CHAPTER 33: The War Within
Harry walked quickly to the room of requirement long before the rest of the DA was supposed to show up. He needed time by himself to think about what needed to be said. He knew he needed to choose his words carefully, but still had no idea what kind of response he would illicit. He went through the plan in his mind over and over again, looking for faults or pieces that he may not have considered. The plan was sound.
"Hey Harry, what's on tonight's agenda?" Justin Finch-Fletchley asked as he and a number of Hufflepuffs entered.
"No training tonight, I'm afraid. We've got to go over some plans, but let's wait until everyone is here." The Hufflepuffs seemed to accept that so Harry went back to sitting in silence. After a few more minutes everyone was present. "Good evening, everyone, I wanted to discuss some…plans for the future of Hogwarts."
"What do you mean, 'future of Hogwarts'?"
"If you'd quit interrupting Zacharias I'll tell you."
"Well, it's just that you had us on a wild goose chase with that sword thing, and then you went and wore it in public!"
"Like you said, a wild goose chase, why wouldn't I wear it in public?" Harry said calmly, gauging Smith's reaction. The fifth year went quiet. "As many of you have undoubtedly realized, Draco Malfoy is no longer with us."
"We've realized, it's sort of strange nobody knows why though, isn't it?"
"Yes, it would be extremely strange, Ernie, but people do know about it. I know about it. What happened was that Malfoy tried to jump me, but I saw him coming. I gave him the chance to curse me and he took it. He fired the cruciatus curse at me."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Hannah, don't worry. He didn't hit me, he simply fired it at me. I gave him the chance to fire a spell, I was ready for it though. I stunned him and brought him to Dumbledore who let him escape after reviving him."
"Let him?"
"Malfoy was carrying an emergency portkey that he must have activated once he realized he had been caught. For obvious reasons Dumbledore wants to keep this a secret."
"Of course it must be a secret, if everyone knew that Malfoy had acted so boldly he'd become a martyr, every student supporting Voldemort would be coming out of the woodwork!" Harry sat back and smiled.
"Yes, Lavender, that is exactly what would happen." Harry looked around the room, waiting for someone to catch on.
"You don't mean…You want them to come out against us?"
"Quite right, it would be the perfect opportunity."
"For what, a war within Hogwarts?"
"Yes, you see the Sorting Hat is right, everyone within these walls must unite if we are to repel Voldemort." To Harry's delight only a few flinched at the name. "However, it will be impossible to unite with wizards and witches who are so firmly entrenched with the Death Eaters, take Malfoy as an example. So this plan, this 'war within Hogwarts' as you called it, will simply act to weed out those people. Once they are gone the rest of the school will be free to act in unison. We will not need to fear spies in our midst and we will be free to prepare unimpeded." Harry watched the reaction of the students carefully. Many seemed to support the idea, others, as Harry expected, had their doubts.
"But Dumbledore must have his reasons for keeping this a secret."
"I have no doubt whatsoever, Zacharias, that Dumbledore has his reasons, however I will not follow his reasoning anymore. Dumbledore has become too manipulative, too far from the battle for our good. He will use us as pawns and we will lose. Dumbledore seems content with sitting back and giving Voldemort a footing, I will not allow that to happen. Voldemort needs to die and the sooner that happens the better. Some of you may feel that I am rushing into this war, but here my explanation. Voldemort had been gone for eleven years. During that time we have rebuilt, and his followers had dispersed. Two years ago he came back, and his followers returned. He has been trying to gain power, that is new recruits and new knowledge, ever since. He has not been able to acquire these things mostly because as of late his plans have been centered on me, part of the reason I was willing to kill a few death eaters. If, however, he begins to unite his troops for war than he will be ready before we are, and that cannot happen. We must draw him into war before he is ready, and that means preparing for war ourselves. From now on we will have four DA meetings a week, we will both train and strategize for the battle between students. For now this is what I want you to do: Spread the word to your dorm mates, I'd prefer if one of us could tell everyone personally, but that may not be possible. Do not be so overt as to ask people where they stand, we do not want people to think we are watching them. Just do your best to gauge their reactions. It would be nice to have some idea who we are fighting against before they attack."
"You don't expect them to just come out and start an all out battle in the Great Hall, do you?"
"No, not quite. I expect them to be much more subtle than that, which is why I'd feel more comfortable if all of you begin traveling in groups, we don't want to give them any advantages. Keep in mind that while we are better trained than them they will undoubtedly know some very…dangerous curses. Be on your guard."
"I guess you'll need the biggest escort of them all?" Asked Zacharias in an obnoxious voice.
"No, I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time without a group. After all, what better to draws them out than Harry Potter standing in a hallway all alone?"
"Harry!"
"Don't worry, Gin. I can take care of myself."
"I still don't understand why we aren't following Dumbledore's plan."
"Because, Zacharias, as I've already said Dumbledore is trying to manipulate the situation, but he is not doing a good job of it. If we follow him blindly than we will be fighting against an even more powerful Voldemort, and we will be fighting on his terms."
"So you expect us to follow you blindly then?"
"If I expected that," Harry spat, "I wouldn't have told you my entire plan."
"Well, what's this about fighting You-Know-Who on our own terms? Are we going to go attack him?"
"No, that would be suicide. One of our biggest advantages is that he will have to break through the Hogwarts wards and defenses. While that is done the Death Eaters will be standing out in the open. With some planning he won't have much of an army by the time he reaches the school."
"So how do you expect him to attack us on our terms?"
"I'm going to make him want to destroy me so badly that he has to. He is proud and arrogant, and now he's realizing that his men alone can't defeat me. Soon he'll stop trying to ambush me and just attack with all his might head on. When he does that, we'll be ready." Harry watched as almost all of the DA members ran the idea through their minds. He could tell that most had already gone agreed with it, and he had probably won over most of the skeptics. Zacharias Smith seemed to be the only one who was still skeptical.
"You still haven't told me why you don't trust Dumbledore. I agree that his plan is wrong and that your plan may be right, but that can't be the reason you don't trust him." Harry had been afraid of this question. He knew the only way to convince them was to tell them of Dumbledore's deceit, but he didn't want them to hate the old wizard. He was still going to play a role in the battle to come so to have a student uprising against him would be a bad thing. He chose his words carefully.
"I respect Dumbledore as a wizard, just not as a leader. If we are to defeat Voldemort we will need his help. The reason I do not trust him as a leader is because he does not tell anyone his plans, he just uses them as pawns. If he had shared information with me earlier, my godfather would still be alive. I've also recently discovered that Dumbledore keeps very close tabs on all students."
"Well we all knew that, didn't we?"
"Did you know that he laced our pumpkin juice at the start of year banquet with a tracking potion so he could see where we were and what magic we were using at all times?"
"HE WHAT?" Came the outraged cry of many students in the room. Even some of the characteristically calm students looked appalled.
"I have found an antidote to this potion and will distribute it to you as soon as it is finished. I have taken a sample of it and it seems to be working. I will, however, further test it soon." Harry caught Ginny's eye, who grinned mischievously, obviously understanding what he was getting at.
"But who is going to tell the Slytherins?"
"That, Terry, is where those three come in." Harry signaled towards the back of the room where Samantha and Ryan Johnson stood flanking Blaise Zabini. "Before any of you try to hex them, these are our newest members, Blaise Zabini, Ryan Johnson, and Samantha Johnson. If you are wondering whether or not they are trustworthy believe me they are. They have tipped me off about Draco Malfoy twice. If you see them in the halls please do not act friendly towards them, act as you would towards any Slytherin. I do not wish to blow their cover."
"Very Slytherin of you, Potter. I must say I like your plan, I didn't think a Gryffindor would have it in him to act so subtely."
"You heard the plan?" The three Slytherins nodded. "Good. This meeting is adjourned, keep your galleons close, I'll be setting up our next training session soon." Harry watched as they all filed out, only Ginny remained.
"So you wanted to test out that potion?" Harry smiled.
The next day Harry woke up with Ginny in his arms. Without waking her he took down the imperturbable charm and apparated into his own bed. He figured it wouldn't take long to find out if Dumbledore knew anything; he just took solace in the fact that he would never be expelled.
He decided that he would go into the forest with Hagrid today, but he would leave Ginny behind. There was no way he would allow her to be in such a dangerous situation. Last time Harry had been in that cave he was almost killed even though Aragog considered him a friend.
Harry sat in silence for a while, wondering how soon after the news about Malfoy spread would he see a reaction. He had the feeling that they would be coming out of the woodwork, the sooner the better. When enough time had passed Harry walked quickly and silently to Hagrid's hut. He knocked on the door three times in rapid succession before hearing Fang the boarhound barking at the door.
"Back, ye mangy mutt!" Harry recognized Hagrid's booming voice and could hear the sounds of a struggle to get Fang away from the door. After a few minutes waiting outside in the cold the door was opened. "You'll be wantin' to go see Aragog then?"
"I figured the sooner I got this out of the way the better it would be. I won't have nearly as much time on my hands once school restarts."
"Right ye are. Follow me." Hagrid led the way, carrying his enormous crossbow for protection. Harry did his best to listen and sense anything that might cause them trouble, but Hagrid was so loud it was very difficult. Harry had the strange sensation that he was being watched at one point, but he couldn't hear or see anyone or anything so he shook it off and assumed he was just a bit paranoid.
After a while Harry realized that they were almost at the cave. He ran the upcoming conversation through his head. Once again he would have to choose his words carefully, but the acromantulas were nowhere near as proud as the Centaurs, they were just more likely to eat them.
"Let me do the introductions, 'Arry, then I'll let ya do the talking." Hagrid whispered before walking into the cave. Harry followed him calmly, looking scared would only hurt his negotiations.
"Aragog?"
"Yes Hagrid, it is I. It has been a long time since you last visited me."
"I've been workin'. You've met Harry Potter, right Aragog?"
"Yes, I have met him. He came here years ago and injured many of my children escaping." Harry suddenly realized that this would be harder than he thought.
"I apologize for any harm I caused to your children, but you understand that I did not wish to be eaten."
"Yes, I understand this, friend of Hagrid. But you understand I had to let them try."
"You were upon hard times, fresh meat walks into your lair, you did what any sensible parent would do."
"You impress me, Harry Potter. You do not take any of this personally, this shows that you are…objective."
"I try, it is difficult at times." Aragog nodded his giant head in understanding. "I also did you a service in escaping." This seemed to take the spider by surprise.
"Oh? And what service was this?"
"I killed your mortal enemy. You told me that you do not speak its name, so I will respect that and refrain from using its true name as well, but you know what I speak of?"
"Yes, I know what you speak of. I knew that the castle had been cleansed of it's presence, but word never reached my ears that you were the one behind it."
"It lived in the chamber of secrets, an old chamber built underneath the school by Salazaar Slytherin. I fought the beast and slayed it with this." Just like with the Centaurs Harry withdrew his sword and drove its tip into the ground. "I've come to ask you for your assistance in battle against my mortal enemy."
"And which 'mortal enemy' is this?"
"The same wizard that set loose the beast that drove you from the castle, Lord Voldemort." Aragog looked somewhat surprised at this.
"This Voldemort you speak of set lose the monster? That is not possible, I do not know this name."
"Do you know the name Tom Riddle?" As soon as it came from his mouth Harry knew that he had struck gold. Riddle was the one that drove Aragog from the school in the first place and then framed Hagrid.
"You wish to combat this man? He is our enemy as well, and you shall have the aid of my children. I am too old to fight, but they shall go in my stead."
"Thank you, Aragog. I will do my best to return your children unharmed after the war is over. I will even consent to show you any battle plans that I may draw up to make sure you do not feel they take…unnecessary risks."
"You do not seem to be a man willing to sacrifice anyone, friend of Hagrid. But I shall be here when the time comes. You need not fear us, we will grant you passage just as we have granted Hagrid." Harry did a slight bow and walked out, leading a rather stunned looking Hagrid to catch up.