Battle Cry
Chapter 7
"...back again tonight with our dashingly handsome regular, Rodent!"
"Rodent?" Came one of the Weasley twin's appalled voice, the indignant sound filling the air of our tent, located nearly 300 miles south of the Burrow-where allegedly, Harry had been sighted. We had resided here for several days now in a magically extended-interior tent-in other words, from the outside it looked quite a bit smaller than the inside.
There was enough room for Ginny and me to be stretched out on our stomachs on the floor between the two sets of bunk beds, listening to Lee Jordan announce Potterwatch from the inside of our own protection-encased tents. "I'm not being 'rodent,' no way, I told you I wanted to be rapier!"
"Oh, all right then, Rapier, could you please tell our devoted listeners on the resistance at Hogwarts, and where it's leading for a few of these students?"
I grinned at Ginny, anticipating what will be said about us next.
"Sure I can, River. As I'm sure most of you are aware, not only the Ministry, the Prophet, and other various businesses being controlled by these charming Death Eaters, but Hogwarts is as well. With Severus Snape as headmaster, he rules with fear and violence, mainly using torture as punishment and attempting to crush all opposition to his way of...teaching. If you can call it that. However, Dumbledore's Army, which we know is like a Hogwarts version of the Order of the Phoenix, had recently come up with a mission. Well, two members have, to be precise...we have their permission to disclose to you their plan, although names and places will be kept secret for the sake of everyone. For you listeners who belong to the DA, this may come as a bit of a shock. So without further ado-what better help to the cause of Death Eater resistance is there than Harry Potter? That's exactly what Lightning and Thunder think, our daring dare-devils on the mission!" I smiled at the code names Fred had given us. "So this Christmas holidays, these two students will be attempting to find Harry Potter. Just to bring back news that the man with the lightning scar and his two friends, Ron and Hermione, are still out there and fighting, just as we should be doing in any way we can. Thunder and Lightning are risking their safety just to bring hope to those resisting, people, so keep them in your prayers. We now turn back to River, who will be giving pointers on how to keep yourself and your family safe in dark times..."
We listened for a while longer, in between making up our beds and stirring a pot of runny soup.
"...next password will be "Hedwig." Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Good night."
"That was good, wasn't it? I wonder how many people listen," I commented, drinking up my last bit of soup which was, though flavorless, very filling. I wondered if Draco knew I was listening-would he know I was one of the two?
The next day, Ginny and I searched the wooded area of forest, so far with no sign of life. Every "Homenun Revelio" had proven worthless-we were about to accept that we were the only two humans in the area.
"-is where those three were sighted, ain't it?"
"Course it is, you imbecile! Why d'you think we're here? And think of all the gold them Death Eaters promised if we find 'em!"
I cursed under my breath-they were close. Close enough that I could heard their boots crunching on dead leaves and ice as they walked past the snow-covered bush I had thrown myself into when I'd first heard them approaching. I knew what those two men were, probably-snatchers. I started to worry, probing my brain for where I had last seen Ginny.
The snatchers seemed dumb, but they would do anything for hold, and were ruthless-these particular men seemed to be searching for Harry, Ron, and Hermione, like many of them, but the majority of them were bent on rounding up muggleborns and blood traitors on the run.
If they happened to stumble upon the vicinity of our tent-well, it was only surrounded by disillusionment charms. No physical boundaries of any kind, so when Ginny and I left the bubble, we could find it again only be looking for the landmadk we'd established.
"'Ay...JJ...you 'ear somethin'?" I froze, heart hammering wildly. Had they heard the twig I snapped as I'd reached for my wand? I couldn't afford to move any more, to retrieve my wand completely; my hand stayed frozen in mid-air.
"Nah...just your imagination, you've been jumpy all mornin', Bailey..."
The hairs on the nape of my neck stood up, a sensation I sometimes got when I was being watched.
I slowly forced myself to turn my head one millimeter at a time, pure terror pounding through my veins-I almost cried with relief when I saw it was Ginny, and not JJ and Bailey, their wands pointed at me.
She brought her finger quietly to her lips, looking to where I was crouched, hunched over on my knees.
She quietly shifted over to me, whispering-
I dropped my wand, and they're getting closer to-"
"Oi Bailey, where'd you go?"
"I'm right here, jackass! Right in front of your face!"
Ginny cursed under her breath. Bailey had unknowingly stepped into the boundary of our tent, making him invisible to JJ. He would soon look behind him to see our shelter-
"C'mon, we've got to go, I have my wand-"
"No, wait!" She grabbed my arm and yanked me back into the crouched position. "Think about it-these men are in league with the Death Eaters! They'll recognize us. Better they find an empty tent than an empty tent and us."
"We have to Obliviate their memories, though."
"D'you suppose...that they might think it's Harry's? Bring right in the middle of where he was last seen?" A note of fear crept into her voice.
"No-there are so many people on the run right now-they'll probably think it belongs to someone in hiding. But just in case, we'll have to clear their memory."
"C'mere, JJ! Look at their tent!" Their voices were quieter, now, but we heard occasional whoops of delight as they undoubtedly dug through our things. Luckily, I had a small bag attached to my back, containing emergency items and the-
"Polyjuice potion!" I gasped. Quickly rummaging in the bag, I managed to locate them-moments later, Ginny was a middle aged, balding man and I was a thin, sickly-looking teenager with mousy brown hair and terrible vision. I kept squinting, but everything was extremely blurry.
"Ready?" I whispered in a throaty, hoarse voice that was not mine, after we quickly threw together a plan-
"Ready," she confirmed in a low voice.
"Dad-what're they doing?" I asked in a loud voice, after Accio-ing Ginny's wand to her. We were standing in view of our tent where the two snatchers were just visible through the flap.
"Oi!" Ginny bellowed in a deep voice. "What are you doing in my tent?" The both looked up simultaneously from the food they'd been shoving in their mouths.
"Careful, they could be muggles!" The one I knew was JJ whispers.
"You idiot, they ain't muggles! This here is a wizard tent, and a disillusionment charm!"
"Oh." The next moment, all four of us have our wands drawn and aimed at each other. I knew one, probably both, of the snatchers, were not the brightest wands in the shop. I silently protegoe-d a shield between us, muttering out of the corner of my mouth to Ginny- "Count to ten, then hit the ground." I started counting in my head as the two thugs stood, weary. I could tell they wouldn't wait much longer for us to make the first move, but I had a plan. Nine...ten.
"Stupefy!" I cried at the shield, and Ginny and I had already hit the ground as the curse bounced off the shield as planned.
Also as planned, Bailey screamed a hex a split second after I did, and not knowing to duck, he was struck in the chest and fell to the floor unconscious. What happened in the next few seconds was a blur-JJ had apparently decided that messing with us was more trouble than it was worth, and he threw himself on the ground by his fallen friends, and, grabbing his arm, they both disapparated in with a pop.
"We've got to get out of here," I said immediately. I removed the shield charm, and we surveyed the damage.
It took us almost an hour to clear the mess that included broken glass and strewn, half eaten flood, but we made up the time by hurriedly packing everything up in half the time it would have normally taken. By then, we were back to our own appearances.
And then I heard the noise-
Crack, snap!
"Ginny?" Was that you?" I called outside to where Ginny was last while I began to magically retract the tent.
"No...I'm over here," Ginny called, and suddenly a feeling of fear came over me, a feeling of being watched-not for the first time that day.
"Did you hear that?" I asked loudly, hoping to scare whatever it was away.
"It's probably a deer or something," Ginny brushed it off. However, both of us hurried like we were racing against the clock until we apparated safely into Godric's Hallow.
The first thing we did was set up our tent a bit away from the village, which was white with a fresh coating of snow and twinkling with Christmas lights. We were located on the edge of the woods, about 200 meters off from a graveyard. We set up the same invisibility boundaries as last time, but restricting them to only a foot around the tent, so it would be less likely that anyone would stumble upon us.
I had begun to cook spaghetti, using a fraction of the ingredients I had stocked up on at the market I had apparated to a town over, where I used Polyjuice potion and fumbled with muggle money. I grimaced, remembering the older man who had to help me out, thinking I was a foreigner.
"What was that?" Ginny's voice comes at me like a dagger. "I know we're near the village and all...but that sounded close," she said in a whisper.
"I-I'll go see," I murmured, slipping outside. I shivered in the winter night air, rubbing my arms in hope that a little friction would warm them up. Every breath seemed overly loud, and puffing too much frost into the cool air. I drew my wand, wondering if I should have taken polyjuice potion-
Chh. Crack! I jumped and turned wildly at the source of the noise, thinking "Homenun Revelio!" as clearly as I could.
Someone was here. The spell had revealed somebody, not far from me-I wasn't sure exactly where, but they were close-I seized up in fear, heart pounding wildly and pumping adrenaline into my veins, hands going clammy-
"Stu-"
"Before you curse my arse off-"
"Draco?" I searched for the disembodied voice. The voice no doubt belonged to Malfoy, but I couldn't find where he was. His voice seemed to be coming from above me-
"Up here," his voice floated down to me, and I looked up slowly to see Draco Malfoy crouched on the lowest limb of a tree, putting him a few feet above my head.
"Get down from there!" I hissed. "Why are you following us?" I whispered loudly as he levitates himself down and walks over to me, so close our frosty breath mingled. Close enough to feel his body heat.
I internally shook myself for getting distracted.
"How do you know I'm following you?" I heard his smile in the low voice that he was talking in. He looked especially handsome in the dark like this, only the silvery moon throwing light onto his features. "Maybe I like visiting...wherever we are."
"Godric's Hallow. And alone? Up a tree? Doubt it."
"Well, I couldn't let you go on a big adventure without me, now could I?" Barely an inch separated our faces now, and I was surprised that I wasn't completely tongue-tied. I took a step back, and he grinned devilishly, as if he had been waiting for me to do so.
"Jumpy much?" He teased.
"What? Me?" I laughed. I'm not scared of you, Draco, I'm scared of what you make me feel, I said in my head.
"Want to come inside my tent?"
"Was that an innuendo?" He chuckled softly in response.
My teeth had begun to chatter slightly now, and I chose to ignore his last comment. "Well, you're here so you may as well stay." I turned away from him, crossing back to the tent. I tried to get in before him to warn Ginny of our newcomer, but he overtook me with his long strides and got inside the tent and its protection before I did
"Good to see you, Ginny," he said in a cool voice as I hurried inside, glad to be back to the warmth of our tent. While I had been outside, Ginny had finished the spaghetti and heaped it onto two plates.
"Draco?" Ginny sounded confused. "Was that you we heard tramping around outside the last place we set up as well?"
"It may have been," he answered nonchalantly. "I've been trying to communicate with you both for a few days now."
And that was how our duo became a trio.
I laid in my bed for hours, tossing and turning, forever uncomfortable, no matter what I did. I finally decided to get some fresh air, to take a walk. I threw on my cloak quietly, taking care not to walk Ginny in the bunk above mine, or Draco, in the one across the tent, as I slipped out the opening.
I didn't make it far before I heard crunching footsteps behind me, and I realized I had been hoping he would follow me.
"Where are you off to, Greengrass?" He approached my side.
"A walk," I said vaguely, not looking at him. "How did you find us, anyway?"
"I first heard you talking to Ginny in the DA...and it hit me," he said.
"What hit you?" I asked.
"That I wasn't going to let you go again," he whispered. "Not without me." He ran his fingers down my arms, and I closed my eyes. I knew he was going to kiss me when I opened them, because of the way he was looking at me, a soft smile traced on his lips.
He leaned down, his lips centimeters away from my own, and he whispers-
"Are you really going to kiss me now?" He whispered.
I answered by reaching up to him and our lips met.
Finally, I thought, moving my lips under his and wrapping my arms securely around his neck. I wasn't going to let him go, either.
We had to pull away because we were both grinning like maniacs, only stopping to kiss again.
Months Later
We had never found Harry.
The resistance was doing worse than ever. Many of us had been forced to stay in the room of requirement full time now. Our total had been bumped up to about thirty. But Luna had never come back to Hogwarts after Christmas Holidays, and Ginny hadn't been allowed to return after Easter.
But Ginny returned a few days ago, along with some who had already graduated Hogwarts.
I watched Seamus, his face bruised and swollen, talk to Lucy from across the room. He was going to ask her to marry him, after the year was over. Lucy didn't know, but several of our friends did. It wasn't uncommon to get married right after Hogwarts, especially now, when Voldemort was in control, the war was raging, and people wanted to start families as soon as they could. I looked at Draco, who saw next to me. Did he want to get married? I wasn't sure, exactly, if he wanted to do that sort of thing with the rest of his life...
Suddenly, movement caught the corner of my eye, coming from the picture covering the passageway to the Hog's Head.
"I'll go see what Aberforth wants," Neville announced tiredly, and he climbed into the portrait hole.
I pulled a picture of Daphne out of my pocket. Daphne and her new husband, Richard. Our parents tried to hide their disapproval because he was a muggle-they'd expected her to marry that Zabini boy, Stephan. But I was glad my sister had married for love, and not for status, or money. Those things had no guarantee of lasting.
And at her wedding...the truth had come out. My parents finally told me the whole story surrounding Daphne and my birth. They told me why they'd sort of but not really disowned me, they thought that if I was no longer tied to them and the Death Eaters, I'd be safe. No such luck. So I would be welcome home-but the Burrow was my home now, too.
The talking and laughing in the room became a buzz in my ears, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something big was going to happen.
"Love you," Draco said quietly next to me, and the familiar sense of love and security rushed through me as I said it back. Maybe he sensed a change in the atmosphere as well. Julie and I locked eyes across the room, and Lucy and Sarah looked up as well. I forced myself to smile lightheartedly to relieve the heavy, growing feeling.
Meanwhile, Ginny had stood up, ashen faced, looking at the frame. The portrait Arianna was coming back, not alone...Draco and I joined several people who had stood up to get a better look-
It swung open, and the room became dead silent.
"Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?" Neville roared, and triumph lit his face, overshadowing his battle scars. At first, all we could see were three shadowy forms. The world seemed to slow, to stop turning-Neville stepped aside to let us see.
And the light fell across the weary faces of Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
And everything erupted into a roar so loud, I was surprised the whole country can't hear, and everything was a stampede of exuberant smiles, relief and everyone was reaching to touch the heroes, to clap them on the back, to congratulate them, anything.
"HARRY!"
"It's Potter, it's POTTER!"
"Ron!"
"Hermione" Shouts blended together in a spiral of sound. They must have come to help us, to get us out of this hell-hole-
"Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville had to tone down the eager crowd. Even the most weary, beaten down souls looked like someone had infused them with pure hope. Harry had come to end this. For a moment, the three of them, stare, transfixed, by what the room of requirement had become. It had outdone even itself.
"Where are we?" he asked, confused.
"The room of requirement, of course!" Neville beamed. "Surpassed itself, hasn't it? The Carrows were chasing me, and I knew I had just one chance for a hide-out-I managed to get through the door, and this is what I found! Well, it wasn't exactly like this when I arrived, it was a load smaller, and there was just one hammock with Gryffindor hangings. But it's expanded much more as more of the DA has arrived."
"And the Carrows can't get in?" Harry asked, eyes roving over the hammocks and house banners to the door, like he expects Death Eaters to come bursting in at any second.
"No," Seamus answered, who had an arm around Lucy, and Sarah was standing behind them. "It's a proper hide out, as long as one of stays in here, they can't get us, the door won't open. It's all down to Neville. He really gets this room. You've got to ask it exactly for what you need, like- "I don't want any Carrow supporters to get in-" And it'll do it for you! You've just got to make sure you close the loopholes! Neville's the man!"
"It's quite straightforward, really," came Neville's modest reply. "I'd been in here almost two days, and I was getting really hungry, and wishing I could get something to eat, that's when the passage to the Hog's Head opened up. I went through it and met Aberforth. He's been providing us with food, because for some reason, that's one thing that the room can't do."
"Yeah, well, food's one of the five exceptions to Gamp's law of Elemental Transfiguration," Ron said, and I think I actually saw a few open mouths. Hermione was finally rubbing off on him. Or maybe he was finally listening to her.
"So we've been hiding out here, most of us permanently, they hate us so much-for almost two weeks," Seamus continued. "And it just makes more hammocks and everything every time we need them, and it even sprouted a pretty good bathroom once girls started turning up-"
"And thought they'd quite like to wash, yes," Lavender Brown said, eyes bright.
Harry was looking around, like he was noticing everyone for the first time.
"Tell us what you've been up to, though," I spoke up. "There have been rumors about where you'd been sited, what you were doing-we've been trying to keep up with you on Potterwatch," I pointed to the wireless radio stationed up against the wall. "You didn't break into Gringotts?" I asked, remembering the latest story.
"They did! And the dragon's true, too!" Neville confirmed. Several people clapped, and a few shouts of approval scattered the audience.
"What were you after?" Seamus asked eagerly. Instead of answering, Harry's face drained of color and his expression was replaced with one of dread.
He turned his back and concerned murmuring broke out as Ron helped him turn around, half holding him up.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Neville asked worriedly. "Want to sit down? I expect you're tired, aren't-?"
"No," Harry said quickly. He looked at Ron and Hermione as if he were desperately trying to tell them something wordlessly. "We need to get going." Something in Ron and Hermione's expression told me that the rest of us were missing something. What was going on ? Harry was here to help us, to get the Death eaters out of this place-wasn't he?
"What are we going to do, Harry? What's the plan?" Good. I wasn't the only one confused and anxious. In fact, from the murmuring, Seamus had put a voice to everyone's thoughts.
"Ron?" Harry said in a strained voice that I had a feeling had nothing to do with Seamus's question. In fact, his hand was twitching toward his forehead. His scar, to be precise.
"Well, there's something we-Ron, Hermione, and I- need to do, then we'll get out of here." No laughs or whoops fell from the mouths of the weary students who had at first been so hopeful. What was that supposed to mean? Didn't they know how much we were suffering, how much they could stop it?
My heart sank, and my shoulders slumped. Draco tightened his grip reassuringly, giving me a strong smile.
"What d'you mean, 'get out of here?'" Neville asked slowly, like he was starting to get something out of what Harry was beginning to say.
"We haven't come back to stay," Harry was full-out rubbing his scar now, like doing so would stop whatever was ailing him. "There's something important we need to do-"
"What is it?"
"I-I can't tell you." The room was no longer silent-Harry's news had stirred the audience; students were whispering to those nearest them.
"Why can't you tell us? It's something to do with fighting You-Know-Who, right?"
"Well, yeah-"
"Then we'll help you." Everyone was nodding, ranging from eager to serious-some were even rising out of their chairs as if demonstrating they were rearing to go fight at this very second.
"You don't understand," Harry said desperately. "We-we can't tell you. We've got to do it-alone." I didn't understand at all what he's saying. What sort of daunting task didn't require help?
"Why?" Asked Neville.
"Because..." Harry trailed off. "Dumbledore left the three of us a job," he said in a slow voice-he was picking each word carefully. "And we weren't supposed to tell...I mean, he wanted us to do it, just the three of us."
"We're his army," Neville spoke up in a defiant voice. "Dumbledore's Army. We were all in it together, we've been keeping it going while you three have been off on your own-"
"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," Ron assured him.
"I never said it had, but I don't see why you can't trust us. Everyone in this room has been fighting and they've been driven in here because the Carrows were hunting them down. Everyone in here's proved they're loyal to Dumbledore...loyal to you."
"Look," Harry began in a weary voice. He looked relieved when the attention previously focused on him turned to the opening tunnel door behind him.
In the pandemonium that followed the arrival of Luna and Dean, I almost missed Draco grimace and clutch at his left arm where I knew the Dark Mark was burned.
"He's calling you, isn't he?" I took his hand.
"Yes, and-" he said with gritted teeth. "I've made up my mind."
"About-what?"
"Him. You-Know-Who. I'm not going to answer his summons. He'll know what it means. That I'm no longer loyal to him. Now it's public. The next time we fight against them-which will be tonight-he'll try to kill me."
"Oh, Draco!" An overwhelming rush of love for the brave man in front of me propelled me forward and I wrapped my arms around him and we held each other close as no one was watching-as if this would be the last time.
"I love you more than anything," he murmured into my hair. In that moment, nothing else in the world existed. No expectations, no looming battle...no Voldemort.
"I love you," I whispered back, my voice muffled against his chest. I realized with a start we'd backed away from everyone, off at a slight distance-then I thought-no, it had to have been the magic of the room, somehow the floor had done something funky to separate us.
But why?
"Astoria," he murmured, taking my hands.
"Yes?" I ask, looking into his smoldering eyes.
"I haven't got a ring," he began slowly. "I just...Tori, I can't stand the thought of living the rest of my life without you, and I love you and I never want to let you go. So I want you to know...if I die tonight I want you to know that I want to marry you. And...if we're both still here at the end of the night, and this battle's over...will you marry me?" He was down on one knee now.
"Yes!" I squealed in a voice choked with tears. And then I was in his arms again, my legs around his torso, and when he spun me it was like a promise.
"And if any of them try to kill you, they'd have to step over my dead body," I whispered.
Then it was the best kiss we'd ever had-hope, and promise. And love.
"I sent for her," Neville, explained, holding up his galleon as we walked back to the group. I felt like I was flying, and I wanted to positively scream with joy.
Both Draco and my mood right now, the ones that bubble through to show on our faces, in our entwined hands-they're the light in the group's dark...but right now, marriage was the second thing on my mind. Voldemort was the first-something big was going to go down tonight. Something huge.
"I promised her and Ginny that if you turned up I'd let them know. We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution. That we were going to overthrow Snape and the Carrows." That brought me back to earth even more, but still nothing could completely cancel out the sheer joy in my chest of the private moment Draco and I had just shared.
"Of course that's what if means," Luna said brightly. "Isn't it, Harry? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts?"
"Listen," Harry said, and his voice betrayed the panic that was etched on his face. "I'm sorry, but that's not what we came back for. There's something we've got to do, and then-"
"You're going to leave us in this mess?" Michael Corner demanded angrily.
And so it seems...at first.
The room of requirement was packed with students-not just DA members-and Order members as well. Everyone was moving, shouting, panicking-the only constant was Draco's hand in mine. We would fight together, he said.
"Harry, what's happening?" Lupin shouted as he met Harry at the entrance.
"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school-Snape's run for it-what are you doing here? How did you know?"
"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army," Fred explained. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry! We the DA let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed."
"What first, Harry?" George's voice called out.
"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized," Harry replied. "We're fighting."
The roar of approval and the battle cry mingle together.
Mixed students, DA, the Order of the Phoenix-together, one hell of an army-surge out the door, wands drawn and ready to win back all that Voldemort had taken away. We headed toward the main castle, toward the final Battle of Hogwarts.
Slightly Later
Everything slowed-the screams, the blasting wand-fired lights, the exploding rubble-everything. I heard a high-pitched drone sounding in my ears, unaware that it was my own scream.
I surprised myself how fast I managed to stumble forward, through the shaking, the shock.
Toward the body.
A\N-Second to last chapter, guys, please review! :D Sorry for the cliffhanger...who do you think is dead?