Chapter 18

Severus Snape had always sought order; that is one of the reasons that he excelled as a potions master. He could understand an object's properties and determine the best way to apply them in combination with other objects in order to assure a final product of the highest caliber. This day was not going according to Snape's plan. The disappearance of the Carrows had put the former head of Slytherin house into a precarious position. By killing Albus Dumbledore, Snape had made an unequivocal declaration of his support for the Dark Lord Voldemort. However, the disappearance of the Carrows right before the final battle reeked of duplicity and Snape knew that the Dark Lord would not suffer traitors.

Did Severus imagine that there would be any time for those who openly stood against the Dark Lord to raise the alarm and mount a resistance within the walls of Hogwarts? No, he assumed that the Dark Lord's march would be uncontested. In all of his planning, Dumbledore had never emphasized the importance of holding Hogwarts against the dark Lord. In fact Dumbledore had on multiple occasions specified that the children must be kept safe even if that meant the resistance abandoning Hogwarts castle. Dumbledore had truly believed that the lessons that he was giving Harry would be what the magical world needed in order to rid the world of the Dark Lord Voldemort forever. Severus had argued endlessly against this but Albus was resolute.

Before the start of the year, Severus had witnessed an insanity growing within the Dark Lord. When Severus had joined the Death Eater cause there was always a hint of wildness and savagery present in the eyes of the Dark Lord. That spark had ignited flames under the Death Eater movement; it was not hard to see that any man who possessed those eyes would be destined for greatness. However a master Legilimency such as Severus Snape prided himself on his ability to read other people and he knew that the look that Voldemort indicated that the once cold and calculating man had been reduced to a feral dog. Was he still incredibly powerful? Yes, but did he have the mental presence to make tactical decisions without over committing? That remained to be seen. Severus knew that the Dark Lord was dangerous, but he would find out exactly how powerful the Dark Lord was during the upcoming battle.

Voldemort and his army had advanced upon the castle, passing the Quidditch Pitch and the Black Lake as they steadily got closer to their ultimate destination. When the group passed the site of Dumbledore's memorial Voldemoret unleashed a blasting spell that did two things. First the spell broke the lid that protected the former headmaster of Hogwarts desecration from the passing of time. Second, it provided the distraction that allowed Voldemort to summon the once powerful wizard's wand, unbeknownst to his loyal Death Eater army.

In a few minutes Voldemort and his army had reached the path that would lead them to the castle's front door. From their position on the bottom of the path Voldemort saw something that incensed his fury. Marching towards his army was a contingent of stone golems that Voldemort recalled from the walls of Hogwarts during the time he spent in the castle under the name Tom Riddle Jr. He would not allow his plans to be thwarted by a simple animation spell. Turning to the section of his army that consisted of giants and trolls, Voldemort ordered his brute force forward to meet the stone golems in combat.

The golems of Hogwarts stood over eight feet tall and were all armed with a sword, an axe, a spear, or a mace in addition to a shield. Every golem in the castle had been animated so there were close to 160 golems in the army that Minerva McGonagall had animated to protect the castle and the students. Voldemort's response force consisted of approximately 30 giants and 80 trolls that had been awed by the giants' power and ferocity. The giants stood on average 23 feet tall; the tallest was closer to 30. Making use of their incredibly long legs the giants quickly met the force of golems. Although the majority of giants were unarmed there were several armed with clubs and maces. Making use of their awesome strength the giants were able to bat the smaller golems aside as they cut a swath through the stone defenders.

Unfortunately giants aren't very smart. Although they were strong enough to bat the golems aside with ease they were not so strong that they could shatter one of the magically reinforced guardians with a single blow. So the golems that had been swatted aside during the initial rush had regrouped and closed in upon the giants who found themselves surrounded. The golems were able to take down just over half of the giants before they were flanked by the trolls. Fortunately the trolls and the golems were fairly evenly matched in terms of strength. However, under the combined might of the giants and the trolls, the golems were falling at a much more rapid rate. After five minutes there were only 60 golems left to take down five giants and 70 trolls. The golems were fighting valiantly but eventually they would be overwhelmed. By the time the last giant was slain there were only twenty golems left to attempt to overcome a force of trolls over twice their number. A short while later, the last golem was reduced to rubble survived by a group of fifteen blood-lusting trolls.

Voldemort was very pleased. He understood that a war would not be determined by an individual battle but at the same time he recognized that by winning as many individual battles as possible one could maneuver into the best position to win the war. The loss of the giants was regrettable but they had not been meant to survive the battle anyway. The fact that their deaths bought the passage of the main contingent of his army into Hogwarts was justification enough for their presence in his army. He knew how resistant the stone golems were to spell damage; if the wizards in his army were made to face the golems then the casualties would have been much higher and the battle result much different. With a sweep of the Elder wand the remains of the destroyed golems, vanquished giants, and dead trolls parted to reveal an unobstructed path leading to Hogwarts.

For the first time in many years Hogwarts would be the site of a war that could decide the fate of the magical world. When she had begun the process of raising the defenses around Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall had taken the first step to assure that the darkness would not snub out the light. After casting the protective dome she rallied the teachers and had everyone meet together in the room of requirement so that they could have one last strategy session before they each took their destiny into their own hands and fought for their future against the tyrant who sought to subjugate the magical Britain and the whole world. It warmed her heart to see the way that people came together at such a tumultuous time.

Minerva had seen for herself the army that Voldemort had assembled to march against the castle. Although many had heeded the call to fight in the upcoming battle it was undeniable that Voldemort's forces outnumbered those who sought to protect Hogwarts 2:1 and that was not counting the dark creatures that he convinced to fight on his side. The Death Eater army had destroyed the golems, it was time to act. Minerva had a plan; instead of meeting a numerically superior force head on in a fight that would inevitably result in a tremendous amount of casualties, a small contingent would meet the invaders in the courtyard and attempt to draw them into the castle where the hallways would negate their numerical superiority to an extent.

Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Ron Weasley, Cho Chang, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter had elected to be part of the force designed to lure the Death Eaters into the school. Although none of them would say it aloud, the situation looked hopeless; thirteen witches and wizards standing alone against hundreds seemed suicidal. However, the group was banking on the fact that Voldemort's desire to be the one to kill Harry would impede his judgment enough for him to march his army into the traps that Fred and George Weasley were busily setting throughout the castle.

On the opposing side Voldemort had seen the measly force that had assembled in front of Hogwarts. He could address them from his army's current position but the effect would be much grander if he brought his army closer so that they could see just how futile superior his forces were. The group standing in front of Hogwarts was a mere fifty paces away when Lord Voldemort raised his hand to signal to his army that they were to stop marching. Once his army had come to a halt, Voldemort addressed the group that stood between him and Hogwarts.

"My fellow witches and wizards lay down your wands and embrace me as your leader. I have no desire to turn the ground red with precious magical blood. As you can see, you have no hope of defeating my forces. If you defy me then the most that you could hope to achieve is a quick death and I guarantee you that your death will be as prolonged and agonizing as possible. My army has already defeated the protectors that the Founders stationed at Hogwarts to protect the castle. The Founders couldn't stop me, what chance do you have? You have two options; give me Harry Potter and swear your allegiance or die."

"We will never join you, Riddle," shouted Harry. "I know what you did to survive that night and have made sure that magic would be unavailable to you today. You present yourself to be an all-powerful ruler when you and I know that you are only a shade of your former self. You may have been able to bully those sheep behind you into following you today but your bullying ends here. We will stop you!"

"You dare use that name? You will die by my hand; there is no one around to protect you anymore. The old fool died on my orders, your no-good god-father died because of visions that you were too weak to stop me from placing in your mind, your fellow champion fell as I was resurrected, and your parents never stood a chance. Your luck has run out. Tonight there will be nowhere for you to run. Tonight will be your last!" promised Voldemort as his eyes shone with a maniacal gleam.

"You have had plenty of opportunities to kill me Tom, you couldn't even kill me as a defenseless baby, what chance do you have now that I have had the opportunity to study magic," taunted Harry. "You want us? Come and get us!"

"Kill them all, but leave Potter for me," ordered Voldemort as he pointed to the group that dared to oppose him. His Death Eaters surged forward. In addition to the thunderous sound of a charging army there was a series of popping sounds. The fastest of the Death Eaters, the werewolves, thought nothing of it as their targets stood their ground. Unfortunately, for Fenrir Greyback and his fellow werewolves, the sounds had come from Firenze and the centaurs who had marched out of the forest into combat to stand with the Hogwarts army against the tyrannical Voldemort. The rain of arrows killed many werewolves, but those who survived regrouped with the trolls, under Voldemorts command, and advanced upon the centaur position.

Voldemort was nonplussed by this, he had not anticipated the centaurs becoming involved in a war between wizards. This oversight was not incredibly detrimental to his purposes. He hoped that those filthy creatures would kill each other off so that the world could go on as it was supposed to be, with wizards holding unquestionable dominion over all. Those creatures had been brought for intimidation and distraction. He and his followers still had numerical superiority and would not be denied. By the time Voldemort had succeeded in sending the werewolves and trolls against the centaurs he looked back to where those fools had stood against him and found the spot empty with the doors of Hogwarts open like a great maw, ready to swallow those who dared to violate the sanctity of the castle. Any sane person would have realized that it was an obvious trap; however Voldemort had stopped being sane a long time ago. Staying behind so that he could watch the progress of both contingents of his army Voldemort ordered his Death Eaters to storm the Halls and kill everyone that they came across, except for the boy. Harry Potter would be killed by him and him alone!

AN: This chapter came to me as a flow of ideas and, because of that, it was really to write. I hope that it doesn't come off as too technical. The final battle is probably going to happen in chapter 20. The next one will deal more with the individual battles that the defenders of Hogwarts find themselves in against the Death Eaters. I hope that you liked the chapter. Please take a minute to write me a review and tell me what you thought about the chapter. Next chapter will include some characters dying; if there is anyone that you want to see more of let me know in a review and I will take it into account.