A/N: Can't talk, too excited!

Malfoy Disclaimer: I have had entirely too much of this common mudblood, and of taking less than one deserves. Give me my rights! I am important! (Punch-in-the-face!)

Chapter Thirty-six –

Nagini the Spy

Exams were coming up, and Harry was getting nervous.

It wasn't as if these were his NEWTs or anything. He wouldn't be told he could never be a detective if he failed these exams now. It was simply the thought of not having a proper base for which to build his top thirtieth percentile of the Auror Academy which was making him stress so badly about these exams.

He sat in the Gryffindor common room late at night, or rather, early in the morning. His eyes were getting bleary, and his mind was slowly flattening to squeeze all the information he had ever learned about charms right out his ears.

He silently put his head down on the parchments in defeat.

A crack of pain sliced through his scar with absolute clarity, and Harry nearly screamed at the suddenness of the attack. He'd gotten used to feeling a dull ache in his scar, but he always knew when the pain meant something really important. It hadn't really happened in a good three or four months, since the attack on the Minister for magic. Even the attack on Hannah's family had done nothing to provoke the scar. He was certain that there had been other missed incidents as well.

This was certainly something important.

The pain was nearly all consuming, but Harry forced himself to calm down and breathe evenly.

Once he had the pain down to a manageable level, he could finally think about the situation without emotions. He had to get past the intense feelings of helplessness and frustration before he could find out what Voldemort was feeling.

Voldemort was happy.

He was ecstatic.

He was… inside Hogwarts.

Damn.

Harry calmed his mind. He ignored the fact that he was being affected by the most evil wizard alive, and began to meditate.

Voldemort could not feel him as he infiltrated. His mind was not evolved enough to comprehend the incursion because he was once again, in the body of a snake. It was for this reason and this reason alone that Harry had felt his scar sear painfully a few seconds ago, after nothing except repetitive twinges and faint hints ofunbalanced emotion.

The snake slithered its way through the halls of Hogwarts, tasting the air for dangers.

The hallways passed, and Harry felt the glee with which Voldemort seemed to slink his way toward the upper floors.

Voldemort knew these halls well. He reminisced about times when he had sent another sort of snake out to search the school for Mudbloods and blood traitors. The thought made him laugh to himself. Soon enough he would have dead Mudbloods everywhere. A Mudblood feast. He imagined their bodies strewn across the corridors with fang marks on their jugulars. Go on, blame the Vampires for their deaths Dumbledore. I dare you.

Then he thought about the warmth of spilled blood when it is tasted in one's mouth. He even wistfully wondered about vampires and the power they wielded. But he remembered then that vampires still had a hierarchy, and he would need to begin at the bottom, where all the worthless undead grovelled at the feet of their lord.

Lord Voldemort wished to kill, but never to lose his position of authority in doing so. What would be the point? What was there to be gained if he was not the one giving commands?

He would be worse than Potter, always taking Dumbledore's word for things. Trusting that everything would be alright in the end. HA! How naiive the child has been.

He would be able to kill him tonight, and no one could stop him. He was inside the school where people thought they were safe. Where Potter thought he was safe. Where supposedly no person with dark intentions could roam.

How little Dumbledore understood that just because he wasn't a person didn't mean he couldn't kill. Just because he was a lowly snake, didn't mean he couldn't feel the magic protecting the students. He would easily be able to counter the charms now that he knew what to expect, just as he had as a student so many years ago. He wondered if the dead mudblood's ghost was still haunting the entrance to his childhood playground. He wondered if his Basilisk was still sleeping, ready to be called at a moment's notice.

He tasted the air on his tongue, and noticed something very interesting.

A girl was coming. She was going to be passing directly beside him, probably out alone for her prefect route. So naïve, so perfect. The ideal test of Dumbledore's sloppy warding. She came around the bend of the corridor, her Gryffindor robes swaying as she went.

"Ginny, No!" It took only a split second to realize that he'd spoken in parseltongue, and that he'd been careless with his own mind. He heard himself speak the words, and Harry felt an angry searing in his scar as he was slammed back into his body full force.

What had he just seen?

Was Ginny about to be sacrificed to the Voldemort God? For a moment, Harry ignored the fact that Voldemort knew where he had been mentally. He scrambled to his feet, and crashed his way out the fat lady portrait. It took him less than a second to realise that he had just released the remnant emotions from the legilimency he had just performed on Voldemort by turning into Greymane. He'd hardly noticed his body change, and he didn't even miss a step.

He pounded the corridors, and gave a loud roar of animalistic terror, calling to her. He sniffed the air, and Sabertooth's frightened cat smell assaulted his senses. She was angry, and in pain. Had she been bitten? Could he get to her in time?

Greymane let out another roar. Where are you? Are you alright?

A faint echo of a roar filled his ears. I'm here! Outside the room of requirement! She did not say if she was hurt or not, and Harry's fear crept up another notch.

He ran faster than he'd ever remembered running. He stopped at the hidden passage to the seventh floor just long enough to slash his great claws through the tapestry that covered the entrance. The shredded tapestry fell to the floor with a swish and an angry groan.

He galloped up the spiral stairs toward the room of requirement with fear pounding in his veins. He could feel himself approaching the corner which Ginny the human had come around as Voldemort the snake had watched, preparing to pounce. His breath hitched in his throat, and his claws unsheathed themselves for imminent attack.

He rounded the corner, and stopped dead.

Sabertooth the tiger was sitting placidly in the middle of the hall, breathing heavily, and proudly displaying her now twitching prize. The dead snake was huge. It was black, at least eight feet long, and five centimetres thick. It lay half under one paw, where it's skin was being slowly shredded by sharp bloodied claws. The other half was caught in Sabertooth's teeth, where Greymane could see a sharp crick in the rubbery spine. It had been viciously snapped by her jaws, and drops of crimson blood fell from her bared teeth down to the floor. The snake's semi-glowing black eyes turned red with draining blood as he watched, and the flexible jaw fell open, revealing two four-inch-long white fangs.

If he'd been human, he might have been terrified of this tiger. Instead he breathed a purring sigh of relief. She was safe.

"Mrrrow?"

The sound made Greymane jump back into alarm mode, pivoting one hundred and eighty degrees, and Sabertooth dropped the snake's carcass. Greymane took two steps forward to protect the tiger and her prey from whatever new attacker stood in the shadows.

A small tabby cat with little black lines like glasses around its narrowed eyes stepped around the corner. It's fur raised into a ridge along it's spine, and its tail puffed out to three times it's normal size.

The three cats stared incensed at each other for a moment, before the tabby morphed into the imposing shape of professor McGonagall. She was wearing her nightclothes and a tartan robe cinched tightly around her waist, where she now rested two accusing fists.

"Just what do you two think you are doing? I could hear you roaring at each other from my quarters, and I'm quite sure the rest of the school could hear you as well! If it isn't bad enough that you're out of Gryffindor Tower this late, Potter… "

Greymane stepped aside, and McGonagall gasped at the sight of the dead snake at the bloodied tiger's feet, which was now lying in a patch of moonlight.

"What?… You two had better explain what is going on here!"

As usual, Greymane felt rather reluctant to change back into a human, but did it anyway. McGonagall looked too angry to trifle with.

"Professor," he began, "this is Nagini." He indicated the dead snake, "Or rather it was Nagini."

"Nagini?" she asked, looking confused.

"Voldemort's pet snake."

McGonagall gasped again, and Sabertooth took a few tentative steps away from the dead snake. Obviously she hadn't known the identity of her victim. She quickly changed back into a human, and took a few more tentative steps away from the black mass. She pulled a foul face and spat on the floor, wiping the few traces of blood from her face with the sleeve of her robe. He saw that she was very careful not to use her right hand, which she cradled tentatively close to her chest.

"Are you all right Ginny?" Harry asked her.

"I twisted my foot, er… wrist." She said, gripping the tender hand.

That explained why she smelled like she had been in pain.

"I was afraid she'd gotten you."

"No, I heard something rustling over the carpet right here, but it was dark, and I couldn't see. I thought it was a rat…" she trailed off, and Harry understood. "I decided to turn into a tiger so I could smell whatever it was. I saw this snake, and it nearly took my head off. I jumped to the side, and that's when I twisted my paw…er… my wrist. I jumped on it's tail, and it took another snap at me. I guess I must have smashed it away and grabbed it just behind the head with my teeth. I… I didn't mean to kill it, really. I just… Well, I didn't want it to be anywhere near me. I don't like snakes."

"Completely understandable." McGonagall sniffed righteously. They knew Ginny was thinking about the basilisk she'd unwittingly set upon the students in her first year. "Now where do you fit in to this mister Potter? What have you done this time?"

Harry blushed. "Voldemort likes to possess his pets."

Ginny blanched. "You mean that thing I just… killed… was Voldemort? I thought…"

Harry shook his head. "No, you killed Nagini. Voldemort felt me in his mind this time, and he left the snake the same moment I did. Nagini usually acts as Voldemort's spy, and reports to him because he's a parseltongue like I am. Sometimes Voldemort feels like doing some spying himself, and takes possession of her. He did tonight, and I was watching."

"I think I'm going to throw up." Ginny remarked, holding her left hand to her mouth, and Harry knew how she felt. Killing, no matter whose life was taken, was a horrifying thing. Harry had felt the same way last christmas when Mr. Weasley had been attacked by the very same snake that lay at Ginny's feet. Even now, Harry felt more snakelike than ever, and longed to turn himself back into Greymane so the feeling would disappear. The thought gave him an idea.

"Turn yourself back into Sabertooth. You'll feel all right if you can't think too hard about it." Harry told her.

She complied quickly, and the wounded tiger began to limp towards the door.

"Sabertooth, let me see that paw." Harry urged.

She turned around, and tentatively placed her sore paw up on his thigh. She let him cast a mild healing charm on the sprain, and then he prodded the spot to make sure all of the tenderness had gone. He was very glad she had been able to defend herself tonight. Voldemort and Nagini had definitely been out for blood.

Once it was finished, he turned to professor McGonagall, who was still white as a sheet, and staring at the huge dead snake. "We need to take Nagini's body to Dumbledore." He told her. "He needs to know, and we can't leave it here."

She nodded, but made no attempt to move toward the snake.

Harry sighed, and turned himself into Greymane. He walked over to the mangled corpse, and took it up in his jaws.

McGonagall sighed with obvious relief, and turned herself back into the tabby cat to accompany Sabertooth and Greymane up to Dumbledore's office.


"But how did Nagini get into the school?" Hermione asked the obvious question the next morning at breakfast. She, Ron, and Harry had their heads together as usual, and nobody interrupted them, or questioned it. Harry knew a few people might be trying to eavesdrop, so they kept their voices low.

Harry shook his head. "No one knows. I asked Dumbledore if he's been tracking the passage from Honeydukes now that he knows about it, but he said it wasn't possible for the snake to get in there. He's charmed entrance so that people -and animals too- can only leave through it, they can't come back in to the school through there unless they know the password."

"Who else knows the password?" Ron piped up.

"Only Dumbledore and McGonagall so far. They wouldn't tell me." Harry grieved the loss of his beloved passage, and he wished the Marauder's map had extended as far out as Hogsmeade. If it had, then it would have been relatively simple to get the password. The map knew nearly everything about the school, and it could tell him passwords to everything except professors' quarters and offices. When he was looking for it, he'd even found the room of requirement. It seemed that the map only showed the room when you had a real need of it.

"Are there any other passages that Dumbledore doesn't know about?" Ron asked.

"None that the map shows. There are four that filch knows about. Then there's the one into Honeydukes that Dumbledore's charmed.The one that Fred and George told me was collapsed in behind the mirror on the fourth floor. Then there's the one under the Whomping Willow, and no one can use that one unless they know how to freeze the tree."

"No others?"

"None."

The detectives had hit a snag.

"If Nagini were still alive, you could cross examine her." Hermione pointed out to Harry. "Parseltongue and all."

"Don't you ever say something like that again." Ron said, sounding surprisingly incensed. "If that snake were still alive, then my sister would be dead right now."

"Oh, Ron! I didn't mean it like that! I just… Aarrgh!" she growled, obviously frustrated with the lack of information they had collected.

Ginny wandered in and took a seat beside Harry. She looked as if she hadn't slept.

"Are you all right Gin" Ron asked her, sounding very big-brotherish.

Ginny nodded. "I'm fine."

Anyone watching could have known she was lying.

"Ginny?" Harry asked. "Are you really all right?"

Obviously Ginny remembered their conversation earlier in the year while flying over the quidditch pitch, because her deadpanned face went suddenly dark and full of anguish.

"I feel lousy." She answered finally. "I killed something last night. And no matter how evil that creature was, it was still alive, and I killed it." The thought was obviously eating away at her conscience. Harry couldn't help but notice how similar her current dilemma was to his future one. He put an arm around her shoulders, and squeezed, feeling more reluctant to let go than he'd anticipated.

"I know killing isn't something done easily, but where would you be without it?"

"Probably six feet under right about now." She answered honestly.

"And what about the other people Nagini would have killed last night? Didn't you say that you could kill if it meant saving your friends?"

Ginny's eyebrows lifted in astonishment. "Was it going to kill people? I thought it was just there to spy?"

Harry wasn't sure what to say. He really hadn't told anyone much about Voldemort's thoughts while he was roaming the halls as a snake. Ginny, above all people, deserved to know. "Voldemort was thinking that he wanted to have what he lovingly termed a 'Mudblood feast'. I could tell that Nagini was feeling the same sense of anticipation. I can't imagine what he would have done if you hadn't stopped her last night."

Hermione paled a little.

Ginny nodded. She still looked less than pleased with herself.

"I won't tell you to feel better about it, because that's not possible." Harry told her. "Just try and remember that you were defending innocent people while you were doing it."

Ginny looked miserable.

"Think about what I'm going to have to do. Is it so very different?" He nearly whispered.

Ginny looked up at him in alarm. "But Voldemort isn't an innocent! People's pets-"

"Neither was Nagini." Harry quickly interrupted. "She knew what she was doing. She has only ever worked for Voldemort willingly. You're confusing Nagini with someone else's pet. Nagini is more sentient than most, since Voldemort talks to her. I think he sort of sees her as one of his spies and advisors. She wasn't uninformed or innocent at all, Gin."

"Oh."

"Don't worry. You'll feel better."

"Okay." She didn't sound convinced.

Harry suddenly remembered something interesting. "You know, Ginny, I think you're really very good at defense. You got thesnakein only about three seconds. The longer any fight goes on, the more the risk you are, since your attacker might get a chance to plan out a strategy. . It took me a hell of a lot longer to kill the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, and I even got a poisonous fang in the arm for my trouble."

Ginny's eyes met his, and he thought he saw a twinkle of pleasure in her eye. He was reminding her that he had already killed something, and that he didn't dare feel remorseful. The fact that it had been to save her life made it all that more significant. Perhaps it wasn't quite on the same scale, but she had saved lives, and that was all that mattered in the end.

"Thank you, Harry." He could tell by the intensity of her voice that she was thanking him for comforting her today, and also for saving her life back four years ago, in the Chamber of Secrets.

"Don't mention it." Harry patted her hand nonchalantly. "I can't say that it was a barrel of laughs, but I'm glad I did. Got to keep my fans happy somehow."

Ginny suddenly grinned. "That's the first time I've ever heard you even allude to your own status in the wizarding world without cringing."

Harry, of course, cringed, and the sight made Ginny chuckle.

"C'mon Harry. We've got to go." Ron was trying not to show the fact that he was grinning very much like his animagus form often did. He reluctantly tugged Harry away from the table to head to Philosophy.

Harry nodded back to Ginny, whose beaming smile finally looked genuine.


With Ginny's attack had come the realisation that Harry couldn't stop this. He couldn't make time stop for him to prepare, and he couldn't look into the future to know how things would turn out. He just had to keep plodding on day by day, putting his 'saving people thing' into action whenever he could.

He could no longer save himself for the final battle, because he knew that if he did that, then he would never have any real experience to teach him the skills he needed in the end.

Yes, people might be depending on him to kill Voldemort, but he couldn't keep out of things until that moment. He was a part of this now, and no one could tell him otherwise. The battles would be fought with him or without him, and Harry would rather be there as often as possible. Just because he was destined to be saving people in the future, didn't mean he couldn't start now by doing his best. In fact, now that he was feeling reasonably comfortable with his lot in life, and his duelling skills, he might even be persuaded even to seek out danger, just to really train himself up. No unnecessary danger, of course, and he didn't have a death-wish, but sometimes the best results he'd seen in himself were when he was put under fire.

Surprisingly, the twinges he'd felt in his scar over the last few days since Nagini's attack had been a lot less painful, although they were still there. He knew that despite Voldemort's sudden lack of tangible emotions, he was planning something. Besides, he'd successfully entered into Hogwarts once already. How was anyone to know that he wouldn't do it again?

This was why Harry was sitting awake in bed, repetitively reading the Marauder's Map just after midnight on Thursday night. He had the horrible feeling that the weak pains he'd been having in his scar all day were the precursor to something major. He knew Voldemort had something planned, but he had no proof of when or where Voldemort and his Death-Eaters would strike. He could only keep vigilant and make certain that the chosen venue for the attack was not Hogwarts or another place that contained people he knew. It might have been a bit selfish to hope Voldemort would attack elsewhere, but right now he had to look after his own. He, Ron and Hermione had been alternating watch on the marauder's map every night since Ginny's attack, but Ron and Hermione were out on prefect duty until two tonight, and Harry had to take the first watch.

Ron and Hermione's dots moved slowly down the third floor, pausing here and there, as if they were having an argument. Harry's eyes flicked over to where he could see professors Vector and McGonagall's spots moving parallel to each other two floors apart. He was glad that Dumbledore had put the teachers on round the clock watches, and felt a little sorry for them, they couldn't be getting very much sleep for sure.

He had been searching the map intently for the past three hours, waiting for something to happen. He had almost been able to convince himself that he was early, and that it would probably happen Friday night on Malfoy's duty instead.

It figured.

The Slytherins would probably let the Death-Eaters in the front gate while they were on duty or something. Malfoy would soon be the right hand 'boy' of the Dark Lord.

Harry yawned. The map wasn't going to help him tonight. He'd better meditate before he slept. The twinges in his scar were frustrating, and the more he meditated, the easier it would be to block them out.

There it went again.

Just a fizzling heat that couldn't be denied as anticipation. It went running from the scar on his forehead, shivering down his back and lodged somewhere in his gut, telling him that something was wrong. Not really painful, but definitely a warning sign. He tried to open his mind up to Voldemort's, and he could feel a barrier between them. Something was stopping the connection.

He sighed in semi-defeat, then gave a halfhearted laugh. He'd told everyone that he didn't want to act as a Voldemort radar, and here he was, doing it intentionally. He was a hypocrite.

He checked the map over one last time before putting it away, and laying down on the sheets. It was a warm night, so he'd folded up his comforter, and it sat on his trunk near his feet.

His scar twinged again.

He sat up, and pulled out the map once more just to be sure.

I'm getting paranoid. He thought, scanning the parchment thoroughly.

He jumped in alarm as he suddenly noticed two new dots appearing at the corner of the page. He waited for names to appear, adrenaline pumping its way through his system.

Or maybe not! He gaped at the horrible names.

Lucius Malfoy and MacNair the executioner were coming to Hogwarts.

The two Death-Eaters were creeping very slowly down the secret passage, which until now, Harry had thought to be caved in. In less than five minutes, they would reach the fourth-floor hallway and emerge just behind the tall gilded mirror just three doors away from the Ravenclaw dormitory.

And they would be coming out right next to Hermione and Ron, who were now headed that way. Harry whipped his hand over to his ward beads, which sat docilely on his side table. Two of them were hot, Ron's orange one, and Hermione's green one were telling him that they would soon be in immediate danger. Everyone else's beads glowed warm except for Remus' blue one, since he was obviously nowhere near the school.

They're all in danger. Why are they all in danger if it's just two Death-Eaters? How much damage can two Death-Eaters cause?

He considered just waking Neville, and just going to rescue Ron and Hermione himself, and have Neville along as backup.

As Harry moved quietly toward Neville's bed, two more dots appeared at the edge of the map. These new dots were labelled Rodolphus Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov. It was Bellatrix's husband, coming to avenge his wife's death, and an attacker from last year's incident at the Department of mysteries.

Two more names appeared while Harry stood staring dumbstruck at the page.

Voldemort was sending in his entire army.

Harry decided not to waste a second more, and didn't even bother to read the names beside the dots. It was literally time to rouse the troops.

"Neville! Seamus! Dean! If you've ever valued your experiences in the DA, you will wake up at this very moment!" he nearly screamed the command, and it was less than twenty seconds before they joined him at the door, shaking and white-faced in their pyjamas with their wands clasped in their fists.

He showed them the map he held, and pointed to the dots. "Voldemort's army is sneaking in to Hogwarts, and no one knows it but us. I need you to be my envoys to the other houses. We need as much of the DA and all of the teachers you can find. Seamus, go to Slytherin. It's in the dungeon down the hall from Snape's classroom.There are serpents above the doorway. I want anyone with the ability to fight, but no first, second or third years. They won't be able to keep up. Some of the other Slytherins may already know about this attack, and they won't be happy that we've warned the others, so be careful, and watch your back! The map won't tell me that particular password, so just knock loudly until someone answers, or try and rouse Snape, whose quarters are right next to it under that weird gothic archway."

Seamus nodded, looking pale. "Right."

"Neville, you've got Hufflepuff. You know where their common room is?"

"I remember the map." Neville said stonily. He was much more under control than Harry had expected him to be.

"Good. The password this week is 'Rainbow greenhouse.' Dean, you've got Ravenclaw. We'll go together, as we're both heading to the fourth floor. You can't knock on the door there. It'll be too loud. Luna's told me the password just in case. It's 'Runic Numerology.' Try and avoid the fourth floor corridor as much as possible. That's where this passage exits. If you are able to, and happen to meet some on the way, get teachers to come and help. I'll send someone to get Dumbledore once that's done. Do you all understand?"

The three white faces nodded.

"You've got your wands with you?"

Another round of nods was his answer.

"And you're willing to do this? I don't want anyone who hasn't committed themselves to fighting."

This time the nods were fierce and determined.

"Right. I'll let you know in a really obvious way when to attack."

Harry didn't have to say it twice. Neville and Seamus peeled out of the tower so fast he thought he maybe hadn't seen them.

Harry and Dean ran out the door of their dormitory, down the swirling staircase and into the common room.

The two didn't wait for anyone else, and they exited the common room, turning in the opposite direction from where he knew Neville and Seamus had gone. He knew the girls dormitory wouldn't let them go up, so that meant he would have to send Hermione once she was notified. He would tell her to wake everyone else in Gryffindor, since they hadn't bothered to stop and spread the news. It would take far too long, and they needed to be in position fast, before those dots walked out into the fourth floor corridor.

Harry held the map out before him as he ran, watching as the dots in the hidden passage multiplied. Eight, then twelve, then twenty…

More were coming.

Malfoy and MacNair were still the first ones in line, and they were just over a hundred metres from the exit behind the mirror when Harry and Dean reached the fourth floor. Harry pointed silently at the staircase leading to the Ravenclaw dormitory, and Dean slipped up the steps. He heard him whisper, "Runic Numerology," to the wall, and a navy blue tapestry slid out of the way.

Harry hoped that the map wasn't lying.

The map didn't lie.

He didn't have to worry about that part. He should focus on Ron and Hermione.

Harry's only consolation was the thought that Ron and Hermione seemed to have moved further along the passage, and weren't immediately next to the mirror anymore.

But Harry was.

Lucius Malfoy and MacNair were less than fourty metres away from him here, and they were around a small corner. They wouldn't be able to see him. He poked his wand back there, and cast a quick impenetrable charm over the opening.

Harry grabbed the mirror and pushed. He pushed with all his strength, until the heavy mirror was completely blocking the entrance, and he put a gravity fortifying charm on the mirror to make it heavier to move. It wasn't as effective as dipping it in Neville's gravity potion, but it might give him a bit of time if they had to figure out why they were suddenly blocked in. Any self-respecting Death-Eater could remove the impenetrable charm once they realised what it was. It wasn't great, but it was something. He wished he had taken some time this year to work on more complicated protection barriers.

He ran down the hall until Ron and Hermione's low voices came to him.

"Ron! Hermione!" He hissed at their backs.

"Harry?" Ron asked, a little too loud and understandably surprised.

"They're here Ron! The Death-Eaters! Go to Dumbledore's office, and tell him! The password is 'Berry Bubbles'. Get him to alert the Order. Come back to this spot. You're sure to hear about it from Neville or Seamus if you stay just there." He pointed. "That's where the DA is meeting."

Ron was no longer standing in the hall then. Sidetrack's white tipped tail whipped out of sight down to the third floor.

"Hermoine! I didn't have time to wake the rest of the DA in Gryffindor! I need you to do that. No younger students, all right? Get them to join the same group by the stairwell."

The Horned Owl gave a soft hoot, and fluttered up into the darkness of the tower.

Now, all Harry could do was wait and observe.

He heard a clunking sound coming from behind the mirror, and he slipped himself around the back of a tapestry to watch the dots on his map try to move the mirror away from their blocked entrance. As he'd suspected, they hadn't had any trouble with the impenetrable charm.

They succeeded, rather faster than Harry had hoped, and Malfoy and MacNair slid out into the deserted corridor. "It looks smaller than it used to, doesn't it?" Harry heard MacNair comment in a cackling whisper.

He eyed the map again.

It was at that moment that Harry truly understood that something horrible would happen this night. It was at that moment that he saw the importance of his place in the wizarding world.

Just as Malfoy and MacNair were stepping free of the secret passage inside Hogwarts, another name was appearing on the edge of the Marauder's Map.

Tom Riddle.

Harry had no choice. He would be coming face to face with Voldemort tonight, and according to Trelawney's latest prophecy, he would have to decide a price of some sort. Harry mentally steeled himself for the difficult choice.

The Death-Eaters had almost fully grouped in the fourth-floor corridor when Harry noticed the DA amassing on the map. They were in the wide stairwell to his right, where Sidetrack and Eyespy had disappeared, and also in the spiralling stairwell up to Ravenclaw Tower on his left. He saw Ginny move from person to person, and one by one they set themselves up into wider lines, each one, finding a partner that they'd worked with before during evasion games. Harry knew Ginny had given the command, and in doing so, had unknowingly made herself the leader. She chose to work beside Colin Creevey, and stood near the front of the group with Hermione and Ron, who both scurried in at the last second.

Voldemort himself had not yet arrived, nor had any of the teachers, but it seemed that now was the time to begin before the numbers got any worse, or the Death-Eaters started attacking. They needed the element of surprise if they were to succeed. The longer he waited, the more chance of being discovered. He wiped the map clear with soundless magic, and stuffed it into his robes.

Harry changed himself silently into Greymane behind the tapestry.

He sniffed the air quietly, analysing how near the nearest Death-Eater was, took a deep breath, and roared as loudly as possible.

"What the?!" Malfoy's lisping voice was closest to the tall tapestry, and he moved forward to pull it aside.

At that moment, hexes started whizzing in from either side, and Voldemort's army of about thirty Death-Eaters was caught in the middle of the blaze. The mirror crashed to the floor as the Death-Eaters behind it gave up on their attempt to be silent, and plowed their way through the over weighted glass.

Malfoy, who had ducked, was obviously still curious about the roaring creature behind the curtain. He moved forward and yanked the tapestry from its moorings.

He caught the full blast of Harry's melting charm directly in the face.

Malfoy screamed, and leapt backwards clutching at his burning skin. The white mask he wore was slowly fusing itself to his cheeks and forehead. He scrabbled at his eyes screaming, and Harry realised that the melted plastic was blinding him. Through cloudy burning vision, he tried to point his wand back at Harry, but Harry disarmed him and went on to deal with the Death-Eater beside him.

"Dentera!"

The Death-Eater squealed, his mouth spraying blood. He could no longer speak the curses and hexes properly, and it was weak magic at best when he tried to send a severing charm to Harry's arm. A thin scratch, a bit like one he got when Crookshanks was angry at him drew it's way across Harry's arm, and he smirked at the useless attempt. He threw a trip jinx at the man, and the Death-Eater went sprawling to the floor, his wand rolling away from him and his hands going up to cover his now bloodied mouth.

He got another Death-Eater with impedimenta, then when the slow-motion man didn't stop moving towards him, he threw in a stunning charm just to keep him out of the way.

Once the immediate vicinity was voided of most danger, Harry held up the strongest shield he could, came forward from his hiding spot, and did a quick scan of the hall. He saw that the Ravenclaws, who had come in from the opposite side as everyone else were having more trouble than Ron and Hermioine's side. To his right all of the other houses had amassed, including, to his surprise, quite a few older Slytherins that were not part of the DA. They seemed to be fighting alongside his friends, however, and Harry couldn't think too long on it.

He moved towards his left to help the Ravenclaws, cursing Death-Eaters and trying to ignore the oddly weak twinging of his scar that told him Voldemort was near.

Harry was able to battle two more Death-Eaters to the ground before he noticed the fight was turning against them. Where Harry and the DA had the element of surprise on their side, the Death-Eaters had more numbers and they had plenty more experience with fighting.

They also had the killing curse.

Harry saw four of his friends fall to the floor unconscious or injured before the last Death-Eater came into the hallway. Nonetheless, he plowed on throwing curses, dodging hexes, and building shields and such until he was sweaty and tired. The adrenaline kept him on his feet, and he backed up against the wall, to keep from having to keep looking over his shoulder.

Then at last, Harry stared across the corridor in disbelief as Voldemort himself stepped calmly through the space which the gilded mirror had previously occupied.


A/N: I promise to update again as soon as I see another computer. I'm excited at having this whole thing almost posted, and I want to get it done as soon as possible!