A.N. Sorry it took so long to update. Anyway, here is Chapter 9!

Disclamer: I don't own Harry Potter

Harry and his friends got back to the Burrow to find Mrs. Weasley sitting in a chair with an anxious look on her face. She sprang to her feet and grabbed Ron and Ginny into one of her famous hugs. She went on into her muttering as she made lunch for them. After they had eaten, Mrs. Weasley said, "If you guys want, we can go to Grimmauld Place and you can walk to Diagon Alley from there."

"But we don't have our Hogwart's letters yet." said Aranea.

As if by clockwork, several owls swooped in with their letters and OWLs. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Aranea all laughed and opened their OWLs eagerly. Harry stared at the grades he received.

Care for Magical Creatures – O

Transfiguration – E

Potions - E

Astronomy – A

Defense Against the Dark Arts – M

Herbology – O

Divination – T

Charms - O

"Wow!" Ron said, " I have seven OWLs with two O's"

After passing them around, (Hermione got all O's except in Astronomy, which she got an E in) they asked what Aranea got. She handed hers over.

Care for Magical Creatures – E

Transfiguration – E

Potions - E

Defense Against the Dark Arts – E

Herbology – O

Charms - O

Arithmancy – A Muggle Studies- A

Astronomy- D

"Good job Aranea!" Harry exclaimed. Aranea blushed. Something she did not do very often.

Suddenly, Hermione gasped, "Harry, you got an M!"

"What is an M mean?" asked a puzzled Ron

"An M is the hardest grade to get. It stands for miraculous. Only two people in Hogwarts history have received an M in anything."

"Who were they?" Aranea asked.

"Dumbledore and Voldemort. Dumbledore was a master at Transfiguration. Voldemort's M class is not known." Hermione replied quietly.

Harry's eyes grew huge with surprise. He just made history. "Great. Just what I need. Another reason to be famous."

"Don't worry Harry. OWL results are confidential. Also, the M means that you get to skip DADA for the rest of your school career, but you have to still do NEWTs to get credit for it."

Harry replied, "I think that I will keep going to DADA anyway."

Then, Ginny spoke, "Well guys, are we going to Diagon Alley or what?"

After pocketing their supplies list, they each took a pinch of floo power and shouted, " Grimmauld Place!"

"Well, the place looks much better than last year." Harry thought as he looked around the room that he had just entered.

Indeed, it did look better. The walls were washed and redecorated. The dusty furniture was clean, and many of the items in the room made the room look more welcoming. Then, Harry was knocked over by a small figure slamming into him. Harry laughed, "Hey Dobby, the house looks great."

"Dobby is glad you are liking it sir. Winky has been helping too," the elf replied.

"Aranea, meet Dobby, the coolest elf I have ever met."

Dobby jumped for joy with his eyes brimming with tears from the compliment that he received from what he thought was the greatest wizard ever. Aranea smiled at Dobby and shook his little hand. The house elf was now stunned. He was being treated like he was a human being instead of a slave.

"Listen Dobby, we are heading to Diagon Alley. Do you want to come? You would need to come invisible so that the Muggles don't see you."

Dobby immediately jumped again and eagerly agreed. The five students and an invisible house elf started heading to the Leaky Cauldron laughing and talking.

When they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Dobby reappeared, and they decided to grab a butterbeer before heading to Diagon Alley. Tom was very pleased to serve them. There were barely any people sitting around and none of them seemed cheerful and relaxed.

Harry looked on sadly. "Voldemort is winning fast."

"How?" Ginny asked, "I don't see anything."

Ron rolled his eyes, "Because people are terrified of him. His tactic of making everyone fear him is working quickly. Look around," he said as he waved around the room, "Do you see many people around. They are too scared to come out of their homes to fight or even LIVE!"

Everybody stared in shock. "Ron, that was amazing." Hermione finally said.

"What?" he asked.

"You just proved that you are able to notice things," Hermione replied with a hint of amusement on her face.

"Gee thanks," Ron replied sarcastically.

Aranea cleared her throat. "Shall we be off?"

"Yup, let's go!" said Ginny.

"Well, well. Who do we have here?" came a hated voice.

"Hello Malfloy," replied Harry without turning around, "Had a good summer?"

"Quite," Malfloy replied.

At that moment, Narcissa entered the pub. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Harry and his friends. Then she saw Dobby. Immediately, she drew her wand and began to say an incantation.

Harry reacted quickly. He jumped over the table and grabbed Dobby just as a flash of light came shooting passed where Dobby was just sitting. Suddenly, screams could be heard outside the pub door. Harry jumped to his feet while drawing his wand. He cast a charm that tied both Draco and his mother in ropes. Then, he called Tom, who ran to the table. "Tom, call the ministry and Dumbledore. Tell them that the Leaky Cauldron is about to be attacked, and we need reinforcement. Hurry!" Harry shouted.

Then without a word he ran out the door closely followed by his friends. There were Death Eaters, over a hundred of them. There were many bodies lying around the ground. Harry saw the body of a young girl. She was not more than eight years old. Muggles were running all over the place. Many were being shot down while running away. Fury and hatred flashed in Harry's eyes and heart. Without a second thought, he charged the Death Eaters. Many of them shot spells at him, but Harry deflected them easily. Firing spell after spell, he smashed into one of the Death Eaters. He lifted the rather small Death Eater bodily off the ground and threw him into the Death Eater's ranks. The Death Eaters laughed and began to surround Harry. Over twenty wands were pointed directly at his heart, with eighty more waiting to take over a place in the front row. Then Harry's friends reacted and began firing spells at the Death Eaters from behind them. Harry looked from side to side and suddenly spun around a full 360 degrees while shouting, "Diffindo!"

The first row immediately fell dead with severed heads or bodies. Harry repeated the process, but this time the Death Eaters were ready and many cast shield charms to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, Aranea, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were busy firing stunning spells as quickly as possible. Dobby had disappeared. Then a flash of red light struck Ginny and she fell to the ground unconscious. Ron ducked down and shouted, "I am getting her to the Leaky Cauldron. Watch our backs." With that he lifted her and ran to the pub.

The few wizards in the Leaky Cauldron were huddled in a corner. Ron shouted, "You cowards! Defend your lives, your home, your world, whatever! Fight back." With that he ran from the room.

When he came out, Harry was still surrounded by Death Eaters. He was wounded in many places, but still, he stood tall and straight with his wand flashing spells so fast that the shield charms of the Death Eaters could not withstand the constant barrage of fire. Aranea and Hermione looked exhausted, but they still fought on as well. Death Eaters were falling left and right.

Then the door to the Leaky Cauldron swung open, and the few wizards that were in the pub began to fight. Two fell immediately, but three more managed to stun five Death Eaters that were sneaking up on Ron. After that the Death Eaters fired back. Two fell wounded, but one fell dead. Then, Aranea was hit with a fire charm and her robes burst into magical flames. Hermione turned and put out the fire, but the Death Eaters saw their chance and shot two spells into Hermione's back. She fell to the ground in a heap.

Then, several more pops could be heard and the Ministry's aurors and many members of the Order attacked the Death Eaters.

Harry was beginning to fall when the reinforcements arrived. One of the Death Eaters, seeing a chance of favor in the eyes of his master, began to fire a Killing Curse. At that moment, Dobby appeared behind him. He released a ball of fire from his hands and fired it into the Death Eater's back. He fell dead with a hole in his chest. Dobby then sprang to Harry's side and began to cast exploding spells into the dwindling ranks of the Death Eaters. Within three minutes, the remaining Death Eaters apparated away.

Dobby immediately began healing Harry's wounds with his elf magic. Harry rose to his feet and looked around. Moody limped over. "Another attack and this time in broad daylight in Muggle London on the same day. This is going to take a lot of memory charms to fix," he said.

Harry nodded and limped to where Ron and Aranea stood. They were helping the aurors figure out the number of dead people. He began to help when healers from Saint Mungos appeared. Soon Ministry obliviators arrived and began the hard process of sorting this mess out.

After over two hours of searching and healing, the number of dead people was discovered. It was not pretty. Harry ground his teeth, "Forty-six Death Eaters, nine wizard, and thirty-seven Muggles are dead. With over one hundred-fifty wounded from all three categories! This is infuriating," he shouted as he slammed his fist into a lopsided street lamp.

Remus walked over and said, "Harry, over twenty of the dead Death Eaters have been cut in some way. I take it you used a cutting hex?"

"Yeah, and they deserved it," Harry growled.

Hermione came over slowly. It was apparent that she was in pain. He hurried over and together with Ron, they led her into the Leaky Cauldron. Ginny had regained conciousness and was sitting at a table with a sad expression on her face.

Harry sat down and began to stare into space. Then suddenly, he heard something faintly. It sounded like a scream. He snapped out of his thought and looked around. The pub was dead quiet.

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