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Chapter Twelve
The Battle Begins
Claire looked at the others in the group. They consisted of Harry, Hermione, herself, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville, a few she remembered from the DA, and a couple students she didn't know. Soon after, the rest of the Weasley children joined them.
"I have chosen all of you," Dumbledore told them, "because I believe you to be the most capable of defeating Voldemort's army, whether you agree or not." Claire saw him wink at Neville. "You all are the most important to this school, this battle, this war. It will all come down to the skills and knowledge of the very people that stand around you now. You must fight your hardest and help eachother. I'm afraid I cannot promise that all of you will remain alive, but you do have the best chance. I trust you."
The group listened to him silently, their faces set. He didn't need to tell them, they knew already. It was up to them. In the end it was them who would be depended upon. They would be the last to fight ... and they had to succeed.
Everyone slept in the Great Hall that night. They awoke early the next morning to go over the plans one last time and do a bit of last minute training. During the day a few others backed out and retreated to their dorms, but no one spoke a word of it.
As evening slowly came and left and night fell the room became quiet and tense. No one moved and no one spoke. The silence was uneasy.
As the clock chimed at nine o'clock the doors flew open and they stared into the faces of many men, led by Draco Malfoy.
He smirked and said, "I'm back."
The room exploded in sound. Spells were instantly flying in every direction, people were shouting and dodging curses. Everywhere she turned, Claire could see people being hit, stopping in mid-air, screaming in pain, gasping as large boils sprouted on their faces, among other things.
"Crucio!" Claire heard it and had no time to react before she was on the floor, writhing in pain. Her screams were drowned out by the noise around her but her friends saw what happened and quickly acted.
"Stupefy!" came the shouts of five people. The spells flew in multiple directions, but one hit it's target. Draco Malfoy fell to the ground and the Cruciatus curse was lifted.
Claire tentativley rose to her feet, gasping for breath. Ron helped support her and she stood up. "Thanks," she said.
Claire saw Ginny being backed into a corner by a death eater. Without thinking Claire ran toward them and shot a spell at the cloaked figure. The man flew backwards and his hood fell to reveal his face.
"Hey Claire!" Colin Creevey called from ten feet away, "you got Lucius Malfoy! Nice!"
Claire smiled and went to continue the fight.
" Where is he?" Harry thought desperately, searching for Voldemort, "The sooner I find him, the quicker I can attack and end this."
He fought off death eaters as he wove his way through the crowd. Suddenly there was a loud crash and Harry was startled to find a giant had smashed a hole in the wall from the outside and was now entering, closely follwed by two more giants and a large group of dementors.
Those near the area screamed and scrambled out of the way, sending spells behind them for protection.
The groups assigned to fight off the creatures quickly came together and began to defend against them. A giant fell, having been hit with more than twenty spells at once. Someone screamed and Harry realized a student had just fallen victim to the dementor's kiss. It was a fourth year Ravenclaw he didn't know but he felt a sadness creep into his heart as he watch the boy's friends scream and cry.
He continued to search desperately for the man behind all of this.
Screaming. Cursing. Yelling. Crying. It all blended together until Claire no longer heard any of it anymore. She felt nothing as she sent spells at the death eaters. Watching them fall she wasn't concerned at all.
She saw the bodies of many of the others lying about and was careful not to step on them. She felt they deserved a proper burial when this was over.
Another loud noise shook the room and Claire gasped as she saw the Slytherins climbing through a gaping hole in the wall near the locked door. Someone had ordered a giant to free them and they somehow had gotten their wands back.
She looked around and saw Malfoy watching her, smirking. She automatically knew this was his doing. She ignored him and continued to fight.
"There's too many of them!" Ron yelled to his eldest brother as they attempted to fight off multiple dementors.
"Just think happy thoughts!" Bill yelled back as he sent another patronus at them.
"Oh yeah," he replied sarcastically, "it's so simple."
Moments later a glowing white stag erupted through the advancing creatures followed by a few others, quickly driving them away.
Ron looked past to see Harry, Hermione, Claire, Ginny and Neville smiling reassuringly at him.
"Thanks!" Bill and Ron yelled in unison.
"No!" Fred yelled as he watched his twin fall. Bellatrix Lestrange had snuck up and hit George from behind. The blinding green light had slightly grazed Fred's arm on it's way to the other and he was left with a hole in his sleeve and a pain in his heart.
He screamed in anger as he shot a spell back at the woman who had taken his brother's life. He felt a small sense of pride as he watched her crumple to the ground, a look of terror on her face.
"I can't believe it!" Ginny screamed. She and the others had just found George's body.
Her friends gasped and held back tears as they looked upon their friend.
"Four Weasley's down, five to go." a sly voice said behind them.
Ginny whipped around and stared into the face of Lucius Malfoy, having recovered from the spell Claire had sent at him hours before.
"What do you mean, four down?" she asked him.
Lucius smiled as he held up another finger with each name he spoke, "George, Percy, Charlie, Arthur. All that's left is the mother, the eldest, the other twin, and you two."
"I don't think so, Avada Kedavra! " as the man fell to the ground they could see who caused it. Bill glared at the still form of the death eater. He looked up at his siblings, "I'm sorry to say he's right. Dad, Charlie and Percy have all been killed too."
"And so have you." Blaise Zabini said before the green light hit Bill and he fell.
Ginny shed a single tear before she took out her revenge on the Slytherin boy.
Harry wandered though the last empty halls of the school. The fighting had been going on for days now. He was quite surprised with it all. The battle had spread throughout the castle and he had no idea if the youngest students were still safe in their dormitories or if the rooms had been broken into long before.
He reflected on the many losses of the past few days.
Arthur Weasley, killed as he defended his wife against an angry giant.
Charlie Weasley, attacked while his back was turned by an unknown death eater.
Percy Weasley, victim of the fatal dementor's kiss.
George Weasley, attacked by surprise by Bellatrix Lestrange.
Bill Weasley, murdered by Blaise Zabini after defending his friends against Lucius Malfoy.
Luna Lovegood, crushed by a section of stone wall, thrown by a giant.
Neville Longbottom, tortured, then killed, by a Slytherin 6th year.
Hermione Granger, pushed out a 5th story window by a death eater as she attempted to fight off a dementor.
Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchly, Minerva McGonagall, Ernie Macmillian, Hannah Abbot, Nymphadora Tonks, and Dennis Creevey, all killed by an explosion caused by too many deadly spells colliding in the same area.
And many others he had never spoken too, all down and out because they were brave enough to fight.
Harry promised himself he would always remember them all. They wouldn't fade away or be forgotten, they would remain with him forever.
"Do you think we're safe here?" Claire asked Ron as they sat in a small room, far away from the main battle.
"No," he replied, "we aren't safe anywhere. But this is close enough." he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, he was obviously exhausted.
"I can't believe so many we knew are gone," Claire said.
"We just have to accept it and continue on," Ron told her, his eyes still closed.
"But it's so hard. Most of these people we've known for years. And you've lost family."
"I realize that. But at this moment we have to accept it, when this is over we'll have a chance to mourn. But right now we can't afford to. The second our backs our turned, we'll be among the ones people are crying over."
Claire held back her tears, "I guess."
Ron jerked up. "Shh."
"What?" Claire whispered.
The door flew open. "Well well well... what do we have here?"
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