In which Tabitha spends a day planning her demise

Or

In which Tabitha tickles a pear

Chapter nine:

He opened the door, and walked right in. I timidly followed.

There was a white two seater table in the middle of the room, couches surrounding, with numerous bookshelves, with everything but books on them. The room was almost big enough to fit everybody and their grandmother.

He sat down and pulled out the chair beside him. He stretched out a large piece of parchment and secured the corners with paperweights.

He turned to me, holding a non-inked quill in his hand.

"We've got to plan out an order of attack." He said, with a tone of finality to his voice.

I nodded, and looked at the notes he had made during the meeting.

17 dragons

116 Aurors

326 goblins

26 curse breakers

25 werewolves (excluding Bill)

I stopped reading, and looked up.

"Bill's a werewolf?" I asked.

Harry shook his head. "Only partially. He was attacked by one last year."

I nodded, and continued.

98 ministry employees

179 ordinary witches and wizards.

I snickered at the last one.

Ordinary? Heh.

42 spiders

Strength and Stamina from Unicorns

37 Crups

"Harry, what are Crups?"

"Small dogs with forked tails. They don't like muggles. Or dark wizards for that matter."

I nodded and moved on.

57 Doxies

"Doxies?" I asked.

"They look like Fire. 4 arms and 4 legs. They have a lethal bite."

87 Dugbogs

I didn't have time to ask Harry, he just answered.

"They're tiny wood-like creatures. They'll damage their ankles really bad, and hopefully cause them to loose their wands when they fall."

I moved on.

19 Phoenixes

9 Griffins

Buckbeak and five other Hippogriffs

20 Threstrals

1 Fluffy

"fluffy?" I asked, puzzling over the odd name.

"Hagrid's 3 headed dog. He's huge."

Below the larger list, he had made two smaller ones. One labeled 'Swift' and one 'Charms'.

Swift:

Seamus Finnigan

Dean Thomas

Katie Bell (OS)

Angelina Johnson (OS)

Alicia Spinnet (OS)

Ginny Weasley

Terry Boot

Padma Patil

Hannah Abbot

Charms:

Lavender Brown

Parvati Patil

Fred and George Weasley (OS)

Oliver Wood (OS)

Ginny Weasley

Lisa Turpin

Cho Chang

Penelope Clearwater(OS)

Ernie Macmillan

Blaise Zambini

I looked up at Harry, "Are these the lists your going to give to Dumbledore?"

He nodded.

We then planned out a order of attack. Four Groups of Dragons would be in the air, along with ten groups of Phoenixes, and three of Hippogriffs. The Dugbogs would be the starting line up, Followed by four troops of Spiders, four troops of doxies, four troops of Crups, and two troops of Goblins.

Third line of Defense: Three large groups of Aurors, Two groups on the outside of swift students, five groups of Doxies, six groups of ordinary witches and wizards, four groups of Griffins, four groups of Ministry employees, Two groups of Order members, Two groups of werewolves, Two groups of Threstrals, and Grawp.

Fourth Line of defense: Five groups of curse-breakers, Four large groups of Goblins, two groups of werewolves, Two groups of Spiders, Three groups of griffins, Two groups of Dragons, two groups of student animaguses, (led by adult ones), three groups of ministry employees, Two groups of Order members, four groups of Crups, and our group: Harry, me, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Professor Snape (who would be switching over to our side in the middle of the war.)

In our Fifth line of defense came: Four groups of Doxies, Five groups of ordinary witches and wizards, Two groups of ministry employees, four groups of Order members, three groups of Aurors, two groups of swift students, two groups of werewolves, Two groups of Curse Breakers, and Fluffy.

The teachers would be spread out wherever they saw fit, along with anyone else who showed up. We knew we would be hearing back from other countries to see if they would be sending any forces, so we left several blank spots, just in case.

We had spent our whole afternoon upstairs in that room, planning out our demise. What a wonderful way to spend it.

Harry seemed to sense my unease as we made our way to Dumbledore's office.

"Are you okay Tabby?" he asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, smiling. Of course.

He stopped and stood in front of me, both hands on my shoulders.

"Tabitha. Are. You. Okay?" he said. Wow. I didn't know eyes could bore so deep.

I nodded, and he shook his head, but kept walking anyways.

"If you ever need to talk, you can always come to me, alright? I let myself read way into things, not trusting anyone, telling myself I was all alone. And it took me a long time to get out of that rut. I don't want you falling there. It's a horrible place. Please tell me if you're okay or not. The truth."

He stopped again, turning to look at me and wait for my answer.

I took a small breath, and blew it out. "No."

He nodded, "Good."

We sat in front of Dumbledore. His office had left no trace of the large amount of people who had been in it earlier, and I was starting to wonder if we had actually been in Dumbledore's office at all.

"You two were sure precise about everything, weren't you?" He said, the twinkle in his eye growing.

Harry nodded, "We left room for anyone else though, people from other countries. I know we may not even have enough room on the grounds for all of these people. But hey, backup is great."

Dumbledore nodded, pasting the plans on his desk.

"I think these will do. Thank you, Harry, Tabitha. I'm glad someone has their heads on straight. You've saved me time and galleons. Have you two eaten?"

We shook our heads.

"I presume you know how to get to the kitchens, do you not Harry?"

Harry nodded. "I'm craving a pear."

Dumbledore shook his head, "I hate pears. But I'm betting a pear will do you good." He chuckled. I was beginning to think they had some kind of code going on here.

Harry noticed my confused expression and said, "You'll see."

"Goodnight Professor." We said as we left his office.

"Goodnight, my dears."

"Tickle the pear, Tabby." Harry instructed.

"The pear?" I said, pointing to a nearby portrait.

"Yes. That pear."

I touched it, and began to stroke the topside.

Something giggled as a door swung open.

The room we swept into held few tables, chairs, and two doors. As soon as we entered, both doors opened as elves filed out. At least I thought they were elves. They were shrunken, wrinkled, big eared…things. So, according to Ginny's description of elves, that was what I christened them.

"Sir is back! Harry Potter, sir, is back at Hogwarts. With a Misses! Harry Potter with a Misses!"

An elf was clinging to Harry's legs. He was very unlike the rest of them. He adorned a Ski hat, numerous socks, and a tea cozy.

"Hello Dobby. Tabitha, this is Dobby. Dobby, this is-

"MISSUS TABITHA! How WONDERFULL. Dobby is very glad you're here. Yes he is. He is very."

"How's Winky, Dobby?"

Dobby's voice went very low, "Winky is no longer with us, Harry Potter sir. Master Dumbleydore decided it was best for Winky to go to another Master. She's living with Sir and Missus Lupin.

Harry scrunched his eyebrows together, "What's their names, Dobby?"

Dobby stood up, fixing his lopsided tea cozy, "Remus and Nymphadora. But Missus Nymphadora does not like that name. She likes Tonks."

Harry coughed. "I'm sorry, did you mean to say that they're living together."

Dobby nodded, "Just moved in, I think."

Harry nodded, face puzzled. "Alright then Dobby. Do you think you could fix Tabitha and I something to eat?"

Dobby quickly brought out a pork roast, surrounded by roasted vegetables and a side of toast and cheese.

We finished eating quickly, and ran upstairs before the curfew bell sounded.

The Fat lady's portrait swung open, and I immediately found Ron, taking a nap on the couch.

I walked over and jumped on top of him, laying my head on his chest. The position didn't last for long, because Ron woke up, and sat up, startled, throwing me onto the floor.

"BLOODY HELL!"

I giggled from the soft rug beneath the coffee table.

He ducked his head down, peering at me through half-closed eyes.

"Why are you beneath the table?"

"'cause that's where you threw me."

He raised his eyebrows and helped me up, pulling me to sit across his lap.

"So." He said, looking at me for an explanation.

"I think I spent the afternoon planning my death."

Ron shook his head and wrapped his arms around me.

"Nah. You planned mine."

I frowned, "That's not nice."

"it is if you see it from my perspective."

I turned around in his arms, "That makes no sense whatsoever."

"I'd die before I'd let you get hurt. Therefore, it is nice."

I rolled my eyes, "That was sooooo corny."

His face fell.

"But very, very sweet." I added, placing head in the crook of his shoulder.