Chapter Twenty One

A/N: Muchos gracias mi reviewers! You guys are wonderful. This chapter, I hope, is up to par with the last.

Disclaimer: The only thing I own the chaos.

            The Gryffindor Prefects bustled around the castle, rousing the rest of the student body. Soon, well within a half an hour, all the students of Hogwarts (Slytherins included) were in the Great Hall and sitting at their respective tables. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna all stood in front of the High Table. The entire Great Hall was abuzz with conversation and rumors. Harry waved an arm, and all became quiet.

            "So it looks like all of the teachers are missing." he said plainly. This made the room go into hysterics. Even some of the Slytherins looked scared. "Quiet!" Harry yelled. The room went silent. "It doesn't look like the Professors will be coming back anytime soon, so we are just going to have to make the best of a bad situation. Prefects, I want-"

            "Who says you get to play Headmaster, Potter?" drawled a cold voice from the Slytherin end of the room. There were a few murmurs of agreement.

            "Oh sod off Malfoy." Ron said.

            "You better watch it-"

            "Yeah, yeah, 'mudbloods and muggle lovers first' right?" Ginny interrupted. "Honestly, you are too damn predictable."

            "So what do you suggest we do Harry?" Justin Finch-Fletchley questioned.

            "Well, we work together. We all have to work together to make this school like it was before-"

            "I say every house for itself!" Draco cried. There was much cheering from that side of the room.

            "We're doomed!" Ron groaned.

            "HOLD IT!" Every head in the Great Hall swung around to see Fred and George Weasley standing in the doorway.

            "Have no fear! The Weasleys are here!" Fred beamed at all of the surprised looking students.

            "You're going to need some adult supervision, and we're just the adults for the job!" George cried.

            "We're doomed!" Ron repeated.

            Surprisingly enough, the twins turned out to be just what the students of Hogwarts needed. Although they joked around a lot, and pulled a lot of pranks, and basically just goofed off, they were both adults; and the students listened to them. After a few minutes of hysteria that the Weasley twins were to look after them, Harry calmed the Great Hall full of Hogwarts students back down.

            "Alright, so we've got… er… adult supervision," Fred and George beamed, "now we just need to remain in an orderly fashion."

            "But what is it that we're going to do? I mean, it's not like we can just sit tight and wait for the Professors to come back, is it?" Hannah Abbot asked, a look of panic clearly written on her face.

            "Yeah, what are going to do?" Lisa Turpin of Ravenclaw echoed.

            The wheels is Harry's head began to turn faster than they ever had. What are we going to do? "We are… er… we… we are going to go on like normal. Like what we've been doing for the past couple of weeks."

            "You mean you're all just going to sit here and mope?" Pansy Parkinson said.

            "No…" Harry thought for a moment. "We're going to learn to protect ourselves. Listen, Voldemort is coming here, I know it." there was a collective gasp around the room. "We can't just sit here and wait for him to get us. When he gets here, we're going to be ready for him." Harry said very decidedly.

            "B-but, we're just students… we can't f-fight You-Know-Who!" squealed the tiny first year Madison.

            "It may feel like you can't do anything," Harry said, "But trust me, you can fight."

            "Look at what we did last year." Ginny added.

            "Yeah, we went all the way to the Ministry without the help of the teachers." Neville said.

            "We fought death eaters." Ron said, his hand unconsciously moving toward his arm where the think scars of the brain were still very apparent.

            "We put our lives on the line." Hermione told the Great Hall. "And we are still here to tell the tale. We fought with him…" Ron's mind flashed back to that night in the Ministry… Hermione had almost died… and he had been too stupid to try and save her…

            "And I know you all can too." Harry continued. "You just have to know what to expect. That's why we are here."

            "That's right!" George called out. "We're going to train you up!"

            "Make men of you!" Fred continued, jovially even under the circumstances.

            "You-Know-Who won't know what hit him." George smiled.

            Harry was a bit taken aback by the twins' behavior, but it seemed to be having a positive effect on the student body.

            "So we're going to start the DA again?" William Hartly asked, the first year boy from the first DA practice.

            "Yep." said Harry, now looking at the Slytherins. "And this time I want everyone to be there."

            "Don't hold your breath, Potter." Malfoy snarled. He stood up quickly and exited the room. Nearly all of the other Slytherins followed. There were only a handful of frightened looking first years, and bitter looking fifth years left.

            "Okay then…" Harry began, not sure what to do next.

            "We'll deal with them Harry." Fred said. "Come on George." The twins moved swiftly through the Great Hall and out of the doors in pursuit of the Slytherins.

            "Well… I guess… I… well…" Harry really had no clue as to what to do.

            "What are you waiting for?" Anderia Kent, a tall second year girl from Gryffindor said. "You-Know-Who isn't going to wait for you to train us."

            "Right." Harry said, almost in a daze. "Right! Everyone up."

            Back in his element, Harry Potter felt his confidence begin to rise. He was instructing and demonstrating every spell he had ever learned. The only thought on his mind was to get the students of Hogwarts ready for the impending battle. He knew the severity of what he was getting into. He knew that the fight between he and Voldemort had to end in a death. But at the moment, the only thing that he was concentrating on was to teach Aria Chang the Conjunctivitis Curse. It was probably for the best that teaching the students of Hogwarts was enough to occupy his mind. If Harry had been thinking about the situation he was in fully, he was sure to go insane.

            That night Harry was so tired he didn't even make it out of the common room. He fell asleep on the couch in front of the fire, and not a dream entered his mind.

            Ron and Hermione had volunteered to remain in the Great Hall for a sort of "watch". Fred and George were to relieve them around two in the morning.

            For the most part, they just sat in silence, not sure what to say in the situation. Small talk and chit chat did not seem to be appropriate when facing almost certain doom. And speaking of the almost certain doom was near taboo. So Ron brought up the only thing he saw fit for conversation, being able to bear the silence no more.

            "Hermione?" he asked as they sat on top of the Gryffindor table watching the door.

            "Yes Ron?" she said, not looking at him.

            "You remember last year?"

            "How could I forget?" she said, almost bitterly.

            "Well… I… I just wanted to say that I was sorry."

            "Sorry for what?"

            "Well, last year."

            "What about last year?" Hermione, who usually understood things right from the beginning, was becoming a little upset by Ron's code-like speech.

            "You know, in the Ministry… in the Department of Mysteries…"

            "How are you apologizing for that?"

            "Well not apologizing for going… It's about when… with the brain… and you…"

            "Ron, are trying to apologize for being attacked by that brain?"

            "Well, I suppose you could say that, yes." Ron began to trace the thin lines on his arm with a finger. "What I mean to say is… I'm sorry it happened… I'm sorry that I left you the way you were."

            "Ron-"

            "I mean, you could have died, and I was too stupid to do anything."

            Hermione turned to look at her best friend. "Ron, it wasn't your fault. You don't have to apologize."

            "I just don't want to almost loose you again." Ron said quietly. "It's just that… with what's going on now… I've been thinking… just how close I am to loosing you… and Harry." he added Harry's name quickly as an afterthought.

            Hermione smiled. "I'm not going anywhere, Ron… and neither is Harry." she added also quickly as an afterthought, while placing her hand on Ron's arm, over the scars.

            Ron placed his hand over hers. "Good."

A/N: So? What do you think? The Weasley twins in charge? What a scary thought. I know all Ron/Hermione fans are wishing to beat me over the head with a heavy and blunt object, but I don't want to rush the relationship. This particular fic is very close to being finished. Before it is over, I promise to you all, that something will happen to your liking, okay?