Chapter Twenty Three
A/N: Chapter Twenty Two was by far my most reviewed chapter. That must mean I'm doing something right! Honestly, I was quite stuck for a while, so I read a lot. By the way, read everything by Dana Whelks. She is super talented. I highly suggest that if you like this story to read hers.
Disclaimer: We all know I don't own it!
Harry sat in the same spot he had been for the past couple of hours. Nothing could make him move. He felt as though he were being pushed around by an unfriendly surf. Different waves of emotion kept crashing over him, engulfing him fully for a moment before tossing him back onto the shore.
The fact that none of this was in his hands anymore struck him very suddenly, and very hard. He knew that he no longer had the power to do anything. He would just have to sit and ride it out. There were no more classes he could call, no more orders he could give. Nothing else he could do could prepare him anymore. All there was left to do was sit and wait…
"Harry!" Ron wailed as he and Hermione came sprinting in through the Great Hall doors. "Here! Now! They're here now!"
Harry jumped up immediately. "Sonorus." he said, magically amplifying his voice. "Everyone! Positions, now!"
Instantly there was complete and utter chaos. Students were running every which direction. People crashed into each other. Screams were heard all around.
"Just get going!" Harry yelled.
They needed no other invitation. After a few seconds of panic the Great Hall was empty of those all fifth year and above.
"This is it." Harry said more to himself than anyone else.
"This is it." Hermione repeated, clutching Ron's hand.
"This…"
"Is it…" Fred and George said somberly.
There was silence. No one moved. No one spoke. No one breathed. Completely and utterly nothing happened…
BANG!
The whole castle shook. Portraits swung dangerously. The tables slid a good three feet. And all of those in the Great Hall were flung with great force into the back wall.
BANG!
The castle shook even more violently. Students who had managed to stand up were now on their backs. Harry heard Neville moan beside him and saw that someone's elbow had connected cleanly with his now broken nose. The thought of Neville hurting himself before the battle even began would have been very funny, had they not been facing said battle at that very moment.
BANG!
A third and final banging sound shook the castle, causing all the tables to jerk violently from their sitting positions and into the wall opposite. With a great crashing force, beams fell from the ceiling of Hogwarts. It was at that exact moment that most of the students realized what Harry, Ron, and Hermione had learned not so long ago: that Hogwarts was not untouchable.
Again, all was silent. Harry squinted through the dust that had begun to form clouds in the Great Hall. The Hall, aside from loosing two or three structural beams, seemed untouched… seemed being the operative word. At the exact moment the dust cleared the top corner of the Great Hall lifted off as easily as would the lid of a cookie jar.
All of the students gaped up at the devastation that had been wracked upon their school… if Voldemort could do that to a solid stone structure that had withstood centuries and centuries and wear and tear, what could be do to them?
The "stone lid" of the Great Hall was then flung from sight. The next image any of the students of Hogwarts saw was one that all had hoped never to see, and one that few before them had. Death Eaters began descending through the hole they had created.
Harry stood up instantly and held out his wand. "Petrificus Totalus!" he cried, successfully stopping the front two Death Eaters.
The students began to slowly gather their bearings and too began shouting similar incantations to stop or slow their attackers. The only problem was, that for every one Death Eater they stunned or petrified, three more came out of the opening.
"Run!" Harry brilliantly advised. "Try to get them away from the castle!" That idea had never occurred to him before that very moment, and he was slightly too busy to reprimand himself.
All the students, as if one body, made a move for the Great Hall doors. They were wide open, and very inviting. Students ran, sprinted, stunned, and hexed their way to the doors.
One Death Eater who had just narrowly escaped a jelly-legs jinx raised his wand at the backs of the retreating students. "Ava-"
"Silencio!" Hermione cried, cutting the Death Eater to the chase. His mouth moved wordlessly.
Miraculously all of the students made it into the foyer. Just as soon as they had though, the massive doors of the castle open. There, standing silhouetted by thin moonlight, was a sight to chill a person's very core… or their soul as the case may or may not be.
A/N: Super short I know, and after such a long wait! I'm just still working out how I want thins fight to go. I want to make it as believable as possible and not have it feel like I've written it, you know? Anyone of you out there who aren't please with their writing style know what I'm talking about.