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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The End is Nigh

Harry and Hermione were in a telephone box, covered in cloaks, as it descended into the ministry. With them were Teddy, Lily, Rose and Li. A bored-looking door guard greeted them as they arrived. "Name?"

Harry pointed his wand in the man's face. "Harry Potter."

Around the atrium, other boxes were descending. Luna led Angelina, Katie, Lee, Cho and Michael out of one. Kingsley emerged from another with Hagrid, Martin and Emily. Dennis, Demelza, Victoire and Melissa appeared out of the floo network, taking the connection from the Greengrass residence.

"Get the Aurors!"shouted a voice that sounded like Terry.

Percy, Charlie, George, Lisa and Davina came dashing through one of the doorways, wands at the ready. "Don't do anything stupid, Harry!"George shouted.

"Like destroying all the world's magic?"Harry fired back. He hurled an Exploding Charm at the group, who all dodged out of the way.

Oliver, Alicia, Timothy and Helena appeared above them on brooms, raining spells down on the group below. "They've got brooms,"Teddy complained. "Why haven't we got brooms?"

"We have,"Harry answered. He nodded to Angelina, who understood the signal. She, Katie, Michael and Cho retrieved the brooms from their box and took off to face off against their former compatriots.

"I'm seeing an awful lot of friends and family on the other side,"Hermione said quietly.

"Was it going to be any different?"Harry asked.

Rose and Lily stood with them. "Fighting a duel in the ministry atrium against the ministry,"Rose mused. "Not how I intended on ending this year."

"Do we have any sort of plan?"Lily asked.

"Plan A involves winning,"Harry replied. "And seeing how fast Ron's response time is."

Scorpius hurried into Ron's office, where the minister was waiting with Parvati, Hugo, Marie and Seamus. "Harry's here. And he's brought the Order with him."

"How many of them?"Ron asked crisply.

"As far as we can tell, all of them. Fifteen to twenty."

"He's attacking in force,"Parvati realised. "But why?"

"Maybe he wants the Purification Device,"Seamus suggested.

"Harry can be a bit single-minded at times,"Ron agreed. "I'm just not sure this is one of those times. But it needs to be protected all the same. Seamus, you and Hannah go and guard the Device."

Seamus nodded. "You got it, Ron." He hurried out.

"The staff in the atrium need reinforcements,"Scorpius continued.

"Which is probably what Harry intends,"Ron mused.

"You think this is going to be the decisive battle?"Hugo asked.

"I'm almost certain of it. He wants to bring this to a head. Which is good, because that's what I want too."

"We're all here with you, minister,"Marie asserted.

"Glad to hear it. Well, then. Let's give Harry what he wants. Get as many people together as you can. We're going to the atrium."

James was in his classroom, trying to teach Muggle Studies to a group of bored third years. "So, as we've established, muggles do not use forms of transport like brooms and apparating. However, they do have other forms of transport, many of which are similar to those used by the magical community. Can you give me some examples?"

A hand shot up. "Trains, like the Hogwarts Express?"

"Correct."

More students called out answers. "Buses, like the Knight Bus!" "Cars!" "Motorbikes!"

James tried to pay attention to what his students were saying but something caught his eye out the window. Neville, Ernie and Angela were dashing across the grounds, apparating as soon as they got outside the wards. "Class dismissed!"he announced.

There was silence for a moment. "Sir?"asked one of the Gryffindor girls.

"For homework, one roll of parchment on muggle transport and how it differs from the wizarding equivalent. You can make a start before your next lesson if you so choose. Dismissed!" James waited until the class had all left before calling out "Neddy!"

A house-elf, one of those assigned to clean Gryffindor Towers, appeared next to him with a crack. "You called, Professor Potter?"

"Are you familiar with the second year students?"

"Yes, Professor Potter."

"Then I want you to find Nymphadora Potter, Beverley Cardogan and Maxwell Jordan of Gryffindor, Bradley Wood of Hufflepuff and Gemini Malfoy of Slytherin. Tell their teachers that I need them and send them to the Head of Gryffindor's office. We've got a journey to make."