Chapter 43: Preparing for War
Breakfast the next morning was a tense and tearful affair. The students were all told what were going to happen later that day. Many of the younger years were crying and most of the school looked afraid, even the DA members and the teachers. "We will have older students who do not wish to fight and at least on teacher in each common room during the battle," Albus told them all. "The wards on the castle will not allow any death eaters inside but just as an added precaution we are going to seal the common rooms directly after breakfast. The house elves will be taking care of your needs from then on. Professor Flitwick will be in Ravenclaw along with Mr. Filch and Professor Sprout will be in Hufflepuff with young Mr. Filch. Professors Sinistra and Vector will be in Slytherin while Professor Hooch and Madame Pince will be in Gryffindor. All students above 4th year are expected to help the professors maintain calm and defend the younger students if the need arises."
As soon as he had finished his speech the doors to the hall opened and the Order of the Phoenix stepped inside along with the King and Queen. The adults moved towards the front of the room to await their orders from Albus. Queen Amelia addressed the gathering. "I know that many of you are scared and worried for your friends and loved ones. But know this; if we allow a monster such as Voldemort to win we will always live in fear. Today is the day to reclaim the world we deserve to live in. Do not despair and do not doubt our victory. We shall overcome this evil and you will all grow up in a world without the fear of death or persecution hanging in the air. I believe in you and I will fight beside you and we will win!"
There was loud applause following her motivational speech. The younger years were escorted to their dorms by the assigned professors and Harry was glad to see that every member of the DA stayed to fight. Albus nodded to Harry who also stood to address the crowd. "We have worked hard to prepare for this day. We have all lost people that we love or knew to the cause. It ends today. We will triumph today and tomorrow will be the start of our brand new future. Today we have the Order of the Phoenix fighting alongside Dumbledore's Army. Together we will fight with the Aurors and Magical Law Enforcement Officers of the Ministry of Magic. We have the advantage, we have the greater number of fighters, we have the most dedication to our cause, and we have the will to win. We will no longer allow a mad man to terrorize us. This is the day we make our stand. We have trained all year for this moment and we will not be swayed by fear or uncertainty. There is no uncertainty, with all of you beside me we will win. Remember that the light always overcomes the Dark. A single candle can light an entire room; they cannot hold us back and they cannot hold us in. We are going to take down every single one of them. Our future is what we make it and we start making it today!"
The cheers shook the castle. Ginny beamed up at Harry who looked like a general ready to lead his troops into battle. Even Dumbledore seemed insignificant standing next to Harry at that moment. Albus smiled at how Harry was taking charge of the fight. "Now we will wait here until the wards are dropped. The alarm will sound and that is our cue to head outside. I want the Order members to split up and fight on either side of Green and Red Squad. Blue Squad will stay to the rear and prepare to help any who need assistance. If anyone needs medical assistance send up white sparks with your wand and a member of White Squad's retrieval unit will come and get them. White Squad you know what to do, stay near the castle and help as many as you can. The Aurors and ministry officials are planning on appearing behind the death eaters so we will be attacking from both fronts. All members of the light side will have a colored armband and sash on. The aurors will be in red robes and the magical law enforcement in blue but all should be wearing a yellow sash like the order members here are."
The DA members were given their corresponding color sashes. The members of the Order who were to help with white squad changed their sashes to white so everyone knew to try and help them as much as possible.
Harry then addressed Red Squad. "I know this is difficult for many of you, especially Slytherins. You will be going up against your family members and many of your old friends. From this day forward Slytherin house will hold a place of respect and honor in the halls of Hogwarts. No longer are we divided. The future is here, it's time to embrace it."
Harry stepped down and went over to his group of friends. "That was a great speech Harry," Hermione told him with a big smile. They each hugged each other one last time and separated to give last minute orders to their squads. Hermione and Severus were checking their squad's wands and securing their robes so they wouldn't hinder movement. "You'll be careful right?" She asked him with pleading eyes.
"I've come too far to give up now," he told her with a soft smile trying to memorize every inch of her face to take with him. He was still certain he would not live to see tomorrow but he knew he wanted his last thoughts to be of the woman who had captured his heart without even knowing it. "You stay out of the line of fire as well." He told her as he pulled her into a hug. Before he could even let go his mark began to burn. He kissed her forehead softly before calling out to Harry and Albus. "It's time," he told them before leaving the hall to join Voldemort.
The large group of fighters moved into the main entrance hall and arranged themselves into formations. They were ready.
"My lord," Severus said in greeting before taking his place next to Voldemort.
"Today we will take over Hogwarts, tomorrow the Ministry will fall without the boy wonder and that old fool Dumbledore. The wizarding world will be at our mercy without the Queen. I will rule all and you my most loyal will be rewarded more than you ever dreamed. No longer will this world be overrun with half-bloods and muggle-borns. We will re-create our rightful society. Do not fail me." Voldemort announced to his minions. Severus was glad his mask hid his smirk as he thought of how little confidence the speech gave the rest of the death eaters.
"We will over run the school, kill any that stand in our way but leave the Potter boy for me," Voldemort continued. "They are untrained and unaware. We will disable their wards and enter the grounds near the forbidden forest where we will be joined by our army of dark creatures."
"Severus, my most loyal servant, tell me do they suspect anything?" Voldemort asked him.
"I do not believe so my lord. Although the Queen did bring with her many members of the old fool's Order. I believe she may fear an attack." Severus told him.
"Do we have anything to fear from this group of students Potter has trained the DA or whatever it is?" He asked once again.
"As far as I have seen the DA is a group of children learning defensive magic. It gives the students a false sense of purpose and security. They should not be a threat." Severus said once again smirking at the lies he was feeding the snake in front of him.
"Come my followers, it is time," Voldemort said and they all prepared to apparate the second the wards were down. Severus apparated ahead and disabled the perimeter wards before touching his mark to report his success.
"The wards are down my lord, everything is ready." Severus told him bowing again. Voldemort ginned his evil smile and apparated to Hogwarts followed shortly by his entire army of death eaters.
A buzzing noise was heard throughout the castle and then a faint alarm bell began to toll. Harry smiled and nodded at his friends and fellow fighters. With a nod from Albus he announced, "It's time. Let's go kick some death eater butt!" He then threw open the front doors and marched outside followed by Ginny and Draco and then his entire Green squad. A battalion of Order members was next flowed by Hermione and her Red squad and then the rest of the Order members who would be fighting. Neville and his Blue squad were next followed by Ron and his group of Rescuers on White Squad. Hannah, Susan, Poppy and Molly Weasley stood on the stairs watching them all march to war.
"I can't believe this is it," Susan said voicing what they were all thinking. They stood there for a few moments more before they saw black robed figures appearing on the far side of the lawn.
"Come, we must prepare the great hall. I want to be ready before the first shot is fired," Poppy said and the four women hurried inside to check on the progress of the rest of the squad. The great hall had been transformed into a war hospital. Only the head table remained, they had removed the rest and set up hundreds of white cots. The members of white squad were making sure each bed had fresh bandages, an emergency potions kit and clean linens. There were house elves standing in wait around the perimeter of the room. 20 elves were allotted to White squad to change bed linens and fetch whatever the white squad member requested.
The school was warded down tight. There was no way for anyone other than the house elves to get farther into the castle than the great hall. The suits of armor had moved position to line the entrance hall while the castle ghosts were keeping the teachers protecting the younger students informed of the progress as all windows in the common rooms had been magically blocked.
"The ministry had arrived and the fighting has begun," The Bloody Barron told the medics of White squad and they knew that it would not be much longer before they were needed for the first time.
Harry watched with growing resolve as what seemed like hundreds of black robed figures began to appear on the far side of the castle lawn near the forbidden forest. 'I love you Ginny, never doubt or forget that' he thought to her before raising his wand and leading his army towards the death eaters.
Hermione watched as everyone squared their shoulders and unsheathed their wands as the death eaters began to appear. She was ready and she was going to make sure no one had to go through this again.
Ginny heard Harry's voice and knew that no matter what she would help him defeat Tom Riddle once and for all.
Ron was at the back of the moving army, watching as his best friends marched away for what could be the last time. He looked around at his squad and knew they would do whatever it took to save every last one of them.
Wormtail saw the approach of the student army and grew fearful. He turned into his rat form and hid behind the rest of the death eaters. He knew he was no match for any of the Order members and he knew that there were many who wanted him dead. He cautiously approached his master to try and hear what he thought of the child army.
Voldemort let out a strange sounding chuckle as he saw the Potter boy was leading an army of a few hundred students towards him. "Look at see what the great Albus Dumbledore sends to protect his precious school with. They are nothing but children and we will cut them all down!" He yelled to his faithful while they were still out of range of the students. His death eaters had formed ranks and were marching towards the students. He could hear the rustle in the forest and assumed it was his army of dark creatures. He had sent his messages to the goblins and giants who he hoped had joined him as well.
Wormtail was distracted suddenly by the sound of apparition to their right, left and behind them. He looked around and saw the robes of aurors and hit wizards and knew their attack had not been a surprise. There were a hundred fully qualified wizards from the ministry surrounding them. This would not be the easy fight they anticipated. Wormtail realized that he had once again chosen the loosing side.
Harry smiled as he saw the league of aurors appear with the hit wizards and other ministry of magic personnel. They were being led by Arthur Weasley and Mad Eye Moody. The death eaters were surrounded and now greatly outnumbered. Albus was walking next to him and he saw the great wizard raise his wand. Everyone again felt the buzzing feeling for a moment before Harry noticed the ward alarms had stopped.
"I have reinitialized the wards; they will not be able to flee." Albus told him with a determined glint in his eye. "Rosmerta will be bringing a group from Hogsmead as well. Now the only way out of here is through the front gates or halfway through the forest."
Harry smiled to himself. There would be no escape for the death eaters this time. They had no means of escape. He almost hoped some of them went into the forest. Hagrid had been able to work a truce with the centaurs. They would fight for the light. Hagrid, Olympe and Gwarp had also swayed the other creatures to stay neutral in the fight. Any creature that approached the school would be considered a foe and any person or creature approaching the forest during the battle would be shot on sight. There would be no help coming for the death eaters, their army of dark creatures would never set foot onto Hogwart's lawn.
"Now is the time. I believe in every one of you. Let's fight!" Harry yelled before casting the very first curse of the fight. "Stupefy!" He yelled and the first death eater fell to begin the battle.