IS OUR HOUR! FOR HONOR AND GLORY, DEATH TO VOLDEMORT! DEATH!" He rallied the force into a cheering frenzy, and they continued to chant, "DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!" With a mighty roar, Marshall gave the order to attack.

The Death Eaters smirked as the Broomwizards began flying toward them, and gradually speeded up. Voldemort raised his hand, then let it fall. The Dragons and Death Pilots also began to fly toward them. As they approached, Rookwood, the Commander of the Death Pilots hurled a Killing Curse at a Hogwarts Air Defence pilot. The Curse struck it, and the broom exploded, with the rider falling to the ground, already dead. This infuriated the rest of them, and Killing Curses began to fly from both sides.

John weaved in and out of Death Eaters and Hogwarts Air Defence pilots alike, as he shot off as many Killing Curses as he could. "STUPEFY!" he roared, pointing his wand at a flying Death Eater. The Stunning Spell missed him, and John cursed in fury.

As soon as the Dragons got to the battle area, they began to scorch their enemies. Many screamed in pain as their bodies caught fire. Ten Death Eaters got together and began soaring quickly toward Hogwarts. As they neared, they abruptly burst into fire. Voldemort cursed as he saw this. 'How many God damn defences does this school HAVE!' he thought angrily. Well, his thought was just about to be answered. In the next second, every single Death Eater in the air screamed as they too burst into flames, and the Dragons roared in pain, as they wings distintegrated. They fell to the ground, still roaring.

Voldemort quickly stood up, furious. 'Enough of this,' he thought angrily. "DEMENTORS! I CALL YOU FORTH! FEED ON THESE FOOLISH AIRWIZARDS!" screamed Voldemort. At once, thousands of Dementors glided forwards, their mere presence making many of the Hogwarts broomwizards fall of their brooms. The Dementors speeded up, and the Broomwizards formed a line, and roared,

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A wave of Patroni crashed into the Dementors, and many of them flew off, terrified. However, many more Dementors quickly joined the battle, and soon the Broomwizards began to get tired of holding up their Patroni. Just as the Dementors grabbed the heads of the Broomwizards, hoods lowered, a collective roar of

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Tens of thousands of Patroni suddenly screamed in from the west side, from the mountains. They crashed into the Dementors, driving them back to the army. Voldemort's head quickly swiveled around to the mountains, and he screamed in fury. Tens of thousands of Broomwizards floated there, in ranks. A shout went up from them, and Voldemort and the rest of the Army of Darkness could easily hear what they just said.

"WIZARDS AND WITCHES OF THE UNITED COALITION, FORWARD!" And there, speeding toward them in all their glory, was the Magical American Broom Force, the Magical Canadian Royal Broom Force, the Magical French Broom Brigades, the Magical Luftwaffe, and the Magical Spanish Broom Battalions.

The United Coalition of Wizarding Armies had arrived.