Chapter 11 – Hagrid's Army
In a blind panic as he sat nervously waiting for the ceremony to start. How could everyone else be so calm when they knew what was going to happen? He looked around the other defenders, those that were putting their lives willingly on the line for him. Harry had been slightly surprised to find that most of the Hogwart's staff had turned up, including Professor Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey and even Firenze the centaur. Firenze had been talking with Professor McGonagall in her office when the Minister and his entourage had arrived. By all accounts when Dolores Umbridge stepped out of the fireplace and spotted the divination Professor, she had soiled herself before diving headlong back into the floo network. Percy Weasley had similarly returned to London when he ran into three of his brothers in a nearby corridor.
As the ceremony progressed, and the expected attack drew ever closer, Harry's nerves increased to breaking point. He sat fidgeting as he wondered which of his friends would pay the ultimate sacrifice for him today. How many more deaths was he going to be responsible for?
At Professor McGonagall's nod, Harry forced a smile onto his face and stood, finding that his hands were sweating and shaking violently. It was all he could not to drop the staff, when he presented it jointly to Minister Scrimgeour and Professor McGonagall. Harry opened his mouth to give the speech, which Hermione had written for him, but his mouth was so dry the only thing which came out was a harsh cough.
Mistaking the cause of Harry's fear, Scrimgeour cut in. "Thank you Harry for this most generous donation, which I have just accepted on behalf of the school. Now, I'd like to say a few words about last nights successful Death Eater capture." He paused for effect and posed smugly with Harry and McGonagall in front of Rita Skeeters camera.
"Attack, we're under attack from Death Eaters," screamed Tonks as she ran into the Great Hall, reminiscent of how Quirrell had announced the troll many years earlier. The Great Hall emptied in an instant as everyone tore to their pre-arranged positions. Soon only Rita Skeeter and Minister Scrimgeour, open-mouthed and still clutching the staff, remained in the Great Hall. Rita used the opportunity to take a couple of photographs of the gob-smacked Minister.
Harry shared a window with the Weasley twins and anxiously peered out over Hagrid's cabin. He could see Grawp tethered to an old oak tree next to the pumpkin patch, but more prominently than that, was a slowly advancing line of Death Eaters, which filled his entire field of vision. With a sinking heart, Harry realised that there must be hundreds of wizards, although there was a gap in the line where the Forbidden Forest lay. Harry could hear a mixture of shouts, and faint clicking noises coming from deep inside the Forest. He suspected and hoped that any Death Eaters advancing through there had met the Acromantula.
As he watched the Death Eaters, Harry realised with a sudden heavy heart, that his plan had condemned Hagrid to certain death. Now he knew why Moody had repeatedly made them swear not to leave the castle. Harry closed his eyes, he'd done it again, killed one of the closest people to him. Unwillingly he opened his eyes and saw a dozen or so Death Eaters came running out of the Forest, trying to rejoin their ranks, pursued by a herd of centaurs. The large roan lead centaur raised his bow and fired an arrow felling one of the hooded men with ease. As one, the other centaurs raised their bows and fired. The Death Eater's returned fire, illuminating the dull, misty air with green and red streaks. The bodies of Centaurs and Death Eaters fell to the ground, as the battle for control of Hogwarts began in earnest.
The commotion awoke Grawp, who stood up to his full height, ripping the tree from its roots. The noise of it crashing to the ground brought Hagrid, bow and arrow ready from his hut. Hagrid was followed, not by Fang the Boarhound, but by Fluffy the three headed dog which had guarded the Philosopher's Stone. Fluffy's three heads were barking and snapping furiously as it successfully freed itself from its' three leashes, and hackles bared set up protectively in front of Hagrid.
With earth trembling steps Grawp moved in front of Hagrid as well. "Hagger!" he shouted.
"Oh so you've taught the filthy giant to speak have you?" came a familiar oily voice. "I didn't think you had mastered speech yet?"
Hagrid started to turn purple in rage, but Grawp took it in his stride. "Hagger," he repeated pointing at his brother. Then the giant turned and waving a hand at Lucius Malfoy while declaring in his slow voice, "Wanker!"
Hagrid nodded encouragingly at Grawp, "That's right."
"Cool," so that's what our brother meant when he said he'd been teaching Grawp to recognise Death Eaters," sniggered Fred from next to Harry.
The surrounding Death Eaters launched a ferocious attack on Grawp and Fluffy following Grawp's outburst, however they made some fundamental errors. Anyone that has ever faced a three headed dog will know that casting a Reductor Curse on one of its heads will leave two other fully functioning and rather angry heads. Two Death Eaters found this out to their cost as they were ripped apart. Another dozen or so cast curses at Grawp, failing to realise that giant skin is impermeable to spells.
Grawp appeared to have taken a liking to Fluffy, and as the dog was attacked he roared in rage. Effortlessly he picked up Death Eaters one after the other and hurled them high into the air. Several flew clean over the Forbidden Forest; one went through the roof of Greenhouse Three, another landed on top of the Astronomy tower. When Fluffy's final head was decapitated and the dog died, Grawp roared with an fury that shattered the remaining windows in the castle and charged the line of Death Eaters. Many were trampled, others fell victim to his flailing arms. Some, like Malfoy turned and fled towards the Forest. Hagrid kept his bow and arrow aimed, and fired periodically with an un-nerving accuracy, as he felled any who aimed at his little brother. But it couldn't last forever and eventually a killing curse struck the giant cleanly in the eye, where there was no protective skin. Even in death Grawp helped the cause, his eighteen foot frame crushed several more attackers as he fell to the ground for the last time.
Harry couldn't bear to look as the jubilant Death Eaters hexed Grawp's fallen body. Instead he glanced towards the lake, at a group of Voldemorts followers who were trying to take refuge from the centaurs' ferocious onslaught. As he watched, the Death Eaters moved stealthily to hide behind an old willow tree. The Death Eaters never knew what hit them, as a heavy bough from the old tree slowly drew back before crashing down through their skulls.
Steadying himself, Harry looked back to Hagrid, who was now backing up towards the castle, still firing his cross-bow. As he crossed behind the pumpkin patch, Harry could see several figures crawling through it wands raised; poised to strike at the oblivious Hagrid. Before he could cast sonorous and shout a warning, there was a loud explosion and one of the pumpkins appeared to shoot forwards alerting Hagrid to their stealthy attack. It appeared that the Death Eaters had disturbed a dozing Skrewt. Hagrid's crossbow picked off the screaming pair and he continued his retreat towards the castle.
When the advancing Death Eaters were in range, Moody gave the signal and the defenders launched a barrage of spells down onto the Death Eaters. As Harry concentrated on getting his spells through their shields, he noticed a dark shape flying through the air, coming closer and closer. The line of Death Eaters noticed it as well, but not before several were engulfed in fire, as Norbert, the Norwegian Ridgeback soared effortlessly overhead. Harry could see a figure sat atop the dragon, whose red hair was an exact match for the flame which was coming from his stead's mouth. Harry shook his head to focus, and returned to launching spells down on those Death Eaters who were closest. Hagrid was by now backed against the castle wall and fully surrounded. Harry shuddered as one sent a jet of green light directly into Hagrid's chest. The curse bounced off Hagrid's part-giant skin and rebounded, causing the Death Eater to jump in avoidance right into the path of Hagrid's swinging left hook. The Death Eater soared some thirty yards before landing completely still on the lawn.
"Have you lot learned nothing? Go for the oafs eyes, you fools!" the familiar voice of Lord Voldemort screamed. As he saw the jet of green head towards Hagrid's face, Harry involuntarily shut his own eyes tightly, but he still felt the castle shimmer as the Fidelius Charm was broken.
Although tears were flowing down his cheeks, Harry resolutely continued blasting spells down onto the attackers. It was harder going now, as Voldemort had quickly re-organised his raw recruits. Soon the Death Eaters were working as a unit to protect each other, while they sought to bring down the castle wards. More often than not, Harry and the other defenders found their spells rebounded harmlessly off their enemies shields, causing more damage to the castle than anything else.
Charlie was having more success. Harry watched as Norbert swooped overhead yet again, leaving a wall of flame behind him. While the Death Eaters could often shield against the initial strike, when the ground they were stood on erupted into flames they had more trouble. Harry also noticed several of the larger Acromantula sneak out of the Forest and cocoon up the straggling Death Eaters
But just as Harry though that the wards might hold and the attackers would be repelled, he felt the entire castle shuddered to its very foundations. Moody's amplified voice echoed round shortly after. "The wards are down, back to the Great Hall now."
As he turned to follow the twins, Harry saw out of the corner of his eye Norbert spiralling out of control towards the ground. One of his wings was partially severed and hanging limply by his side. Harry was grateful that Fred and George were in front of him and hadn't seen the despairing look of the figure clinging onto the falling dragon. Once in the Hall, Harry still found himself next to Fred and George, who summoned a large and gaudily decorated box from elsewhere in the castle.
"Little present for the Death Eaters," George said his eyes glinting dangerously and clashing horribly with his bright red hair and dragon-hide robes.
Harry took a deep breath, and tried to forget what he'd just seen. Trying to fake curiosity, he looked into the box, reading product names out loud, "Popcorn grenade and Duplicator ring?"
"George has started dating a Muggle girl, he got the idea for a popcorn grenade when he had to take her to a Muggle cinema and some little brats were throwing it all over the place," sniggered Fred.
George retaliated immediately, "I wasn't the one who developed the prototype duplicating ring. You claimed if you wore it on your finger it created an extra finger, Alicia told me that wasn't where you wore it."
Fred blushed bright red and stammered, "Err, Harry the, err, duplicating ring has been modified to create a doppelganger of yourself if you wear it. This makes it harder for the enemy to hit you."
A lone pop had everyone drawing their wands, as a single Death Eater apparated into the Great Hall. Gregory Goyle realised his mistake too late as he was hit by a rainbow of light. While this was happening the Great Hall was flooded with daylight as the entrance doors finally gave way to a barrage of spells. Dark wizards appeared from everywhere. As Harry ducked for cover behind a table, he noticed for each Death Eater, a house-elf also appeared. He saw a particularly tiny gnarled house-elf appear in front of a six foot wizard. The Death Eater just laughed at the elf, that was until the creature straightened out its knotted finger and the wizard flew out through a window. The little elf looked quite smug with itself, until it spotted a spell-damaged bookcase, with a horrified squeak it rushed towards the bookcase and started repairing it.
Harry popped up behind his shield and fired off a couple of spells successfully felling McNair, before he dropped back behind his shield. He could see Scrimgeour, who had apparently remained in the Hall all along, and was impressed to see that he was holding his own in a fierce duel against three or four Death Eaters. Mad-Eye was hopping around with an agility that belied his age and wooden leg. Harry was thankful that Moody could literally see through the back of his head, as he watched the retired Auror spin and blast the Death Eater who was creeping up behind him.
Harry found himself jostled slightly as George raised his wand above the table and hexed Snape's behind. "Excellent shot brother of mine, right up his greasy arse!" Harry gazed as Snape grabbed his rear, shook and then appeared to collapse bonelessly onto the floor. He slithered undignified and unnoticed out of the room. Harry glanced at George who shrugged, "He asked McGonagall to take him out of the battle, so we used the only useful spell we learned from Lockhart."
"Couldn't you have done something more painful?" asked Harry
"More painful? You realise he'll have to drink a gallon of Skele-Go now, and that stuff tastes like Hag piss."
Harry rose from behind his shield again and sent a carefully aimed cutting hex at one of two large wizards that Mr Weasley was duelling. The wizard dropped his wand as the hex sliced open his arm, allowing Mr Weasley time to stun him. Harry was about to cast again when he felt a dull ache in his head, as someone probed his thoughts. Dropping back under the table he concentrated on his Occlumency defences as Voldemort called out to his mind, "Come out, Harry. Come out wherever you are."
Harry tried to clear his mind, he really did, but Voldemort was too strong. He could only cower there, as his nemesis marched through the entrance doors and across the Great Hall. Duelling wizards parted in awe, as Voldemort strode towards Harry banishing the table from between them until he was only yards away.
"Oh look Fred, its You-No-Poo," called out George as he stepped protectively in front of Harry, "Here catch this oh constipated Lord." Voldemort momentarily looked confused as the small grenade landed by his feet, before it exploded burying him under a ten foot mound of popcorn. Fred and George used the momentary diversion to drag Harry into the small alcove at the back of the main Hall, which had been used for the Triwizard champions. As George sealed the door, Fred delved into the box he'd summoned and started putting Duplicating Rings on his hands.
Voldemort apparated through the sealed door, only to come face to face with four Freds. "Avada Kedavra," he screamed. The spell sailed straight threw a doppelganger Fred hitting a suit of armour instead, which exploded. All four Freds responded by simultaneously making an obscene hand gesture at Voldemort while blowing him a raspberry. Enraged, Voldemort disappeared with a swish of his cloak, re-appearing behind George, this time waist deep in a newly laid portable swamp. George leaned over and grabbed the Dark Lord's wand as he struggled in the slimy sludge.
While Voldemort had been distracted, Harry had broken their connection and regained control of his mind. He managed to stagger to his feet and turned wand raised, wondering if Hermione had destroyed Nagini yet. But before he could act Voldemort had vanished with another swish of his cloak. The Dark Lord momentarily appeared next to George, who was pulling something else out of the box of goodies, grabbed his wand and was gone. The four Freds swore as one, and blasted the door open, in time to see Lord Voldemort raise his wand and cast the killing curse at Professor McGonagall. This time there was no jet of green light, only a soft clucking noise as Voldemort's wand turned into a rubber chicken. Both McGonagall and Voldemort stared at the wand in shock for a few seconds until a bony house-elf ejected the Dark Lord out through the open doorway.
Harry turned in amazement as he saw George snap Voldemort's real wand and do a small victory jig in celebration, failing completely to see the purple jet heading towards him. The curse hit George's robes and fizzled out. "Finest Dragon-Hide robes," called all four Freds as they fired collective red curses at the unfortunate Death Eater.
Harry tried to concentrate as he stared around the Great Hall, in the few seconds they had been duelling Voldemort the entire room had been destroyed. There were dead bodies everywhere, mounds of decapitated elves, hooded Death Eaters and with a sinking feeling, that instantly dissipated the joy of seeing Voldemort repelled, Harry recognised the body of Professor Flitwick. As he stared at the corpse of the diminutive Professor, Harry heard a Death Eater call out, "Accio wooden leg." Harry turned in time to see Mad Eye Moody hit by a killing curse that he could no longer dodge.
Although many had fallen others were still standing strong, Harry could see Bill duelling simultaneously with four or five Death Eaters. His scarred face and fang earring glinted menacing, as a bolt of lightening flashed across the enchanted ceiling. With effortless ease Bill' shield absorbed his attacker's spells, and one by one he blasted the Death Eaters in retaliation. Meanwhile Mr Weasley and Remus were battling Greyback in the corner while McGonagall was now taking on a witch who looked half her age. As Harry watched, she transfigured her opponent into a small rabbit, which hopped panic stricken towards the exit. Smiling, Harry looked back and saw that McGonagall had vanished, but he did see a distinctively marked Tabby cat follow the disappearing bunny.
Tonks was tackling three foreign wizards from behind a flamboyant multi-coloured shield. Harry made a mental note to ask her for the incantation later, as he sent a stunning spell at one of her opponents. The Death Eater fell to the ground, but not before he had fired another hex at Tonks. As Harry watched, she tried to duck behind her shield to avoid the spell but instead tripped over a broken chair, right into the path of the bludgeoning hex. Harry heard Remus's screams and saw him leave Greyback and rush towards his beloved's broken body, but neither Harry not Remus noticed the small rat with a silver paw creep out from underneath a table.
Harry's thoughts were interrupted as the castle walls shimmered again, "Anti-apparition ward," whispered George. "Looks like the Aurors have arrived. Sure enough, seconds later the massively outnumbered Order forces were bolstered as twenty or thirty aurors ran in through the doorway. The tide was turning, as the reinforcements joined into the battle, demoralising the attacking Dark Forces.
Harry felt a slight burning in his pocket. Instinctively he thrust his hand deep into the offending pocket and pulled out his DA galleon. The side was glowing bright red and hurt to touch, but Harry didn't care, he turned it on edge and read a single word inscribed where the serial number should have been; 'HELP'. Harry's heart sank through the floor. Only one person could set the DA coins, the one person he had sent into Voldemort's lair, Hermione. Immediately images of his dream flashed through his mind, as Harry turned and broke cover, ignoring the other's shouts. He ran to the main staircase, casting a quick shield charm behind him, as he climbed the stairs two at a time. For the first dozen strides everyone was too shocked to react; then spells started streaking from the Death Eaters. Almost immediately the Order returned with covering fire.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a Death Eater, who was hiding behind a statue, aim at him. Almost immediately the attacker dropped his wand as Peaves soaked him with a well timed water bomb and hovered over the unfortunates head singing, "Here. He's hiding here, nasty smelly Death Eater!"
Harry turned the corner at the top of the stairs and sprinted down the corridor towards the statue of the one-eyed witch. As he ran past a suit of armour, a foot emerged from behind it, tripping him and sending him sprawling down the corridor. As he desperately felt around in the blur for his glasses, Harry heard Lucius Malfoy call out "Accio Wand."
He felt his wand struggle out from under his leg and fly away, as he finally got his glasses back on his nose. He turned and looked down the end of Lucius's wand. "This is for Draco," sneered the blonde Death Eater. "Avada ..." Lucius Malfoy never finished his sentence, as he was thrown down the corridor with such a force that his spine broke on impact with the wall. Harry struggled to his knees and turned to see a pair of huge eyes and long pointy ears.
"Dobby, warned him, Dobby said to him you shall not harm Harry Potter." The little Elf stopped talking and thought for a second, before he turned and started to head butt the suit of armour. "Dobby is a bad, bad elf. Harry Potter is telling him never to save his life again, and Dobby is disobeying him. Dobby must be punished, Dobby will go and take off his tea cosy and iron his …"
"No, stop it Dobby. I forbid you to hurt yourself. I can not thank you enough for disobeying me and saving my life. Please don't hurt yourself," said a grateful Harry as he picked up his wand and turned back to the statue of the witch. He tapped his wand on her hump and muttered "Disdendium" as it opened. Quickly Harry jumped down into the passage below and ran as fast as he could to Honeydukes cellar, from where he could apparate to Little Hangleton. As he stopped spinning, he found himself at wand point yet again. His eyes followed the wand, up its owners arm and he found himself looking into Ron's face.
"Oh thank Merlin, it's you Harry. You've got to help, Hermione ... my Galleon ..." Out of breath and clutching a stitch in his side, Harry could only nod, before once again starting off towards the Riddle House. As they approached the old house, they could immediately see something was very, very wrong. The scene of devastation that met their eyes was equal, if not worse to the state of Hogwarts that Harry had left.
"What in Godric's name has happened here?" asked Ron.
"It looks like someone's pissed Hermione off," replied Harry grimly as he cast a disillusionment charm on the pair of them.
Carefully they made their way towards a large hole in the front of the house, where the front door had formerly been. Harry breathed a small sigh of relief as he stepped over Dolohov's mutilated body on the way. Peering through the hole they could see most of the interior of the Riddle house had been similarly destroyed. AS Harry and Ron quickly searched the ground floor for signs of life, they heard a piercing scream emanating from upstairs.
"Hermione," they breathed, simultaneously rushing for the rickety spell-damaged staircase. Once at the top, Harry found he knew the way. He let his memory of Frank Bryce's death lead him towards the end room, where through the open door he saw Hermione and Neville. They were both sat tied, back to back, in front of the fireplace. Neville's robes were torn and blood stained, his head lolled to one side. Harry hoped beyond hope that Neville was just unconscious and not dead. Hermione was clearly awake, but she was petrified with fear, blood was gushing out of a long deep cut on her cheek. To the right of Hermione, and with his back to Harry and Ron stood Ollivander, his wand was trained on the two captives, he too looked worse for wear. However, the most frightening sight in the room was a massive forty foot snake, which had raised it's head up to ceiling level. Its jaws were wide open poised to strike, slime dribbling from its mouth as it anticipated a tasty meal. The snake hissed softly as it opened its eyes preparing to go for the kill.
Ron and Harry burst into the room together. Ron screamed, "Avada Kedavra," and a shot of green light emerged from his wand, causing Ollivander to fall to the floor, while simultaneously Harry hissed "No Stop!" in parseltongue. Nagini the snake paused for a second as if pondering what Harry had said. But as she couldn't see the disillusioned wizards, the giant serpent shook its head slowly before lowering its on Hermione and Neville.
"No, leave them alone and go back to Brazil where you belong." Harry hissed at the snake in as threatening manner as he could. He brandished his wand flamboyantly as he cancelled his disillusionment charm, desperately trying to distract the reptile. If only he could get it to look at him, then he could blast it in the eyes; the most vulnerable part of a serpent.
This time the snake paused for a long while before replying. "Amigo, I remembersssss you, you freed me from ze zoo." As it turned to look at Harry, they were both distracted when Ron called out, "Accio, Ollivanders Wand." There was a faint whooshing sound, which got progressively louder, as several hundred wands, many still in boxes, made their way up from the cellar and completely buried Ron from sight. Harry quickly turned back to the boa constrictor which had lowered its head.
"I will not kill your friendssss" it hissed as is started to slither out of the room.
"Wait," Harry called after it, "I can't let you go because you're a Horcrux."
The snake looked confused, "A Horcrusssss?" Harry proceeded to explain the ritual to the snake, "Spellsssss, no, ussss serpentsssss won't allow anyone to cast magic on usssss. Voldemort milked me and drank it to survive. He never cast anything on me."
Ron had staggered out from under the pile of wands and had freed Hermione, who had immediately started berating him for his stupid summoning spell. To shut her up, Ron had kissed her. Harry turned away from Nagini in confusion, as the snake slithered out of the door. Dumbledore had been adamant that the snake was a Horcrux. He shook his head and moved over to enervate Neville, who thankfully regained consciousness and started to groan. Harry didn't want to interrupt his friends but was desperate for answers, so he gave an Umbridge like cough and asked. "What happened here Hermione?"
"To start with it went according to our plans. We kept watch on the house from the village using a pair of binoculars and as expected everyone appeared to leave. What we didn't know was that many of the more experienced Death Eaters stayed. Neville was adamant that we didn't use the gate to enter the house in case you were correct about it being warded and watched. So under cover of your cloak I checked it out. That reminds me, Accio Cloak."
Harry's invisibility cloak emerged from under Ollivander's body and flew into Hermione's arms. Harry folded it up and placed it in his pocked as Hermione continued. "The gate was warded as you warned us, so we assumed you were right about it being watched too. Neville acted as a decoy and walked up to the gate and opened it, while I worked my way up from the other end of the garden. The watchers underestimated Neville's agility and shield charm, and as soon as they stood to attack him, I felled them from behind." Hermione gulped but continued, "I had to be ruthless, I could not run the risk that they would attack us." Ron moved in to comfort Hermione, but she continued. "The commotion caused the other Death Eaters to investigate, but by this stage Neville and I were well-encamped in the grounds. We picked them off one-by-one as they emerged from the house; that was until I saw Dolohov. He was the one who attacked me in the ministry and killed my parents. I couldn't help it. I lost control when I saw him in the doorway."
"This," Ron waved at the carnage, "was ONE spell?"
Hermione nodded, "I'm not proud I wanted revenge."
Ron turned to face Harry saying, "I told you she was scary mate." Then he realised his mistake and held Hermione tighter, "Wow, that's brilliant dear."
Hermione didn't seem to think it was brilliant though. She continued, "We went into the house, looked in the cellar first where the only thing we found was Ollivander tied up, in a locked room. We freed him and went upstairs to look for Nagini. We found her in the Muggle bedroom alone. As soon as we got in the room, Ollivander who was following behind disarmed and incarcerated us. I should have known when Bill told us that his shop had not been damaged that he was in league with them. He set us up when he heard us coming into the house, cast a few spells on himself and locked the door to make it look like he was a prisoner."
"You couldn't know that," comforted Ron.
"But I should have done. OLLIVANDER is an anagram of AN EVIL LORD," wailed Hermione.