Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. His glasses maybe but not him.
A.N. Sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time! Here is the next chapter. More action! PLEASE REVIEW!!
The next morning, Harry woke early. Ron was still sleeping. "Dang, I wonder how he woke up so early the other day." Harry muttered to himself.
Harry got up, dressed, and went to the stairs and then down to the kitchen. When he arrived, he saw Aranea sitting with a mug of some brown liquid in front of her. She looked up and smiled. "Coffee?" she asked.
"Sure, but I never tried it."
Aranea pulled a small coffee jar from a pocket of her robes and began making coffee.
They talked for over two hours before the Weasley's and Hermione got up.
Hermione walked in sleepily and sat down. She muttered something that sounded a bit like a greeting. Harry and Aranea looked at each other with an equally amused look on their faces. A few minutes later, Hermione raised her head and greeted them in a more audible voice.
Ginny arrived at about 8:30. She began to make some bacon and eggs, when Mrs. Weasley entered. She took over making breakfast and Ginny sat down. Ron was the last to come down. After several helpings of food (in Ron's case, seven), they went to Ron's room and began playing Exploding Snap. It got old after a while and Ginny said, "This room is so thick with boredom, you could cut it with a blunt knife."
"Yeah but what can we do?" Harry asked.
Ron replied, "Quidditch can get real old sometimes."
Everybody looked at Ron with surprise. Ron was actually calling Quidditch old? Unheard of. Ron smirked, "I ain't as dense as I once was."
Then, Hermione said, "You guys do realize that there is homework and research to do?"
They all groaned. Then, Ron said, "Who wants to go to Grimmauld Place? We can try to go to Diagon Alley and maybe have some fun there for a change. Maybe we won't have to save the day again from Death Eaters."
Aranea chuckled, "Oh the joy of being friends with you guys. We need to go get our Hogwarts supplies too."
"And birthday gifts for Harry." Ginny sniggered.
Harry looked back puzzled for a minute until he realized his birthday was in two days. "Sixteen," he thought, "Wow I totally forgot," He said aloud.
After a lot of promises to Mrs, Weasley, they flooed to Grimmauld Place met up with Dobby and started out for Diagon Alley. When they reached the Leaky Cauldron, Tom looked up nervously, but he greeted them warmly when he saw who they were. After a butterbeer, (Harry's treat to his friends) they walked through the barrier to Diagon Alley. The place did not have very many people walking around. "What a change, " Harry thought.
They headed to Gringotts first. However, they were halted by a sudden cry from behind them. Without a second thought, they whipped around and drew their wands simultaneously. Dobby leapt in front of them with his hands out and glowing with magic.
The reason of the cry became apparent. Two people were running out of an alley. Ron recognized them and shouted, "Luna, Neville, over here!"
Suddenly what caused them to run became apparent. Five trolls appeared with necklaces on their necks. "Portkeys," Harry thought.
"Hermione, get to the nearest fireplace and call for backup. Ginny, Aranea, Neville, Luna round up the people and get them to Gringotts. Alert the goblins to be ready for an attack. Ron, Dobby, provide cover fire for me. I have a feeling that there are more of Voldemort's forces on the way."
"This is getting old," Ron muttered.
"What are you going to do, Harry?" Ginny shouted over the sudden chaos around them.
"Take out a few more of Voldemort's troops. Go!" Harry said.
He ran to the trolls with Dobby at his side and Ron behind them.
At once, the trolls began swinging their clubs. Several stores were smashed to pieces by the trolls wild swings. Harry Ron and Dobby ran and slid under the lead trolls legs and into the midst of them. The trolls tried to hit them, but instead, they hit each other. Soon the trolls began fighting. Harry and Ron ran to the side with Dobby behind them. After a few well-placed curses the trolls fell. Three were dead from being clubbed. The remaining two were knocked out. Harry looked around breathing heavily. He turned to his friends and said, "Eventful day huh?"
Ron and Dobby nodded. They were just about to head to Gringotts when over thirty aurors and order members arrived. Dumbledore was among them. They took one look at the dead and unconscious trolls and shuddered. Dumbledore walked over.
"Well Harry. It looks like you saved Diagon Alley," he chuckled, "First a muggle park, then the Leaky Cauldron, and now Diagon Alley. Impressive."
Harry sighed, "Yeah and I hate it. Why is Voldemort sending so many of his troops to Diagon Alley's area?"
Dumbledore sighed sadly, "Gringotts. If they take over the bank, we will be severely crippled financially and the wizard community will become even more scared. Plus he would have a huge base of operation. It is said he has a huge island somewhere that he uses as his base, but we have never discovered the location."
"Snape doesn't know where it is?" Ron asked.
"Voldemort has almost every hiding and deceptive spell imaginable on it. It is impossible for anybody without the Dark Mark to get there. That is one of the reason he has every single one of his soldiers wear the dark mark no matter what species it is. It is sort of an entrance card to a gate," said Snape who just arrived.
Snape looked at Dumbledore, "More forces are coming to attack soon. Mostly death eaters but Voldemort mentioned something about his secret weapon coming too.
"How many?" Harry said.
"A lot," Snape said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "I must leave. Voldemort will suspect me if I am seen. Good luck with the battle. Especially against the manticore." With that he vanished under an invisibility cloak.
Harry ground his teeth, "A manitcore? Damn."
Then, the pops of apparation rang through the air and out of the alley came rank after rank of Death Eaters. Harry, his friends, and the Order bolted to Gringotts and built a small semicircle around the building's entrance. Harry and his friends were pushed to the side of the steps ordered to stay behind them. Ginny and Hermione ran to call as many of the Order and aurors as possible with the Gringott's fire.
Harry was about to protest them pushing out of the fighter's ranks when he saw the size of the Death Eater army. Over 200 Death Eaters stood there silently watching the Order members. Dumbledore held up his wand and cried, "Leave you fools. Return to your master if you would like to live. Then, one of the Death Eaters strode forward. Harry and Neville gasped in shock. It was Bellatrix's voice that they heard.
"You foolish old man! Do you really think that you can standup against us? We outnumber you by over 170 soldiers."
Harry and Neville looked at each other and they nodded to each other. They signaled the others to stay and get help. Already, the goblins were arriving from within the bank's vast insides and preparing for battle. Still they were far too outnumbered. Harry and Neville crawled under Harry's invisibility cloak and sneaked through the door and passed the pathetic blockade of goblins and wizards. Without another word they drew their wands and threw off the cloak. Together they shouted, "Diffindo!"
Bellatrix was not prepared. She just looked in shock as the cutting spells hit her and sliced her through the neck and legs. She gave a last gurgle and fell dead.
The Death Eater's gasped and some moaned in horror at what just happened. Then they shouted out and the battle began. Neville and Harry hastily grabbed the cloak and ran back to Gringotts. When they arrived, they were shocked. Dobby stood there with over 100 house elves. The Hogwarts elves were there waiting for orders. Harry turned to Dobby. "Let's show those bastards that nobody can defeat the forces of light!"
The elves ran through the doors. Over twenty more wizards followed including many of the shop owners that ran to Gringotts for shelter when the trolls attacked and new arrivals from the ministry. Harry, Neville, Ron, and Dobby ran to the side of the battle while the girls gave them cover fire from behind. Meanwhile, the Death Eaters were fighting savagely. Then, they all heard a bellow and there came a manticore. It was a huge brute with a human head and a scorpion tail. It grinned and charged the defenders.
Dumbledore ordered a retreat into Gringotts. He looked, for the first time in his life, scared. Harry watched all this as he fought. He needed an advantage. Manticore's hides were nearly impenetrable with magic. Then, he saw it. The quidditch store. He ran to it with his friends behind. Fortunately, they all weren't hurt yet. When Harry reached the store, he smashed a window with magic and climbed inside. He returned with five broomsticks. He shouted over the manticure's roars, "Mount up and follow me. He swung his leg over the broom, but before he pushed off, he grabbed a large knife from the body of a goblin. Together they kicked off except Neville and Luna who stayed with Dobby and continued to fight on the ground.
Hermione was not too good at flying, but she knew enough to dodge answering spells from the Death Eaters as she and Aranea fired exploding hexes at the Death Eaters. Meanwhile Ginny and Ron began to distract the manticore. Then, Ginny was hit with a purple colored spell. She began to fall. Ron zoomed down after her. The Death Eaters were getting ready to fire at him when Aranea pushed forward and smashed into the Death Eaters ranks. Turmoil ensued in the ranks as Aranea sped upward to Ginny and together with Ron grabbed Ginny and flew to a window of the wizard bank. Before she began to smash it, it opened, and Lupin grabbed Ginny and hauled her in.
Harry was oblivious to all that was going on. Skillfully, Harry reached the manticore's neck dodging spells along the way. He landed on it, and he drove the knife he held into the monster's neck. Then he drew his wand and shot a fire charm into the wound.
The manticore screeched and the massive beast fell backwards crushing any Death Eater unlucky enough to be behind it. Harry jumped back on the broom and met up with Hermione just as the surviving Death Eaters removed anti-apparation wards they had made and apparated away. Harry and Hermione landed wearily. All the magic they had used really wiped them out. They skirted around the dead manticore and reached Aranea, Ron, Dobby, Neville, and Luna. Together they all went into Gringotts. The survivors were gaping at them all. Even Dumbledore seemed surprised though he hid it better (at least he didn't have a hanging mouth).
Just then, Harry's scar exploded with pain. He screamed as he fell on the ground holding his scar. He began to twitch and soon he was jerking into various positions. Everybody was looking in fear as Harry's friends and Dumbledore knelt around him trying to keep him from hurting himself.
Then, Harry suddenly stopped. His eyes rolled over and he began speak, " You won't control me Voldemort. Not now. Not ever."
Then, his eyes began to glow. Everybody looked terrified as the fire in his eyes grew even fiercer. Then suddenly, the eyes cleared and turned cold. He had a look of deep concentration on his face. After two minutes, it passed. He stood up and looked around. Everybody was looking at him with both terrified and worried looks. Harry stood up and walked to Dumbledore.
"What is it Harry?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
Harry looked at him and said, "The tide has turned."
Dumbledore looked gravely at Harry and asked, "Harry, what do you mean?"
"I saw Voldemort's stronghold through his eyes. It is enormous." Harry said, "He has an army on it. A huge army."
"How many would you estimate?" Kingsley asked.
Harry looked up. He could feel the fear and anticipation growing through out the bank entrance. "At least 8000 soldiers were visible from where Voldmort was. Plus there were caves and dugout trenches. If there were more under the ground, I would say he is at least 10,000 dark wizards and creatures on his side. They were all working. They were digging, training, and preparing."
"Preparing for what?" Luna asked.
"All-out war."
I hope you liked it! Please review! It makes me want to continue!