It took me a little longer to update than I expected, but here it is. And the next update will probably be quicker.
And I just decided to give the chapters actual titles.
II(:
Chapter five, in which Ass is Kicked
Luna spun around, wand in one hand, frying pan in the other. There were so many of them. She blocked a stone-tipped arrow with the pan and cast a Stunner at the nearest elf. Nothing happened. Marie laughed.
'Magic, Lovegood?' she said, sounding amused 'Magic won't stop us. We are magic!'
Luna turned towards her again and hit her hard with the frying pan. The elf shrieked in pain. There were too many others, though. As she slipped her wand back into her pocket, Luna realised there was something in there. A coin?
XXX
Compared to the chaos by the lake the Gryffindor Common Room seemed like a completely different world. In the armchairs by the fireplace Harry was discussing Quidditch tactics with Ginny. At the table in the corner Hermione was patiently explaining the Transfiguration homework to Ron. It was just another quiet afternoon.
Suddenly Harry felt something in his pocket grow suddenly warm.
'What happened?' Ginny asked, looking concerned.
Harry reached into his pocket and produced what looked like a large gold coin.
'It's the DA Galleon!' he said, surprised. He had almost forgotten about the coin now that the war was over and Dumbledore's Army no longer really existed, and only carried it with him out of habit. He had not expected this.
'Ron! Hermione! Come here, will you?'
His friends looked up from Hermione's notes. Ron stood up with enthusiasm and ran over to Harry. Hermione took a moment to collect the papers before following him. Harry handed her the coin.
'It's not supposed to do this, is it?'
The girl examined the Galleon carefully for a moment.
'It looks like someone's calling us,' she finally declared.
'Who would be doing it now?' Ron said sceptically 'And why?'
'I'm not sure,' Hermione said urgently 'but they need us right now.'
Harry quickly got to his feet and turned around to see his girlfriend doing the same.
'Stay here, Ginny,' he said 'I don't want you to get hurt.'
'If you're going,' the girl said fiercely 'I'm coming with you.'
XXX
So they were coming. As if her job wasn't difficult enough as it was. How had Dumbledore managed it all anyway? McGonagall decided to have a meeting with her staff this evening. She had to increase security. Forbid the students to leave the castle, warn the teachers and… do something about it. And keep an eye on O'Doome in case Lovegood was right. All that without telling everyone what exactly was going on. If she told them the elves were coming… Some people could be such fools when it came to elves. Maybe they should be told, but this was not the right moment. McGonagall looked out of the window. Sometimes it helped her think. Not this time, though. The Headmistress stood up so quickly her chair fell over with a clatter and rushed over to the window.
'Is something wrong, Minerva?' asked the portrait of Albus Dumbledore.
She ignored him. There were people out there! And elves!
XXX
It looked like a battle. There were lots of… people around, armed with bows and strange knives. There was something not quite human about them, Harry thought. And there were Luna and Marie in the middle of the strange crowd, fighting, apparently. A frying pan was involved somehow, although from the distance Harry couldn't quite make out how. Neville was standing behind a tree on the edge of the battlefield, watching the battle and looking as confused as Harry felt. They ran to him.
'What's going on?' Harry asked.
'We need to save Luna,' Neville said 'I think. Or Marie. I don't know any more.'
'Is that why you called us?' Hermione asked.
'I didn't.'
'Luna did, then,' Ron said.
He raised his wand, but Neville grabbed his arm.
'Magic won't stop them.'
XXX
The battle went on. Someone had ran back to the castle to bring something that could actually be used against the elves. McGonagall and Hagrid had showed up, armed with an old sword, probably borrowed from one of the suits of armour in the hall and a sword-sized kitchen knife respectively. A few elves had been killed. One had fallen into the lake and possibly been eaten by the Giant Squid, and Neville had managed to introduce another one to the Whomping Willow.
Things weren't looking so good for Harry, though. He was surrounded, disarmed and bleeding from many wounds.
'What are you going to do now, boy?' an elf taunted him 'Bleed on us?'
Harry considered the possibility. He could vaguely remember someone telling him that blood contained iron. It was stupid. But so was letting them kill him without a fight. Desperately, Harry threw himself at the nearest elf. It was a bad move. Sure, it hurt the elf, but it also added to Harry's injuries. 'That's it. I'm dead,' thought the Boy Who Lived. And then he heard beautiful music coming from above. It took him a moment to realise that it was not made by angels coming to pick him up. A moment later a large bird with red and gold feathers landed next to him. He felt his wounds healing… Phoenix tears… Fawkes…
XXX
Somewhere else, deeper in the forest Neville had just been disarmed. This was the worst possible moment. He, Luna and, quite unexpectedly, McGonagall were trying to lure Marie and as many other elves as they could back to the circle stone circle. McGonagall was still fighting Marie and Luna was becoming scarily good at wielding the frying pan, but the plan still couldn't work without Neville…
And then things started to happen…
For a moment humans and elves alike listened to the beautiful Phoenix song. Then something fell out of the sky and landed at Neville's feet. The boy picked it up before an elf could lay his hands on it. It was the Sorting Hat!
Neville reached into the Hat. There it was. Again. There were going to be more rumours, weren't there? This didn't even prove anything, but try telling this to people who want to believe in you.
He pulled out the sword. Well, it was iron at least. And then he looked up at Marie. She seemed to look a little different now…
She was still beautiful. But it was the beauty of an ice sculpture. Cold, emotionless beauty you could admire, but not love. Even so, he couldn't do it, could he?
XXX
He wouldn't do it, would he? People might have believed in him, but he still wasn't sure if he believed in himself… And besides, he was a teenage boy. Her charms worked best on them. Convince them you're beautiful and suddenly they think they're in love.
The flat side of the sword collided with her face. It drew no blood, but the iron burned…
Marie clutched her cheek and staggered backwards. A little too late did she realise that she had fallen inside the circle. She was falling back into her world. Outside, or possibly somewhere else entirely, the old witch was casting some sort of spell on the stones as the young one gathered more and more iron around them. And the boy with the sword was probably going to be even less merciful towards others of her kind…