A/N: Thank you to all those that have been reviewing. I'm open to suggestions to the story so please R/R. Thanks to my betas Shadowssongs, Rivenn, haydenrocks14, and IamSiriusgrl.

Disclaimer: I wish I could be as good as JK Rowling but I'm not. This is her stuff and not to mention the influence that this story took from various fanfics.

Chapter 29
Battle of Hogwarts

Azkaban was under the watch of Aurors now considering all the Dementors had abandoned their posts and joined Voldemort. Harry was taken to a minimum security cell where he was not going to be watched all the time. As a matter of fact, he will learn quickly that the only time anybody checks up on him is when they bring his meals. Harry spent most of this time contemplating what his next move will be along with the probable moves of both Voldemort and Dumbledore. He didn't care too much about the Ministry because as soon as the new minister is elected everything was going to change. What he wasn't sure about was if the change was going to be for the better or not.

Harry gained support in England with those that prize loyalty and commitment. He also lost support from those who were only putting on act of support for him and were looking for an excuse to turn on him. In general, Harry's support grew. Umbridge also faced major criticisms after accounts of what was said during Harry's trial became public. Umbridge tried to keep it as quiet as possible but that only pushed the press to incriminate her even more. She was almost guaranteed prison time once the new minister is elected. Umbridge was looking for ways to escape England and go into hiding because all of those who supported Fudge and her in the past were either keeping their mouths shut, went into hiding, or turned witness against the two of them.

Back at Hogwarts, life was starting to return back to its normal pace. Although Ginny had temporarily disbanded the DA, Harry had slipped her his watch so she could pass messages along. In secrecy the DA was still practicing under Ginny and Kayla. They decided to choose a different place to hold practice because it was too obvious if people started to come in and out of the Room of Requirement so for the time being, they were using the defense classroom with Remus and Tonks' approval.

Voldemort had planned his first move which was going to be an attack on Hogwarts. This was not going to be an all out attack but more of an attack to gauge the castle's defenses which should be significantly weaker since Harry was not there to help protect the students. Voldemort's spies informed him that Dumbledore was losing control of the students and that this would be a perfect time to attack with all the confusion of leadership and Potter missing. The attack was set for one week after Harry was sent to prison.

Dumbledore and the Order were having a hard time getting people to join them. Recruitment pretty much came to a halt after the Daily Prophet printed everything that Harry said at his trial. The question now became how are they going to fight a war when the hero will not fight with them? McGonagall was livid with Dumbledore when it came to his treatment of Harry but only expressed her opinion when they were alone. Her unconditional support was still with Dumbledore.

Ginny was training harder than ever on her own at night time or occasionally with Kayla when she was free. Ginny had a feeling that an attack on the castle was imminent given Harry was not there to protect the castle and that was what also scared her. She had confidence in her abilities but her doubts came when thinking about having to lead the students in a fight for their lives. Ginny was wondering how Harry handled the constant pressure and this was just a portion of what he was balancing.

Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Neville now became some of the most hated students at Hogwarts. The four of them were separated from everybody else because nobody would come near them. With the exception of Neville who wasn't a prefect, the other three tried to exert more control over the students by using their status as prefects but it always backfired. Luna now had almost everything she had missing ever since she returned to Ravenclaw tower. Hermione and Ron were having pranks played on them almost every day. The majority of the students were not completely loyal to Harry but at least they knew better then to go and pick a fight with him like Malfoy or worse betray him like Ron and Hermione had done.

The night of the attack on Hogwarts the students were gathered in the Great Hall for dinner along with the entire staff. It was just another night for the students and there were all kinds of conversations floating around the different tables. Then all of a sudden, Nightlight came flying into the Great Hall with a small package in her claws. She flew over to Ginny and dropped it in front of her. Most people did not take notice for it was now a common sight to see Harry's phoenixes and white tiger about because of Harry's last instructions to keep an eye out for the two witches.

Ginny unrolled the letter and it said,

Gin,

I had some time to think about what has been going on and I have this eerie feeling that something will happen soon. Since I am in Azkaban a wand will do me no good and you already know that I can still protect myself without a wand. I wanted to get this to you so you would have some added protection. If trouble breaks out please use the two rose wands and Nightlight will know to come to let me know that there is trouble. Should there be trouble, you will notice the arrival of a fourth phoenix that loves you more then life itself. Please stay safe.

Love,

Harry

Ginny, knew of Harry's animagus abilities and that Azkaban really couldn't stop a phoenix's ability to fire flight. She realized why he would have to arrive as a phoenix because he couldn't be seen here. Ginny found comfort in the thought that even in prison there was no way the ministry was going to keep Harry from helping her if she needed it. She unwrapped the package and it was Harry's wand holster with the other rose wand in it. She discretely slipped the wand along her free arm while Kayla shielded her as much as possible from the curious eyes from the Head Table.

Kayla said "I'm guessing that Harry is having the same hunches as you are."

Ginny nodded and said "Yeah, he just wanted to make sure that we have as much fire power as possible to defend ourselves if necessary. If a few weird things happen then just play along and I'll tell you about it later."

Kayla nodded and knew that she didn't want to talk about it anymore with everybody around. Near the end of dinner, there were loud sirens going off across the grounds of Hogwarts along with what seemed like bright flashes of light and with each flash a color of light disappeared. Ginny knew from Bill and Charlie that this only meant one thing, the wards around the school was collapsing. Many other students realized this also and panic started to take over the Great Hall.

Dumbledore shot sparks out from his wand and with a wave the sirens died down. He said in a commanding voice "Calm down. All students are to remain in the Great Hall until an order is given to go directly to your dormitories. Please be on Constant Vigilance as many of you know that was the wards to the school collapsing. Hogwarts is under attack. Teachers will accompany me to defend the castle. All students fifth year and above are urged to protect the students should it become necessary."

When Dumbledore finished his speech, Fawkes, Sunrise, Sunset, and Blaze had showed up to help. Fawkes was hovering over Dumbledore with Sunrise over Ginny and Sunset over Kayla. Blaze was in an aggressive stance in his adult form ready to pounce on anything that would attack the girls. Most of the students had their wands out in their hands but not pointing at anybody or anywhere in particular. Ginny didn't have any of her wands out because all she would need to do is flick her wrist and would be firing off spells faster then anybody would be able to lift their hands.

Meanwhile, Nightlight took a trip by fire flight to get to Harry. Harry was startled at first but knew once Nightlight showed up then fighting was about to occur at Hogwarts. Harry turned into a Phoenix similar to Fawkes but only brighter if that was even possible. The two phoenixes disappeared in a ball of blue and white flames while the other one disappeared in a ball of gold flames. Harry did a quick lay over to Potter Mansion so he can safely change into his battle robes just in case he would have to fight in his human form.

Back at Hogwarts, the main grounds were overran with low level Deatheaters being led by McNair and what they didn't know was that there were a few surprises that Voldemort had for the students and Dumbledore. Dumbledore and most of the staff had made their way down to the open field and started dueling. A few members of the staff were sent to get the rest of the Order and notify the Ministry that Hogwarts was under attack.

The scene out on the grounds was like a horizontal fireworks show. The familiar colors of green and red were firing towards the castle but were met with many magical red shields or impromptu transfigured shields like brick walls. The staff was outnumbered about three to one and the only people that were making progress were Dumbledore, Remus, and Tonks. Snape was not permitted to enter the fight and was instructed to go to the dungeons to await further orders. It was a moonless night so you couldn't really see the wizards and witches fighting and only could tell where people were by the source of spells.

Dumbledore decided that it was a greater disadvantage for his staff to not see their enemies especially considering they were using unforgivable spells while the staff was restricted to stunning and bludgeoning spells. Dumbledore raised his wand to the air and yelled, "Lumos Maxima!"

What resulted was an eruption of bright light shooting across the sky and staying about the battle. In that moment, almost everybody except for Dumbledore was blinded because of the sudden change from dark to light. A few of the students were gathered along the large windows along the walls of the Great Hall and watched the battle. When the light erupted in the air, the students saw that there were more enemies being held back along the tree line. Along the tree lines were Dementors and three dragons hovering over the forest with a Deatheater on each of them. The dragons were familiar to the students who were around during the Tri-wizard tournament. The three dragons were a Hungarian Horntail, Norwegian Ridgeback, and a Chinese Fireball.

The students paled at the sight that was about to met the professors who did not have the clear view as the students. The professors were the first to recover and started to go on the offensive. The easiest figures to see in the battle were Hagrid because he was so tall and Dumbledore because of the phoenix floating above him and singing his phoenix song to encourage the professors. When it was obvious that the Deatheaters were going to lose, they began to fall back little by little to pull the professors into a trap.

At least that was what the students thought was happening but the Dementors had moved most of their numbers to the opposite side of the castle. The Dementors staying along the tree line was a diversion because in the next moment there were screams coming from the Great Hall. The students watching the battle turned around and saw that Dementors had broken through the large doors to the Great Hall and busting their way through the windows. Ginny and Kayla were the first to recover from the shock and both shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"

Ginny was only using one of the rose wands. Kayla's patronus was a brilliant silver eagle. Ginny couldn't form a patronus at first but on her second try, she was thinking about the night of the Ball when Harry and she finally kissed each other. When she yelled the Patronus charm for the second time, a brilliant silver phoenix flew out from her wand. Her patronus had a lightening bolt scar on its right foot. The group of students watched in awe at first and anybody who was able to summon a patronus started firing off their silver creatures. Ginny noticed that the only ones able to summon the patronus charm were the ones in the DA although a few of them were not part of the new DA.

The people who could only shoot a mist out of their wands were using the mist to shield the students that were near them. The battle within the Great Hall did not last very long because the strength of the combined patronuses were charging at all the Dementors without mercy. Ginny started barking out orders for the fourth year and fifth year students to shield the first through third year students and assemble all the younger years up by the Head Table so they wouldn't be surrounded. The fourth and fifth years complied without even thinking and formed a perimeter around the frightened students. The sixth years were instructed to form a front line along the right side of the hall and keep an eye out for anymore attacks. The seventh years were instructed to form a front line along the left side of the hall and keep an eye out for attacks from that side and to keep an eye on the professors.

The professors were having little trouble in their fight and started to engage the Dementors that were around as decoys. There were a few objections to the orders that Ginny was giving out and among those were Malfoy's group who had a smug look and just sat at the Slytherin table joking with one another like a fight was not going on. The other group was the small band of people loyal to Dumbledore which was led by Hermione and Ron. That group did not want to be outdone by a fifth year not to mention Ron who was not going to listen to orders from his little sister. They were gathered near the younger students acting as if they were the only ones shielding the younger students.

Ginny along with her second in command, Kayla, decided to take their post at the center of the Hall to better give orders and fight should something happen. What nobody realized was that approximately twenty mid level Deatheaters were making a slow trek into the castle under the cover of the Dementors that were supposed to have eliminated the students. They were going to make a triumphant charge into the Great Hall to celebrate and this group was led by Avery. They did not know that the Dementors were defeated and defeated quickly at that so they were about to walk into a well defended castle while the students thought nobody was left inside of the castle and were facing out into the area surrounding the castle and not paying much attention to the main gates with the exception of a few leaders in the DA like Susan and Justin from Hufflepuff and Ginny and Kayla who was keeping a wary eye at the doors while constantly scanning the room.

The Deatheaters made their way into the main hallway and charged into the room of students. They were shocked at first that the students weren't given the kiss and laying lifeless on the ground and the students shocked that Deatheaters managed to make their way into the castle and run around. The first bludgeoning spells were shot by Ginny and Kayla. After that, chaos broke out as a few students attention was taken away from their posts and started to charge at the Deatheaters. The DA members guarding the doors pulled back due to Ginny's orders to suck them in so that the Deatheaters would be surrounded on three sides. Ginny commanded half of the students to maintain watch along the windows while the other half to join the fight against the Deatheaters. She also called for every member of the new DA to join the fight at the main doors.

Malfoy's group obviously did not realize that there was another group of Deatheaters to attack the castle and wasn't sure what to do. They couldn't join the fight against the students because they would surely be slaughtered due to being outnumbered by so many students. On the other hand, they couldn't fight against the Deatheaters because they would be punished for it by their masters and their families so they elected to pull off to the far corner of the room and huddle together as closely as possible and only protect themselves from stray spells.

Nightlight and Harry in his phoenix form erupted in their respective burst of flames in the middle of the Great Hall. Harry flew down and landed on Ginny's shoulder. When she looked at the phoenix a wide grin formed across her face because she knew it was Harry because of the bright colors, bright green eyes, and the lightening scar that was on his right claw. Ginny ruffled Harry's plumage so he gave her an indignant look. Afterwards, he rubbed his head against hers affectionately.

They were interrupted by Kayla saying, "Ginny, I'm sure you'll tell me later what's going on with you and that Phoenix but we have a slight problem here." She was motioning to the Deatheaters that were dueling with the students. The fight was fairly even as the Deatheaters were more advanced in their dueling abilities but the students were had the numbers and enough knowledge to protect themselves. The students were taught in more defense skills instead of attack and only the DA really had enough knowledge to do attacking because that's what Harry started to focus on.

They turned their attention to the battle and Harry jumped off Ginny and flew towards the Deatheaters. Sunrise, Sunset, and Nightlight knew that the fourth phoenix was really Harry in his animagus form so they followed him to join the fight. The phoenixes paired up and each pair took on a Deatheater each. They first started to claw at the Deatheater then would bite them with their beaks to disfigure the Deatheaters. The final blow would come when the phoenixes landed on the Deatheater and all of a sudden their shoulders would burst into flames. The Deatheaters were on fire because the phoenixes used a form of their fire flight and shot magical flames on the Deatheaters through their claws when they landed on the Deatheaters.

Other Deatheaters were trying to put out the flames by shooting water at the burning bodies but it did not help. It did not take long for the Deatheaters to die from their bodies shutting down due to being burned while their minds went crazy from all of the panic. After about five Deatheaters going down by being burned to death the rest of them started to panic and ran away. They ran as fast they could away from the wards so they could apparate away to safety.

The fighting out on the field was getting under control also. The teachers had just finished defeating the last Dementor and were checking each other for injuries. None of the professors were seriously injured. Professor Trelawney was the worst injured and she had a broken right arm and shoulder. The group was making their way back when they heard a few roars coming from behind them. When they turned around they saw the three dragons flying towards them.

The students also heard the roars and looked over the Forbidden Forest to see where the sounds were coming from. The Phoenixes saw the dragons first and flew out from the Great Hall to intercept the dragons. Harry and his three phoenixes were joined by Fawkes and went after the closest dragon which was the Norwegian Ridgeback. The dragon was shooting fire at the phoenixes aimlessly and it just looked like he was shooting the flames in any direction. Two of the Phoenixes went to attack the dragon's eyes while the other two went to attack its wings. Harry went after the dragon's rider and repeated the burn process from before. The Phoenixes were ruffed up a bit from the amount of force coming from the wings with each flap and sporadic movements of the body and head. It took about five minutes before the Ridgeback went down.

While the Phoenixes were engaged in a fight against the Ridgeback, the professors took on the next closest target which was the Horntail. The Professors were doing their best to hit the rider of the dragon and to hit the dragon in its eyes. Grawp heard the battle taking place and was afraid that Hagrid might be hurt so he made his way to the castle to help. Grawp came from out of the forest and charged the Hungarian Horntail. When the Horntail hovered low enough to the ground, Grawp jumped up and grabbed the dragon by its feet and dragged it down. When the two landed, it felt like an earthquake had hit Hogwarts. When the Horntail hit the ground, Grawp jumped on it and started beating the dragon as hard and as fast as he could. The rider fell from the dragon when it was being dragged down and died when he hit the ground. The professors rushed over to help Grawp and concentrated on shooting their spells together while Hagrid was shooting arrows from his crossbow.

Ginny was proud when she saw Harry and the other phoenixes take down the Ridgeback. She didn't pay much attention to the Horntail because she was more interested in making sure that Harry was fine. When she saw the Chinese Fireball come over to help the Ridgeback she panicked and made a made dash out to help Harry. She was followed closely by Kayla and the DA that was loyal to Harry. The rider of the Fireball didn't see the Horntail go down so he didn't know that he had no chance of getting out of this alive. The Phoenixes were trying to recover from injuries they sustained when fighting the Ridgeback when the Fireball came through so fast that they didn't know what hit them. Harry managed to grab Sunrise and Sunset and in a burst of flames took them back to Potter Mansion and placed them in the barn to heal. Nightlight took hold of Fawkes and took him back to Dumbledore's office.

Nightlight and Harry returned in about one minute and charged at the Fireball. Nightlight and Harry decided to go after the Fireball's eyes first and then after the driver. Ginny made it down to the battle in record time and after what she saw, she decided to use both of the rose wands and firing stunning spells as fast as she could. Kayla followed her lead and started to fire her spells as fast as she could. At first there was no reaction from the Fireball but he soon got irritated and turned towards the group of students rushing forward. When Harry saw the change in the Fireball's attention, he noticed that the dragon was going to go after the student so he decided to take out the driver as fast as possible. Nightlight followed Harry's lead and the two fought with the driver who ended up killing himself because he lost his balance and fell from over two hundred feet in the air. When the driver fell off the Fireball didn't know what to do so he decided to lash out against anything that moved.

The professors were making their way over to the Fireball with Grawp accompanying them. Grawp was waiting for the Fireball to hover low enough but ended up getting hit by the Fireball's tail. Grawp landed hard on the ground and when the dragon tried to go after Grawp who was laid out on the ground, Ginny managed to hit the Fireball in its eyes and all of the professors including the students that came down to the field were letting loose with a barrage of spells that even the Fireball could not withstand. The Fireball collapsed as Ministry Aurors were making there way onto the grounds.

Ginny hid her wands away as quickly as possible and pulled out her normal one. Harry flew over to her and affectionately rubbed his head on to Ginny's while on her shoulder. Ginny whispered, "Thanks Harry. Are you ok?"

Harry nudged her and gave a short trill to say yes and as if she knew what he was asking, she said, "Don't worry. I'm not hurt."

Harry nodded and gave another short trill and disappeared in a burst of gold flames. Nightlight came over and landed on Ginny's shoulder. Ginny ruffled his feathers and he started singing a phoenix song to sooth her. Dumbledore approached the students and asked "Why are you all out here? You were all instructed to stay in the Great Hall."

Ginny said "Professor, the Great Hall was under attack also and after we repelled the attack we came down here to fight the dragons."

McGonagall came up just in time to hear what Ginny said and asked "Are there any casualties in the Great Hall?"

Ginny shook her head and said "No ma'am. There are a few students that are still shock but in general nobody is seriously hurt. At least no one is seriously hurt that I know of."

Dumbledore said "Follow me Ms. Weasley to my office. You have more explaining to do. Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Rapp please follow me also."

The group made their way to the Headmaster's office with McGonagall taking over the care of the students. Pomfrey went to the hospital wing to tend to those that were injured and she was thankful that nobody was seriously hurt in the attack. The Aurors were instructed to secure the castle and monitor the grounds and the hallways of the castle. Madame Bones also showed up and went with Dumbledore to his office.

When they arrived in the office Professor Dumbledore asked "Ms. Weasley, now tell me what happened in the Great Hall after the professors left."

She started to tell the story exactly as it happened with the exception of the identity of the fourth phoenix. She said that an unknown phoenix showed up and just started to help. After she finished the story, Dumbledore asked the rest "Is there anything else that you all would like to add or comment about?"

Ron said "I think that Ginny has understated the roles that Hermione, Luna, Neville, and I played in this. We contributed a great deal in the fight in the Great Hall and organized the defense of the younger students."

Hermione nodded because she felt the same but in reality they didn't do anything more than most of the students in the Great Hall. They did help in fighting against the Deatheaters but were not responsible for the defense of the younger students. Ginny just shook her head and rolled her eyes as Ron spoke but decided not to say anything and just let them talk for she knew the truth and whatever story Dumbledore heard tonight didn't really matter all that much.

Madame Bones was quiet most of the time just observing the people's behavior and drew the conclusion that Ginny was the leader in the defense of the Great Hall and the other two were just trying to get some of the credit. She was amused though that Kayla didn't seem to care what they were saying and just played with her hair like nothing happened tonight. In reality, Kayla was listening closely but felt the same as Ginny.

When Hermione finished speaking which was the same as Ron's account Dumbledore asked Madame Bones "Amelia, would you like to comment on anything?"

Madame Bones said "I came here to see about leaving Aurors here at Hogwarts and Hogsmeade to help better secure the school. I was going to leave twelve Aurors at the school but after hearing Ms. Weasley's account of what happened tonight, I'm inclined to leave about six as the students seem more then capable to take care of themselves."

Dumbledore said "I would prefer that you left at least ten Aurors but the decision is up to you. If you would excuse us Madame Bones, there are some things I must discuss that concerns the students."

Madame Bones nodded and left the office and left ten Aurors behind based on Dumbledore's request and placed them on twenty four hour duty of the castle. She left Tonks and Moody who was recently recalled to service in charge because Moody had the most experience and Tonks because she was the most familiar of what has been going on around the castle all year long.

After she left, Dumbledore gave Ginny a knowing and questioning look and asked "Is there anything else that you would like to tell me?"

Ginny thought about it for a second and said "No sir."

He asked Kayla the same thing but she also responded in the negative. Knowing that they weren't going to say anything else he instructed the two of them to return to the dormitories and gave each a detention with McGonagall for disregarding his order on not to leave the Great Hall. He also instructed them to tell all the other students that left the Great Hall that they also had detention with their Heads of House.

When they left, Dumbledore told Hermione and Ron "I want you two to keep a close eye on Ginny and Kayla until Harry returns."

The two of them nodded and knew that that was also the end of their meeting. The two of them left and planned out how they were going to spy on Ginny and Kayla. Ginny and Kayla on the other hand had a feeling that that was what Dumbledore was going to do so they were planning ways of telling each other secrets and losing the two spies when they needed to be alone.

After Harry had left the battle, he went back to Potter Mansion and quickly changed back to the robes that he was wearing in prison. He then headed back to his cell. Nobody at Azkaban noticed that he'd even left for the evening and Harry decided to spend the rest of his time healing from minor bruises and injuries so he went to sleep thinking about Ginny.

A/N: Thank you to my reviewers once more. To answer a few questions and not reveal any answers that will happen soon. I guess you could say I am past the half way mark in the story. I don't see this story passing 40 chapters but you never know. I have an idea how I want the story to end. The question becomes will the story end on good terms between Harry, Ginny, and Kayla with the Order, Ron, and Hermione. Should the story end happy or Harry hating the world?