CHAPTER 35: Purges

Harry went over the plan with all of the Gryffindor members of the DA. It would be relatively even fight, as far as numbers went anyway. With any luck the Room of Requirement would give him what he needed to keep the other members safe during the fight. He knew that most of the members would need to be laying in wait in the room. The rest of the members would have to be outside the room to make sure they couldn't escape.

Before the meeting tonight he would get in contact with Nearly Headless Nick and let him know there was something he may want to check out just after seven. This way there would be a witness to see the attack. Harry didn't want these students to get off just because they didn't have an impartial witness. The only problem with this part of the plan was that the fight would need to be ended as quickly as possible so Nick wouldn't be able to get to the teachers in time to break it up. Every student loyal to Voldemort needed to be captured.

Harry made his way down to breakfast after meeting up with Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Harry thought it best that they stick together just in case some Slytherin got over anxious and tried to hex them before tonight. Harry sincerely hoped not, more because it may cause them to delay their plans than because he feared they would cause him harm. Just before reaching the Great Hall the four ran into the Gryffindor ghost. Harry asked the fat friar to give them a few minutes and led Nick down a deserted hallway.

"May I ask what it is you are doing, Harry?"

"Nick I need you to do me a favor. At seven tonight a bunch of students are going to be attacking me by the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. I need you to be there to witness the attack." Nick's eyes went wide and he gasped.

"But surely if you know they are going to attack you there than it would be easier to just not go." Harry smiled.

"Easier yes, but I want them to attack. I set up an ambush for them and we are more than capable of handling ourselves. I just need a witness to tell Dumbledore exactly what happened."

"And what, exactly, is going to happen?"

"There is going to be a DA meeting tonight when a bunch of Voldemort loyalists attack. Luckily for us we were better trained and a few students were running late. When those students saw what was going on they rushed in and it pretty much saved us." Nick committed this information to memory before looking back at Harry.

"You were probably the first student to show me much respect when you agreed to come to my deathday party in your second year. I still owe you for that, so I'll do it." Harry thanked him before rejoining his friends in the hall for breakfast.

"Everyone seems so tense." Hermione observed as Harry sat down and grabbed some bacon.

"That's because nearly everyone knows about the battle coming up." Harry silenced Ron with a look, there could be no mention of the upcoming fight in public.

When they finished eating the four Gryffindors were joined by the other Gryffindor DA members in their common room. They all seemed tense and sat in relative silence. Most, Harry knew, were going over everything he had taught them the past two years. Harry, however, was talking quietly with Ron about how to handle the battle tactics. They decided exactly where the teams would be hidden. The main of the DA would be waiting inside the room of requirement concealed behind any equipment the room would provide. Harry would lead a second, smaller team that would converge on their attackers as soon as they reached the doorway. This way they would be fighting on two sides and unable to concentrate their power.

The day passed slower than any day Harry could remember. After finalizing the teams he went back into his room to review his spell books. He picked up the Book of Merlin and flipped through it. It was too late to learn any new spells but Harry wanted to have all of the knowledge at his finger tips. He only wished that he had spent some more time practicing firing spells with his left hand and made a mental note to do that after the battle.

Finally, at five o'clock Harry began to get ready. He strapped on his sword in case he was put in a life and death situation, loaded both his wands into their holster, and grabbed the marauder's map. He tested each wand holder a few times before making his way out to the common room where the other DA members were waiting anxiously. He looked around the room at all of the determined faces and walked silently out of the common room, his friends in tail.

The group of Gryffindors walked in silence through the hall until they reached the Room of Requirement. Harry opened the door and peered inside, just in case the Slytherins had bumped up the schedule and were lying in wait. The only people in the room, however, were the Hufflepuffs. Harry smiled at them and they put their wands back down. Harry could see they were jumpy. Out of all the students in the DA not many were really battle tested. Harry was going to be depending on the group that went with him to the Department of Mysteries to help everyone else.

After a few minutes of waiting in silence the Ravenclaws showed up. Harry saw that, just like everyone else, they were scared but determined. Luna seemed to be the only one unaffected by the strain as she still seemed to be living in her own dream world. Harry began to wonder if the three Slytherins would be able to show up when the door opened again. The whole room raised their wands but Ryan Johnson poked his head in.

"Hey there, guys." He said in a relaxed voice. He opened the door all the way and led his sister in. Unlike him she seemed very nervous. "Harry, can we talk?" Harry followed him to the corner of the room. "Blaise wanted me to let you know that he is leading the Slytherins here. He was the only one who really knew how to get here so Nott 'ordered' him to. He wants you to know that it may be a good idea to stun him along with the rest of the attackers."

"I had already thought of that. If any were to escape I wouldn't want to blow his cover. "Where do you prefer to fight, inside or out?" Ryan looked back to the middle of the room where Samantha stood with the rest of the DA.

"Where will the most fighting be?"

"It'll be even but there will be a lot less of us outside."

"I'll be outside then; I assume I'll be fighting alongside you?" Harry grinned.

"You assume correctly."

"One thing, though." Harry waited for him to continue. "I want my sister to be outside with me. I know you guys are good but I want to be able to protect her myself. If she's stuck inside and things go bad she'll be stuck, outside she'll have a chance to escape." Harry nodded in agreement.

"You got it." Harry walked back to the middle of the room and faced the students. "In fifteen minutes thirty students will try to walk through that door and fight us. They don't stand a chance. They don't have the skill, they're relying on taking us by surprise, but we're ready. Just remember everything you've learned and you'll be fine. If any of you are having any doubts than you can leave, I won't think any less of you for it." Harry waited but no one moved. Ryan was grinning widely at him. "We'll be working with two teams, the main force will be in here. Ron and Hermione will be in charge. I'm going to take a smaller group and wait for them outside. As soon as they hit the door we'll open fire and trap them in a cross fire. Do your best not to hurt any of them, just remember I'd rather them get hurt than any of you. I'd suggest stunners and summoning their wands to take them out of the fight, but I guess its up to you. The contingent I'm leading outside will be me, Ryan Johnson, Samantha Johnson, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ernie Macmillan, and Zacharias Smith. The rest of you find something to hide behind." Many of the students looked around for the first time and realized that the room had provided many low walls, tables, and suits of armor to hide behind.

It was then that Nearly Headless Nick showed up, gliding through the doorway. It startled Harry to realize that the battle was so close, but in a way it was nice the waiting was about to come to an end.

"Sir Nick, follow me." Harry opened the door and led Nick and the other seven students out into the hallway. Ryan pointed out which way Blaise was planning to bring the Slytherins. Harry and the others hid far down the other alley and cast disillusionment charms on themselves. Nick went invisible so the intruders wouldn't get scared and turn around.

After a few minutes Harry could hear the footsteps of approaching students. He immediately concentrated on Hermione.

They're here, be ready.

The next few seconds took an eternity. Harry saw the masked figures marching through the hallway and realized that they had been preparing for something like this. They definitely didn't have masks and hooded cloaks laying around for the hell of it. At least this way, Harry surmised, it would be easier to tell who to hex. They were opening the door, half of them were inside.

"NOW!" Harry whispered in a harsh voice. The eight Students jumped out and started throwing curses at the assailants. Almost ten of the masked figures fell before they could even react. Harry knew that the longer the fight went on the better chance the death eater wannabe's had of surviving. Not only that but Nick had just sped off to get a teacher and Harry wanted every one caught by the time they arrived.

Harry was casting spells without speaking, making it impossible for the trapped students to sense him. A bright blue light shot over his shoulder and caught one of his team. He heard an expulsion of breathe and a body hit the floor. Almost all of the attackers in the hallway were down so Harry told Samantha to stay behind the group and summon their wands. Harry kept moving forwards, towards his target as jets of light streaked by him on all sides. The disillusionment charms were working perfectly and only one other of his team was hit. The remaining two masked figures were hiding behind the door firing curse after curse at them. Harry could hear the sounds of fighting coming from inside and new the quicker they dealt with those two the quicker he could help his friends inside. Harry slid his wand back into his holster before flicking his wrist and drawing his new wand. He leveled it at the door and fired a redactor curse at it. The door exploded with such force that the two students taking cover behind it were thrown across the far wall and didn't get up. Harry lifted the disillusionment spell and ran into the room of requirement. Stunned students were laying everywhere. There were three masked students left crouching behind a section of partially destroyed wall. A few DA members were laying unconscious, sprawled in strange positions. Luckily the three masked students didn't see Harry enter. He leveled his wand once again and sent a stunner at the center one. All three students were thrown against the wall and fell unconscious.

"CLEAR!" Harry yelled, looking around for Ron and Hermione. Hermione seemed ok but Ron had seen better days. He had a black eye, cut lip, and seemed to have a dislocated shoulder. A few other students had some blood on them and some were out cold, but nobody had any life threatening injuries.

Harry went back into the hall to find his two fallen team members. He saw that Zacharias Smith was out cold but would be fine. Neville, however, looked pretty bad. He was unconscious and bleeding from a cut above his left eye. Luna was sitting over him, trying to stop the bleeding, but her attempts were no good. Harry knelt down next to his friend after re-holstering his wand. He closed his eyes and put his hands to Neville's cut. He concentrated hard on the wound and soon a soft white glow emanated from the hand. It was just like when McClaggan had healed his bloody nose after getting hit by Harry. Only this time it didn't work.

"Get him to Madame Pomfrey, now!" He ordered a sobbing Luna. She wiped her tears and nodded.

"He saved me. That curse was heading straight at me and he cut in front of it. I wasn't going to be able to block it." Harry put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She magicked Neville's body onto a stretcher and led him off towards the hospital wing.

"What in the name of Merlin is going on here?"

"Dumbledore can you alert Madame Pomfrey that she will soon have a few students to look after. The most serious injury seems to be Neville, he was hit by a curse and we haven't been able to stop the bleeding." Dumbledore eyed Harry suspiciously. "NOW!" He sprung into action and shot something silver out of the end of his wand which sped off down the hall like a ghostly bird.

"Would you care to tell us what happened here?" Dumbledore asked quietly, surveying the destruction.

"Let me take care of them first before we talk." Harry motioned to the students who were still either unconscious or nursing injuries. Harry walked past Dumbledore and over to a group of students. He asked some of them to get the injured students to the hospital wing while the others rounded up the attackers and bound them in a corner. He made sure they checked for hidden wands or weapons before enervating them. After five minutes Harry returned to Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and McClaggan.

"I'll give you a brief overview of what happened but I'm sure you'll want to go over the details with your own house members." Harry started, realizing that aside from Dumbledore and McClaggan each teacher was the head of a house. A flutter of movement caught Harry's eye and he excused himself once more.

"Take off their masks and make a note of who the students are. As soon as you find Blaise clean him up and let him go." He told Ernie Macmillan quietly before returning to the teachers.

"Sorry about that. Now, on to business. We were having a DA meeting here when we were attacked by these students." Harry waved casually over to the bound and gagged students in the corner. "We defended ourselves quite nicely but suffered a few casualties, those students are on their way to Madame Pomfrey if they haven't already arrived in the hospital wing. I'm sure you'll be wanting to…get rid of the students who attacked us so we will leave you to that. I'm going to see about the rest of the DA, after which I'll answer any more questions you may have. I hope you can also wait to question them until everyone has been checked out." Harry made to move away from the group but Dumbledore stopped him.

"We need to speak in my office." Harry turned around and looked at him impatiently.

"That doesn't surprise me. However I have friends to take care of and you have a job to do, so it will have to wait."

"And what job might that be, Harry?"

"Unless you want me to keep custody of them I'm sure you'll want to take and question the group of students who attacked us. I'm sure you'll need to wait too hear from the DA before expelling them but I'm sure you will expel them." With that Harry turned his back on the stunned professors and returned to the work at hand. He noticed that McClaggan was the only teacher left smiling.