Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers
Disclaimer The characters are not, and were never, mine.
Harry woke up later than he normally did, but still a little early. He hoped that his team had a good suggestion of where they could stay, because he hadn't come up with anything. He went and got some breakfast, and was surprised to see that he wasn't the only one up.
"Hey Harry," Hermione said, looking up from a book she was reading.
"What are you reading?" Harry asked, unable to see the title.
"Nothing in particular. I was hoping to find a place where we could move," she replied, going back to her book.
"No luck?"
"Nothing, but I have been thinking."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Harry asked, smiling at himself.
Hermione just glared, and then continued. "Maybe we shouldn't move."
"WHAT? Are you crazy? This place will be surrounded by Death Eaters, maybe in less than an hour," Harry yelled, completely not understanding her logic.
"Yes, it will. And no, I'm not crazy. I think that it would be the perfect opportunity to stand up to them. And, if we're gone, what's stopping them from attacking Hogsmeade itself?" Hermione said calmly.
Harry thought about this for a second, but still couldn't believe they wouldn't leave. "Voldemort will send all his most loyal followers, and the strongest ones at that, and may even come himself. And you want us to just stay here and wait to be killed?"
"And when we leave, what happens to Hogsmeade?"
"I don't know, but I'm not going into that kind of danger, without knowing what to expect, or when to expect it," Harry said, angry that Hermione brought this dilemma to his attention.
"I've talked it over with Ron, and he said that he agrees, and would rather stay and fight."
Harry just continued to eat the meal he had conjured up, but barely tasted it, thinking hard about what to do. He thought about the consequences of both possibilities:
If we stay, there's a BIG chance that Voldemort and his Death Eaters come and fight with us, which will be very damaging.
And if we leave, Hogsmeade will be vulnerable to a direct attack, and we give up an opportunity to capture the largest amount of Death Eaters than ever before.
But if we stay, and protect Hogsmeade, there will be many injuries, and most likely deaths. That will make it impossible to capture the Death Eaters.
You underestimate your army's capabilities.
You underestimate the Death Eater's training.
You have a perfect record against them, and this is your chance.
"I'll think about it, but if ANYONE doesn't want to do it, then we leave," Harry said to Hermione, who was delighted and ran out of the room at top speed.
"Hurry, they might be here soon," Harry called after her, and finished his meal in a debate with himself.
Harry went to the cave after breakfast, for a place to think, but instead, it was filled with all of his soldiers. Everyone looked tired, but a little excited. 'Obviously Hermione told them already,' Harry thought to himself, as everybody turned their heads in his direction.
"Harry, we all want to stay," Fred said, causing Harry to jump, due to the fact that he said it from behind him.
"Really?" Harry asked, surprised at the willingness of going into almost certain death.
"Yeah, we do. And besides, we couldn't think of any place to go," Neville said, joining Fred's side.
"See Harry, we all want to fight," Hermione said, looking really happy.
"All right everybody, they should be here soon," Ron said, taking command from Harry.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, completely surprised that his army actually followed the directions.
"Well, if you aren't going to take charge and get ready, I thought that I would help."
"Uh oh," Harry said, ignoring everything everyone was doing to get ready.
"What?" Hermione asked, concern creeping onto her face.
"That," Harry replied simply, pointing out of the small opening of the cave.
Hermione gasped, but tried to make it as silent as possible, given the situation. Ron didn't know what was going on, but soon found out, as he looked for himself. He saw what was catching their attention, and immediately spread the word.
He whispered to everyone, "Shh, they're here."
"Who?" Luna asked, following his lead and whispering. Ron just pointed to where the Death Eaters were appearing out of nowhere.
Many of Harry's army got really pale, while others quickly got out their wands, and prepared for what was to come. Harry finally looked away, realizing that he needed to do something. He took command, and told everyone that the Death Eaters didn't know where they were, and probably just thought that they had fled the place, so they needed to be extra quiet, and sneak up on them again. Some nodded, while others secretly prayed that they came out alive.
The Death Eaters took their time searching, as they were expecting to be attacked, but they ended after an hour. Harry knew that they would assume that they had searched well enough, and now would not longer be expecting an attack. They would just settle for terrorizing Hogsmeade. When the Death Eaters had motioned to each other that they had thoroughly checked every shop and street, Harry told his own division to secretly surround most of the Death Eaters, since some where off double checking their work. They were outnumbered by fifty or more Death Eaters, so he couldn't afford to leave out Ron or Hermione. Hermione was to take her people and attack the extras head on. Ron was to wait with his soldiers for the signal and then help, wherever that may be. Hermione left first, hoping to eliminate the possibility for others to join Harry's fight. Ron gave Harry some of his best men to help him, who would be outnumbered. He graciously accepted the offer, and headed straight into the darkest place he could find. His soldiers followed him.
The Death Eaters were discussing all the areas they checked, hoping that someone forgot a place, so they could find their enemies. By the time Harry and his army had surrounded the area unseen, the Death Eaters were talking about what they should do before returning to Voldemort. Harry signaled to everyone that on the count of three, every one of them was to attack the nearest Death Eater at the same time. He held up three fingers, showing his army that they should get ready.
He put down his ring finger, and everyone tensed up. The Death Eaters seemed to have decided they were done for the day, and shouldn't attack Hogsmeade and bring attention to themselves.
He out down his middle finger, showing that they were to have a spell in mind, and only had one second before attacking. The Death Eaters had finished their conversation, and were asking where all their friends were. They were about to turn around and check, as Harry's index finger fell, seemingly in slow motion. All of Dumbledore's Army, or the ones that were with Harry, walked out of the shadows only a second before their victims turned around. The fifty Death Eaters only heard about fifteen shouts, which is how many soldiers Harry had, before twelve of them fell to the ground.
Harry had only petrified his opponent, but heard some stuns yelled, and even a few spells he hadn't heard of. Three of his people had missed, causing some of the walls to be hit instead. As the Death Eaters immediately drew their wands, Harry and five of his smarter friends, fired a second spell, taking out the fastest reacting Death Eaters. The Death Eaters were still twice his age, had twice his experience, and had twice his numbers. Thirty-two to fifteen, to be exact.
One of his soldiers saw their need for help and shot up sparks, wanting Ron and his last four followers to come and help. Almost a second later Ron came in firing, followed by Hermione and all nine under her command. She must have won her battle, which shouldn't have been that hard, considering there were only about two or three Death Eaters left. With these new additions, they doubled their army, but were still outnumbered. Ron and Hermione came in from opposite ends, splitting the Death Eaters into two different groups, forgetting about their original attackers. Harry noticed that the Death Eaters had managed to hit quite a few of his division, before switching targets. While they were occupied, Harry and Ginny were the only ones smart enough NOT to join the fighting, but return to the shadows, and shoot spells from there.
They worked well together, and got five Death Eaters before being found. One of the Death Eaters dodged a direct attack from Harry, and shot his own curse back. Harry barely managed to say the shield charm, which rebounded the spell back at the caster. It hit full force, and knocked him directly to the ground. Ron and Hermione's teams, joined by the rest of Harry's, were doing especially well, and easily took out ten Death Eaters before being pushed back. Harry didn't recognize anyone he was attacking, but kept on going.
After on half an hour of intense battle, victory was Harry's. He had captured forty-two Death Eaters, including Hermione's feat. Ten disapparated, leaving before they too, were sent to Azkaban. He was not able to start celebrating too early, because ten dementors suddenly glided in from the sky. Even with Harry's experience and knowledge of the Patronus Charm, they were still his worst fear. He gulped down an icy breath, as the lights turned off in an instant. He could only make out four, but had a strong feeling there were more than double that. Everyone else was shivering, and weren't able to stop dementors, even though they learned it in the DA.
"Expecto Patronum," Harry yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping his stag would be strong enough to knock out the ten dementors. Only mist this time. He wasn't discouraged, this happened before.
"Expecto Petronum," same result.
They were upon him, seeing he had the only resistance. Harry had a small, but sure feeling that they could sense a little of Sirius on him, like an odor. His vision began to swim, and he heard that hated laugh again. He thought of any happy thought that came to mind, nothing worked. His parents, Sirius, the Order, Ginny, and getting away, individually flew through his mind, all failing. When he put them together, and yelled, "EXPECTO PETRONUM," it worked, and his wand produced that silver stag again. It sped straight at the dementor almost kissing Harry, forcing him back, and continued on until Harry felt that it worked, and they had fled.
The lights had erupted back into the streets, to reveal his army watching him in awe from their cowering positions. He didn't even acknowledge what he just did, but just went back to business.
Harry told every one of his soldiers, including Hermione and Ron, to watch the stunned Death Eaters until the Order arrived, while he questioned one alone. He moved one of the Death Eaters with his wand, and led him to the cave. He quickly snapped the Death Eater's wand in two, making sure he didn't some how regain it, and then bound him by tight robes and unfroze him.
Hermione and Ron were left to check on what injuries there were to their own people, and wait for the Order. They came within in five minutes and gathered up all the Death Eaters together. They left after getting the one Harry had been questioning.
"Harry, what did he say?" Hermione asked right away.
Harry walked up the injured and started working, stopping only to answer her question. "I now know where Voldemort is."