Malfoy, Dolohov and Lastrange all writhed in pain on the floor as Voldemort stood over them in a towering rage and said, "How could you all have failed me? I sent you with a sufficient number of death eaters to flatten Hogsmeade. There should have been enough death and devastation to keep the Ministry of Magic busy for months combing through the rubble."

"Please, master," Bellatrix pleaded. "We met heavy resistance. We did all we could."

"What resistance?" Voldemort snarled. "I made sure the aurors were occupied elsewhere. There is no way they could have gotten there in time to stop you."

"It was the students master," Dolohov gasped.

"The students?" Voldemort asked as he intensified the pain. "Are you telling me that the heart of my army was defeated by a bunch of students?"

"It was Potter, my Lord," Malfoy screamed.

The pain stopped almost immediately as Voldemort walked over and bent down to where Malfoy laid and asked softly, "What of him? He had better not have been permanently injured in the battle."

"He wasn't touched, my master," Malfoy said as he gasped to catch his breath. "Just as you ordered. But the other students he has been training in his D.A have become formidable fighters."

"How is that possible?" Voldemort asked. "My reports of this D.A. tell me that they have only met a handful of times all year. Would you have me believe that Harry has managed to train them to face the power I wield so quickly? I have trained my death eaters for years to make them the most powerful army in the world. Harry couldn't have possibly done it."

"Master," Malfoy said as he got to his knees. "I spoke to Harry myself just before we apparated back here. He wanted me to deliver a message to you."

"Really," Voldemort said with curiosity. "What could he have to say to me."

"He said to tell you that he is ready for you, my master," Malfoy said fearing that he may be struck down in pain at any time. "He said that if you don't come to find him, then he will come to find you."

Voldemort was silent for a time before the death eaters cringed as he let out a sound they could only assume was supposed to be laughter.

"The foolishness of youth," Voldemort said. "He will run head first into a battle with me, and not realize the power I can bring to bear on him."

"He believes he does know how powerful you are, my Lord," Malfoy said. "He told me that in his own words."

"The fool," Voldemort said. "I will prove my power to him soon enough. His confidence will be his undoing. He won't have to wait long. Soon everything will be in place for the final battle with Harry. First though, we need to make a plan to break those captured out of Azkaban. I will need all of my death eaters if we are to destroy Hogwarts."

"We have another problem, master," Malfoy said. "Draco has turned against us."

"Has he now?" Voldemort asked with a slight grin. "Let me guess. He's fallen in love with the American witch."

"He says he has," Malfoy said as rage boiled within him.

"What do you propose to resolve that situation?" Voldemort asked.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's no son of mine," Malfoy said. "He's turned against everything he's been raised to believe. I would have killed him myself if Potter hadn't interfered."

"Don't worry, Lucius," Voldemort said. "I've suspected his loyalty was wavering for some time now. I'll see to it that he's taken care of. Antonin."

"Yes, master," Dolohov said.

"It's time to send another message to your nephew," Voldemort said. "Tell him to forget about the Weasley girl for now. I want Draco dead by the end of the next week. See to it that he doesn't fail me this time."

"I'll tell him, master," Dolohov said. "He won't fail again."

"He had better not," Voldemort said menacingly.

Harry walked back through the gates of Hogwarts as the sun was setting. He had a good portion of the D.A with him, and periodically they would stop and stare back towards Hogsmeade. They couldn't see the city itself, but the floating representation of Harry's head was still easily visible as it glowed brightly in the darkening skies.

It hadn't been easy for Harry to sneak out of Hogsmeade. He had to use the D.A. members as a shield to avoid the reporters and photographers from the Daily Prophet who had come to cover the events of the day. It hadn't been easy, but he had made it back to Hogwarts without being stopped. Or so he thought.

"Harry Potter," Professor McGonagal said in her usual stern way from the steps to the castle. "Come with me please. The Headmaster would like to speak to you."

Harry hadn't really thought of getting in trouble for what had happened in Hogsmeade. How could they blame him for it. He didn't ask the death eaters to attack. He hadn't even been there when it started. Then he remembered the injured students. They were all in the D.A. It was very likely that Dumbledore had gotten a few owls from angry parents. They had to have someone to blame after all. Harry was the most logical choice.

"Ah," Dumbledore said as Professor McGonagal opened the door for Harry to enter the Headmaster's office. "Come in, Harry."

"If you don't need me any more, Headmaster," McGonagal said, "I'll go see if I can be any help to Professor Flitwick."

"Thank you, Minerva," Dumbledore said. "I think he would appreciate your assistance. Well, Harry. You've had an eventful day."

"Yes, sir," Harry said still not able to tell if he was in trouble or not.

"How was the café?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry hesitated for a second before he said, "It was great. Ginny and I had a great time there."

"Did you get a chance to go by and look at the villa?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Harry responded. "We both fell in love with the place as soon as we saw it."

"I had a feeling you would," Dumbledore said with a smile. "You are fortunate enough to have a former Hogwarts Herbology professor living next door. She's been tending to the grounds of the villa for you for years just in case you came by. She was a close friend of your parents while they were there."

"I'll have to thank her the next time I'm there," Harry said. "The grounds are beautiful."

"She'll be happy to hear that you liked it," Dumbledore said. "I was under the impression that you were planning to spend the entire day there. What made you come back so early?"

"The death eaters were attacking Hogsmeade," Harry said not sure why Dumbledore didn't already understand that.

"How did you know that though?" Dumbledore asked. "There was no way anyone could have gotten a message to you so quickly, yet you were able to arrive even before the aurors."

"I got the message through this," Harry said showing Dumbledore his ring. "It gets warm when a message is coming through. The stone changes color to tell us what the situation is, and the location prints on the band."

"Fascinating," Dumbledore said as he studied the ring. "A contribution from Miss Granger I suppose."

"She's the brightest witch of her age," Harry said.

"Some would say that the brightest wizard is Harry Potter," Dumbledore said, causing something to catch Harry attention out of the corner of his eye.

Harry couldn't believe it. Professor Dumbledore had one of Fred and George's ministry models on a shelf in his office.

"It's an entertaining little gadget isn't it?" Dumbledore asked, as he gave no indication that he wanted to say the word that would shut it off. "From my balcony, I saw that we now have a life size model of that floating over Hogsmeade as we speak."

"To my everlasting shame," Harry said as he shook his head.

"Another of Hermione's contributions?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Harry admitted. "Sometimes she's too smart for her
own good."

"Perhaps just smart enough," Dumbledore said. "I'm sorry that you can't see what a great thing she's done for the wizarding world today. By tomorrow, the pictures of that head above Hogsmeade will be on the front page of every copy of the Daily Prophet. The hope it will spread would be impossible to measure."

"Is it a false hope though?" Harry asked. "There's no guarantee that I'll be the one that wins when we finally battle. What happens if I lose?"

"Then the fight will go on," Dumbledore said. "The hope that they get from you now should be cultivated to it's fullest just in case you do lose. That is when the hope will turn to inspiration. The whole of the wizarding world would stand up and fight in your memory if it came to that."

"Let's just hope it won't come to that," Harry said.

"Speaking of inspiration," Dumbledore said looking over his glasses at Harry. "I hear that the aurors were quite impressed with the fighting prowess of your students."

"Not nearly as impressed as I was," Harry said.

"I just have a small favor to ask," Dumbledore said. "In the future, if you plan to teach advanced magic to the younger students, would you please warn them not to try to use it before they have mastered it."

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Apparently some of the first years got the message about the battle through their rings," Dumbledore explained. "In an attempt to get to the battle, they attempted to apparate to the edge of the school grounds. Needless to say, their aim needs some work. Students have turned up in some of the strangest places. As we speak, Professors Flitwick and McGonagal are trying to free one young man who managed to apparate into a painting. They've tried to get him to apparate back out again, but he's so shaken up he's swearing he'll never try to apparate again."

"Maybe I could go and talk to him," Harry said with a grin.

"I think that may be exactly what he needs," Dumbledore said with a grin of his own.