Chapter Twenty Four

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Here it is! Thanks to my reviewers. You are all so freaking awesome!

Disclaimer: insert explicative here! I don't own it…

            No less than three hundred Dementors were making their way slowly into the entrance of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Upon seeing the hooded and cloaked beings the mass of students stopped dead in their tracks. Harry felt the bottom of his stomach plummet. There was nothing in the world that he feared more than Dementors. Suddenly the icy cold feeling of unhappiness began to take him.

            Harry could hear the crying and pleading of his mother, begging Voldemort not to kill her baby. He did not know where he got the strength to push that horrid memory aside, but Harry managed to clear his head just long enough to shout "Expecto Patronum!"

            A brilliant silver stag erupted from the tip of his wand. It cantered for a moment and then ran straight at the hoard of Dementors. They were driven back outside the castle. Instantly Harry felt the icy feeling leaving him. However, it was short lived, as Harry's partonus faded very abruptly. As soon as the stag had disappeared the Dementors began their ascent of the stairs yet again.

            Harry left the icy coldness take him again. The Dementors were closing much faster than they had been previously. In fact, they were moving faster than Harry had ever seen Dementors move... Before Harry could concentrate on anything any harder, the cries of his parents filled his mind once again. He was having a hard time finding a happy memory given the situation. The cries grew louder and louder... until he thought he could bear it no more. Then, very suddenly, three of the nearest Dementors turned into Severus Snape, the potions master.

            Neville Longbottom was standing just a foot ahead of Harry, and was the closest student to the "Dementors". 'What...'

            "Bogarts!" Hermione cried, somewhere from the depths of the student mass.

            The wheels in Harry's head began to turn alarmingly fast. "Bogarts… but why? To scare us into submission?... Unless… Voldemort himself didn't know they were Bogarts…" Harry swung his head around in every which direction, in search for someone other than a student or the rapidly changing Bogarts. There! He saw a Death Eater plastered against the eastern wall of the foyer. It appeared that one of the "Dementors" had come his direction, swiftly turning into a very very large grizzly bear. Not only did the Death Eater look scared out of his wits, he looked utterly shocked. Bingo! Harry looked around again, he saw more and more shocked Death Eaters. That could only mean…

            "Riddikulus!" A deep voice from outside of the castle cried.

            Harry found it near impossible to think any further after what he heard next. More and more shouts of "Riddikulus!" filled the air. Men's voice, women's voices… and Harry had the sinking suspicion that none of these voices belonged to the Death Eaters…

            The students caught on quickly. Soon all of them were too shouting the incantation for the spell that turned their worst fear into something utterly… well… ridiculous.

            Through the quickly diminishing numbers of the Bogarts, Harry could see a handful of figures approaching the castle door. His first instinct was to stun them, slow them down, anything to get them away… but that was before he saw who it was. To the surprise of Harry, the students, and I'd say to the even larger surprise of the Death Eaters, in walked Albus Dumbledore, flanked by a small army of Hogwarts teaches. All of them looked pretty much worse for wear… but they were clearly not ready to give up any time soon.

            Dumbledore gave a simple flick of his wand and all of the Bogarts disappeared. The hall was now only full of shocked students, and enraged Death Eaters.

            For a moment no one moved. Nothing was said. It was one of the Death Eaters who foolishly broke the silence.

            "Master! Master he is here!"

            "Fool!" cried another. "Do not tell him of our follies!"

            "He will know." replied the first. "He always knows. You would have me perish? No, I will save my own skin."

            For the first time in months Harry's scar hurt. The pain could only rival when he had fought with Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries last year. He wished his head would just split open already, because that was how it felt. Harry's knees buckled and he hit the floor. The nearest Death Eater saw this was a prime opportunity to redeem himself. He lunged and grabbed Harry's cloak front. The other Death Eater's around grasped the idea and too began to snatch up students.

            Dumbledore waved his wand and the castle walls around them dissolved. Dumbledore thought that if this battle was going to take place it would take place outside of the castle with as few students as possible. Harry opened one eye weakly. He was just outside the Forbidden Forrest, along with Dumbledore, few of the teachers, all the Death Eaters, and the few students the Death Eaters had grabbed.

            "A change of scenery will do nothing for these children." a hooded Death Eater spoke. He shook the bushy haired girl in his hands.

            "Hermione!" Ron gasped.

            "Quiet you!" the Death Eater holding onto Ron clapped him firmly on the side of the head.

            "The students are not to be harmed." Dumbledore said. He sounded nothing like the Dumbledore Harry knew. Harry, however, was not concerned at the moment with how Dumbledore sounded. He was more concerned with the increasing pain in his scar. He wished the Death Eater whom was holding him would just kill him then and there.

            "Is that right?"

            "That's right." Dumbledore's tone was conversational. The teacher's all behind Dumbledore were slowly forming a circle around the Death Eaters.

            The Death Eaters were all glaring daggers at Dumbledore. None of them dare made any moves. They knew that they wouldn't have to… Their master would soon be there to make the move for them…

            "Stupefy!" Hermione shouted. Her capture fell heavily to the ground. She stood up and hastily joined the Professors in their circle. Dumbledore looked at her and was only mildly surprised. Had the situation not been so dire there would have most certainly been a smile across his lips.

            "Don't get any ideas!" A Death Eater holding up Neville hollered at him while snatching his wand out of his hand. All the other Death Eaters took this as a cue.

            "What are you going to do to us?" came an oddly familiar female voice from behind one of the hoods. "Would you really kill us Dumbledore…?"

            "There are worse things than death, Bellatrix."

            "Continuing our little conversation from last year, are you?" Everyone's heads snapped around to see the vaguely human shape of Lord Voldemort standing not ten feet away. Harry heard a sharp intake of breath and swung his head to see Ginny Weasley with her eyes wide.

            Vodemort's head swung to look at Harry, his thin lips curled into a malicious smile. The pain in Harry's head was unbearable. It was as in Voldemort was physically boring a hole into his mind.

            "Every year for the past six years, Harry, you have thwarted my plans. But not this year. This year, is going to go a little differently." Voldemort walked slowly toward the mob of teachers, students, and Death Eaters. As he drew nearer the Professors drew their wands away from Voldemort's minions and focused them on Voldemort himself. The Death Eaters took this opportunity to drop the students, who were already wandless, to the ground and lunge at the teachers.

            Remus Lupin felt something like a vice grip his wrist. He looked over his shoulder and saw the sneering face of Peter Pettigrew.

            "Hello Remus, long time no see." Peter tightened his grip on Lupin's arm. Lupin looked down at his wrist and saw the metallic shimmer or Wormtail's silver hand clenching his arm… any tighter and he was sure his wrist would…

            Ron heard a sickening crunch, and instantly recognized it as the breaking of a limb.

            Lupin cried out in pain. He suddenly felt very weak… and he was sure it wasn't from loss of blood… He sunk to the ground and lay in a heap.

            "Tom, I would have thought that coming to Hogwarts again was even beyond you." Dumbledore said, his conversational tone never wavering.

            "For years I have been trying to get Harry to come to me. I've decided it was high time I come to visit him." Voldemort was closing in fast on Harry. Harry pushed himself up into a sitting position, attempting to look Voldemort in the face, but as soon as he had managed that the pain in his scar grew so intense that he collapsed back into a heap. He saw the hem of Voldemort's robes getting closer and closer… until he was an inch away from him nose. "It's high time I repay Harry for all the pain that he has caused me." Voldemort raised his wand. Dumbledore waved his wand and Harry felt a wave of something warm wash over him. He was sure the others had felt it too.

            "Tom, I have given you fair warning." Dumbledore stated evenly.

            Voldemort brought his gaze to meet Dumbledore's. He now moved his wand in his direction. "Then I suppose there is only one thing I should do before riding the world of Dear Harry Potter…" Voldemort raised his wand, "Avada Kedavra!" There was a flash of brilliant green light and… smoke? Harry swung his head to look at Dumbledore. There he stood, perfectly erect and with a swirling orb around him.

            Voldemort looked appalled. For a minute he hesitated. But only for a minute. "I did not come here to deal with you, Dumbledore. I came fore Harry. Now I'm going to get what I came for and leave. I'm sure a few of my friends would be more than happy to deal with you." With a swish of his cloak Voldemort turned to Harry. He raised his wand. "Avada Keda-"

            "Crucio!"

            Voldemort began to writher in pain as every head on the grounds began swinging around to see who had cast one of the unforgivable curses… all but one… Remus Lupin looked toughly pleased with himself before passing out face first into the grass.

            Dumbledore seized the opportune moment of everyone looking for the attacker of Voldemort. He began to mumble something. Harry felt the warm wave flood over him again. The warm feeling quickly turned cold as it switched directions. Before anyone knew what was happening Voldemort was gone.

A/N: WAY different from what I thought it was going to be. I reread the last scene with Voldemort and Dumbledore in OotP to revamp my memory. I really wish I could have gone on for chapters and chapters with this, but I simply could not do it! I still think this turned out okay, though. Tell me what you think.