AN: *Insert huffy disclaimer here*
AN2: The start of this chapter has fairly graphic images of violence and gore, you've been warned.
-:-
Chapter Ten: Cornered
With only two days remaining till the start of term the young adults spent much of their time at Grimmauld place; they had barely seen Sirius since the summer and Harry had been feeling a bit heartsick. Fortunately there was an easy remedy to that and they enjoyed spending time with his Dogfather. His easy wit and jovial ribbing of the two teens managed to take the edge off the tension the holiday attacks had wrought. But it was only a slight improvement.
Remus had only arrived back headquarters on the last day of the holidays and both Harry and Hermione had been shocked at his state. Many new scars had appeared on his lanky frame and what little they could devise from the situation made it look like the few Werewolves still aligned with the light were fighting a losing battle. Remus' haggard appearance seemed to confirm this and the two teens ended up going back to school with another weight of worry on their heads; that they might never see the world worn but kind friend of Harry's father.
The trip back to Hogwarts on the Express was a grim one for Harry and Hermione. They were fully aware now of what had happened in the attacks on Christmas Eve; they had confirmation that Valmortis was on the move again, and the whole of Magical Britain was tensed for the next attack, scuttling from shadow to shadow, hoping not to be noticed.
Emma and Dan had given the two teens strict instructions to find time for each other and not just their studies with the run up to OWLS in the second half of the school year, not to mention the training that the Regiment would undergo. Both parents, and indeed Sirius Remus and Alastor were all proud of the progress the two teens had made in all manner of subjects and goals.
Harry and Hermione hoped that the regiment would get at least a few more months of training before they were tested, as it was looking more and more like Voldemort was preparing to seize the prophecy even at risk of conflict. There were no illusions, if the Death eaters struck Hogwarts; the Regiment would have to be ready to repel them at least long enough for the combative elements of the order arrived. And both Harry and Hermione agreed that if Voldemort got his hands on the prophecy, the strike on Hogwarts would not be long in the coming.
Many members of the Regiment passed by the carriage, and Parvarti actually stayed with the for the latter half of the trip, getting to know her friends better. Hermione was still somewhat cautious around the witch who had teased her for much of her early years at Hogwarts, but that tension was slowly dissolving into an easy camaraderie.
That was not to say that Pavarti was not nervous, she had flown forwards in leaps and bounds, displaying the power, drive and tactical talent that had seen her selection for the command squad of the Regiment, but she was still just a girl, and much the same as it had been before Christmas her natural, even slightly above average, insecurities and fears were beginning to show.
Hermione did what she could to allay those fears, and Harry input what he could through the bond, well used to calming Hermione when she started panicking about anything. But both were wondering if it was still a good idea for Pavarti to be a part of the top squad, not because they didn't trust her, but rather because they weren't sure it was fair to shove her into this position. Hermione was sure Pavarti's grades would suffer with all the training and stress, but the young woman firmly told them off. They had handpicked her for this, she wouldn't let them down.
When at first the teens had boarded the train and more when they had been transported to King's Cross. They were sure Voldemort, or more likely Valmortis, would have a trap waiting for them. But upon arriving they had seen dozens upon dozens of aurors in the crowd, looking like strange holiday revellers in the primarily business suit clad crowd. The train was patrolled by aurors and the regiment itself was on high alert. Thankfully none of it was needed; perhaps Valmortis had no way of easily striking at such a high value target after the Christmas attacks.
When at last the train pulled in at the station Harry had to think long and hard whether he still trusted Hogwarts as much as he used to, truly the school had never been very safe and all manner of dangers had existed within it before. But now the query was to the outer defences of the castle, threats from within were known quantities now, almost expected. But threats from without? They could take the entire castle by surprise.
In the end Hermione had to tug him across the wind swept street to the carriages, if only to get him out of the sleet and rain; somehow to all three teens, the castle looked more ominous than usual.
-:-
The Great Hall was packed when Harry, Hermione and Pavarti finally managed to get inside. Auror's were standing around the edges of the room and Harry had spotted even more in the entrance hall. He frowned slightly; the formation of the Regiment was ostensibly to lessen the number of Aurors needed at Hogwarts so that they might be better used out helping the community, then again, many of these Aurors looked new, fresh, and green.
He handed Hermione into her seat, and was rewarded with a beaming smile, and purely out of instinct handed Pavarti into her seat as well, the blushing smile was worth it if only to feel Hermione's slightly jealous jab at Pavarti in the bond. Reassuring her of his devotion to her later would be fun.
Typically there wasn't a feast for the end of Christmas break, and Harry rather thought that Dumbledore was making a point, a statement with the heavy Auror presence. Perhaps to make the students feel more secure. Honestly Harry and Hermione both just felt boxed in, Hermione more than Harry. She still hadn't forgiven the headmaster for what happened to Harry under the Dursley's care, he would bear the scars of that time for the rest of his life, and for that she could never forgive the aging man.
There were no speeches after the feast, everyone just kind of filtered away and Hermione felt that the whole event was rather put upon, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Umbridge had all looked extraordinarily tense throughout the affair and Hermione suspected that there was more going on than either of them knew. She just thanked her lucky stars that Fudge wasn't still in office, else the scene might have had much more sinister undertones. Quietly Hermione wondered how tense the school was going to be as exams approached and this even more stifling Auror presence was maintained.
-:-
The two teens felt very out of sorts as they sat side by side on the couch in front of the fireplace in the commons they shared with Pavarti. The other witch was sitting curled up in one of the wingbacks and was eyeing her DADA text with a pinched expression. All three of them felt like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the next big thing to hit. Christmas had been a shock to the system for the whole of Britain, muggle and wizard alike, for wizarding Britain however it was much more severe.
They were reminded again that they were dealing with an implacable enemy, one who would continue to haunt them with vicious attacks. Amelia had been run ragged at the ministry trying to find a solution to the issue and much to Harry's annoyance her efforts had been focused on the school. He wondered idly if it was because of the threat to the school itself, the threat to him, the boy who lived, or to Susan Bones. Either way Harry would have much preferred the Auror's to be out hunting the man, rather than sitting around playing babysitter.
That said he was only a teenager, and of course unable to make any kind of reasonable strategic observation. Hermione cuffed him on the ear for that thought only to kiss his neck a second later by way of comfort. They were roused from their thoughts by Pavarti who had locked eyes on them with a pensive expression. They both waited patiently for the forthcoming statement, or question, and they were not disappointed as a second later the Indian heritage witch spoke with a thoughtful tone.
"The fight is going to come to Hogwarts isn't it? I mean, let's be honest, there's no other good reason the Aurors would be here, and Madam Bones isn't so daft as to position what looks like about half her brigades at the school without a good reason. So I can only guess that she and her staff are expecting an attack here."
Harry wasn't really surprised that Pavarti was thinking along the same lines as him, there was a reason he and Hermione had picked her to be their third for any scraps the regiment got into and it wasn't her bust size. He ran her words over in his mind and nearly slapped himself for being so dense. Of course they were expecting an attack here, there really was no other good reason for what looked like thirty Aurors, on top of the fifteen typically stationed at the school, to be here; let alone Dumbledore, Umbridge the teachers, and even the regiment.
Harry leaned forwards a little, resting his forearms on his knees, head slightly bowed as he thought. If they were expecting an attack here, then it must be a big one. The castle's wards were formidable; the existing defenders were colossally strong. That must mean that whatever was coming was huge, numbers or mass Harry wasn't sure, though he bet on numbers, mass was much harder to hide from muggle satellites. Besides, the only things with enough mass to be truly dangerous were Giants, and the Order had intel that suggested they hadn't even reached the coast yet, apparently they were frightfully slow swimmers and finding a spot to have them enter the channel was challenging when so many Muggles enjoyed the beaches on a regular basis.
So yes, that meant numbers, which probably meant Valmortis. Voldemort's death eater numbers had been minimalized in the last few months, but if Valmortis was using the undead then his numbers could be astronomical; which lent even further credence to the idea that an attack was coming. Harry and Hermione had discussed this at length, Voldemort's goal was the prophecy, that hadn't changed, and Valmortis was interested in striking the greatest blow to Britain that he could. What better way than to slaughter the next generation of magicals? Harry's eyes hardened as he considered what was coming: Sieging the castle by traditional means was impossible, the elves could keep the place fully self-sufficient for years. So that meant some kind of assault, an assault that might put the entire castle at risk. And yet Dumbledore had let the students return? Why?
"To bait the trap Harry"
He looked sideways at Hermione who had an equally grim look on her face. Pavarti butted in with a concerned tone.
"What trap?"
Harry turned to look at her.
"What you said makes sense, there has to be some kind of attack coming, but why attack the castle? Its way out in the middle of Scotland, no strategic significance as most wizards and witches can't apparate from here to any real point of interest in the country, and actually taking the castle is a formidable task in and of itself. So why waste the resources? We're here, that's why, the students of this castle, the children of the witches and wizards that could stand against the dark dicks. Either they'll want to kill us, or hold us hostage; the latter I think is more likely."
He took a deep breath before continuing.
"That means there's a colossal force heading out way, big enough to take and hold the castle, big enough to hold a few hundred teenagers hostage. Big enough to make Dumbledore and Umbridge call for reinforcements. But Valmortis, and I'm sure it is Valmortis, wouldn't attack if there was no value, which means they had to let the students come back to school, to bait him into attacking the castle they've put everyone here in danger. It's strategic though, either they can bait him into attacking here, where the biggest juiciest target is, and put us in danger, or they can let him and his army roam about slaughtering as they please."
He was riled up now and talking a mile a minute.
"But what if he sees the trap? What if he doesn't decide to go for it and does simply roam about the place slaughtering as he pleases? Most of the Auror's are here, where they can't react quickly to threats. It could take minutes for information to reach us here even via floo communication. Valmortis could gut London with an army big enough to threaten the castle, and we wouldn't even know until it was over."
If he was being honest with himself he had probably laid it on a little thick. Hermione's fingers pinching the inside of his thigh agreed with him and he winced slightly. Cooling his heels sounded like a good idea right now, it was a wonder he wasn't up and pacing and Pavarti looked, frankly, terrified. Sighing slightly he slumped forwards back onto his forearms and Hermione took over.
"The point is that we're locked into this course of action now, the regiment will have to be prepared for battle, and across the country people are going to have to go into hiding. Everything hinges now on Valmortis' hubris, it hinges on whether he's arrogant enough to think he can beat us here. Honestly it hinges on whether he can. At this point there's something like forty or fifty Auror's in the castle, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Umbridge, the other teachers, the regiment, and maybe fourteen other students who'd be skilful enough to fight; maybe a hundred fighters full told. Valmortis will hit us with hundreds of undead, it seems to be his preferred method of attack and honestly I can't blame him, they're strong, magically powerful, and utterly expendable. This is going to come to a head, and soon."
Harry stood and moved to the window to look out over the grounds. The gates in the distance seemed horribly fragile, and the bridge across the lake was far too wide for his liking.
"We need to talk to the professors, make sure we're part of the planning for the defences, get the twins involved too, they know this school better than anyone."
He nodded at Pavarti's words and waited for Hermione to say her bit.
"We'll need to talk to the regiment, inform them of what we think is going on. We have no idea how long we have to train, but we need to be ready. We might even need to apply for time off class."
Harry let a wry grin on his face form at the thought of Hermione voluntarily missing class approaching exams.
"Let's get to it then. No point in wasting time, Pavarti, muster the Regiment, you too Hermione. I'm going to go talk to Professor Dumbledore, Hermione can liaise between us."
Hermione stood from the couch and walked over to him, understanding immediately he opened his arms and wrapped her in a tender hug. No words passed between them but a wealth of emotions flooded through their bond; nervousness, fear, comfort, love. They parted a moment later and Harry swept out of the room, a cloak alighting on his shoulders with a twitch of one hand.
-:-
Hermione watched her man go with a heavy heart, his mind was buzzing with things no fifteen year old mind should be buzzing with. He was so focussed on his task he wasn't even paying attention to her in the bond. That didn't bother her overly; Harry's focus was rather tight after all. His thoughts were filled with tactics and strategy, the concept that some of the students of the regiment might not make it through the next few months, weeks, or even days, and the overwhelming need to protect her.
He shouldn't be thinking of these burdens, he should be worried about exams, or thinking about the last time they'd made love, or something equally teenager-like, Quidditch would be ideal. She wanted that for him, she wanted peace and happiness for Harry. Her gut told her it would be years before they found it though, years and years.
She was jerked out of her thoughts by Pavarti patting her upper arm consolingly before heading through the door to the Regiment commons. There were fourteen doors leading off. Twelve of them led to squad apartments, one led to the rest of the castle and it closed just as they entered, Harry having obviously just left. The last door, being the one they just came from, led to the private apartments shared by Harry, Hermione and Pavarti. There were a fair number of squads still milling about chatting before the various fireplaces or playing card games in corners or around large tables.
Hermione lost track of Pavarti for a moment as she turned to the rune panel next to their door. It was a large steel plate with a variety of runes etched into it. Each was charged with magic and could be used for various functions, including the general summons that Hermione pressed with her index finger. In each of the barracks apartments a chime would sound summoning the regiment to the main commons. Typically they used this in the morning to wake those who still had trouble with rising early, but tonight it was being used to call the regiment to assembly.
Hermione turned to see Pavarti using her wand to clear the various pieces of furniture to the sides of the room, leaving a remarkably large clear area in the middle for the Regiment to assemble in their squads. They came out quickly and formed up into four columns of rows, three rows to a column, three regimentals to a row. It was the simplest way to organise the forty odd members of the regiment in any kind of formal manner.
Hermione felt her nerves as she stood in front of the assembled teens, Pavarti at her side; typically Harry addressed the Regiment as a group, it was his 'baby' after all. And they respected him, he won the duelling competition last year, he won the tournament, he was Harry Fucking Potter, capitalized 'F' thank you very much. But who was she: Hermione Granger, bookworm, teacher's pet, nobody? Well that wasn't exactly true, she had placed eighth in the duelling tournament last year, and she was widely accepted as being the smartest witch of her age. That had to count for something right?
She felt a powerful burst of pride from Harry and nearly wept with the happiness that swept through her, she wasn't sure if it was his emotion or hers. Regardless she was filled with newfound confidence that allowed her to square her shoulder and began speaking.
"We're not sure when, but at some point it is likely an undead army will be attacking the castle, sometime soon. As such we're going to be stepping up training, we're going to be patrolling, and chances are we're going to be asking the teachers to suspend classes…"
-:-
Harry was approaching the headmaster's office at a clipped pace. He looked oddly imposing, though again he wouldn't have thought it himself; his cloak was billowing behind him in an almost Snape like fashion, his brow was furrowed and an aura of magic was flickering about him like static. Most foreboding of all was the faint glow that his eyes had, like green flames filling the insides of his eyes.
The cause of this imposing appearance was the topic of the impending combat that was still racing through his mind. The vicious schemes of megalomaniacal dark lords and their creepy lieutenants should be the things of fable, storytelling. Not real life.
But here they were, a school full of students and aurors about to come face to face with the undead hordes of the aforementioned creepy lieutenant. It was the stuff of nightmares, and the vast majority of the students were totally unaware of the danger they were in. The thought that Dumbledore was using hundreds of children as bait rankled with him to the level that he was no longer thinking in patterns, rather the chaos of his anger had returned.
Hermione's brief foray into self-acceptance had soothed him momentarily, but the horror of what was to come brought back his rage. As he approached the spiral staircase the Gargoyle that was usually such a staunch protector of the headmaster's realms fair scrambled out of the way. Harry didn't even acknowledge the stone sentinel as he stepped onto the staircase and allowed it to carry him upward, and only now did he manage to remember what he had initially come for.
-:-
Alain Fletcher, Auror Captain and bearer of the order of Merlin second class for his actions in the first blood war, was weary of what was to come. The defenders at the castle seemed frail in comparison to the hordes the scouts had reported.
What good would a few score auror's be against hundreds, maybe thousands of undead? Dumbledore would be a boon, certainly, as would Unspeakable Umbridge, he didn't really want to get into a tussle with McGonagall or Flitwick either. So there was some good, but the regiment?
He had been briefed by Rufus, who had in turn been briefed by the minister. The Regiment was apparently the best of the best as far as the Hogwarts student populace could field, and furthermore they were apparently not only the best Hogwarts could offer, but getting up there compared to the Auror's as well.
Sceptical did not cover his thoughts on the matter. That thought rang through his head one last time as Albus droned on before the door to the office he, Albus, Umbridge and a few other teachers, had assembled in, smashed against the wall and a splintering sound was heard as the far edge of the somewhat thick wooden door crunched against the stonework.
The first thing Alain noticed was the inability to do anything, he tried to draw his wand, he tried to turn and face whatever threat was here. But he could not. His body was frozen in place by some magic. He could see it playing at the edges of his vision like an ethereal mist. The next thing he noticed, and probably the next thing everyone else noticed, was the voice.
When the intruder spoke it was with a commanding tone that made the Auror Captain wish he could emulate it purely for effect. The words it was saying notwithstanding.
"Bait! You're using this school as bait! I can't think of a more despicable action than putting hundreds of children's lives on the line you selfish short-sighted old inbred idiot!"
The sentence was spoken with one breath, no pauses, just one stream of words that battered at the ears of those present. A faint voice of protest could be heard, squeaky, as if forced between protesting lips.
"Harry my boy…"
Harry… As in Harry Potter; the self-appointed instigator and leader of the regiment? the boy who lived? Oh dear.
"Shut it. I don't have the patience to listen to you trying to placate me, with meaningless platitudes meant to quieten me down, and put me in a corner to deal with later. You've fucked up, big time. And the students are going to pay for this latest in a long line of stupid fuck ups."
He heard a gasp, it sounded vaguely feminine so he assumed it was Minerva. There was a pause and a couple of heavy breaths, as if Mr Potter was trying to calm himself, apparently it was at least successful as his next words were much calmer, though they had an odd tinge to them, and the cadence was strange.
"We don't have time to be arguing with you right now, and we're sorry for yelling. Ugh, let's just get this out of the way; what do you need from the regiment to make this hare-brained plan work?"
-:-
Hermione had felt Harry's rage building like an onrushing tsunami, there was nothing she could do to stop the initial breaking of it either, he had been bottling this up for a long time, years even, and when Harry's dams broke, they really, really, broke.
She shut him out for a moment as she finished her address to the greater part of the regiment before tapping Pavarti on the shoulder and stepping backwards, she needed to help her mate. His initial ululation had settled and she dove into his mind, bonding with him completely so that she could help him keep his head. Immediately her vision doubled and then, half a moment later, she stopped thinking as 'herself' and started thinking as 'us'.
They spoke through their male body, venting their anger temporarily into the female one so that the meeting with the brass could go well, then, the moment they had what they needed they left the office and let all the anger come rushing back so that he could vent it in an easier fashion: By tossing sorcery out over the ground from the window near Dumbledore's office in the corridor.
Losing his temper was not something Harry did often, for a variety of reasons, but the major one was the feeling of shame he felt afterwards. Raising his voice, yelling, it was not something he enjoyed or even thought was a reasonable response to a situation. He was sure he would go to the various people involved in the meeting later and apologise for his tone, volume and such. Save Albus, the anger Harry was feeling towards the old man was very real very powerful, and unlikely to go away any time soon.
Hermione did her best, she really did, but there was nothing that could be done, Harry would have a reckoning of Albus Dumbledore, and it would not be long in the coming.
-:-
Time passed by in fits and starts from that moment onwards, some moments seemed to speed by like a firebolt, others crawled like the proverbial fire crab. Training flew by, the Regiment was working in tandem with the auror's now, and going about even for victories. Daily the Auror's were shocked at the viciousness and ferocity of the students under Harry's command. They fought tooth and nail with sorcery, spells, hands and feet.
They also fought as a unified force. The aurors were more used to fighting in pairs, and while their knowledge of magic was greater, and their skills were more finely honed, few of the pairs could stand up to even a single squad of the regiment; let alone four or five. The command squad, that is to say Harry Hermione and Pavarti, was totally unbeaten. Harry and Hermione fought with the skill and grace of those many years older than them, and Pavarti was becoming expert in plugging the few gaps in their defences.
All of that aside though, save Dumbledore there was not a single person at the school who could stand up to Harry in a one on one fight and come out victorious. Professor Umbridge had politely declined to duel him when the chance was offered claiming his youthful power and Bond with Hermione would simply overwhelm her.
Despite their perfect record Harry was often in disappointment about their performance, mostly because he would often be left standing alone against whatever odds faced them as first Pavarti, and then Hermione fell around him. Many were the nights where Harry would wonder if even he should come out of the coming conflict alive, would Hermione?
In response Hermione trained even harder than before, striving to at least equal Harry's lethal combat prowess that seemed to come naturally to the embattled teen. That was not to say that Harry was not skilful: He was exceptional at exploiting, often the only, weaknesses in his opponent's defences. He favoured a fast and vicious fighting style that utilized his incredible power reserves to first attempt to overwhelm his opponents through force, the quickest way he could end a duel, and then ever more subtle methods of attack.
Hermione's training more or less involved reaction drills, because that seemed to be where Harry had the edge on her. Surrounded by members of the Regiment and Aurors firing spells at her she would do her utmost to parry or dodge everything, not relying on shields at all. If she got hit, she got hit. Slowly she was seeing improvement, but both Harry and Hermione were frustrated and how slow the progress was. Hermione because of the obvious benefits being more skilled would give her, and Harry purely because when Hermione was frustrated, she got snappish, and a snappish Hermione wasn't hugely fun to be around.
Mad Eye had been recalled to the school and was duelling Harry daily with four other Auror's in a rotating schedule. After the first bites of scepticism revolving around Harry, and by extension the Regiment's, proficiency the Aurors quickly warmed up to their new comrades. Though now they were occasionally bitter about being taken to task by the somewhat raw, but still effective teenage battle unit.
One such skirmish was of particular note; it was the first time the Regiment struck a decisive victory against the Aurors.
-:-
"Right unit one: Angels, Tyrants, and Busybodies, the brunt of the Auror attack is going to fall on the nine of you. You're the best multitaskers from all the squads and you'll need that today, I want to see suppressive fire and mutually supporting shields, unit two; Bitesize and Squad Twelve on the left flank, unit three; Squads Eight and Nine on the right, unit four; vixens, Purepower and Aegis I want you three in position to push through them when they start getting tired, standard assault pattern. Thinktank I want you three holding back with Command, redeploy if one of the flanks looks like it's going to fail. When we see a breach Command will follow unit four in and will engage Alastor and Captain Fletcher, questions?"
"NO SIR"
"Right, let's get moving then, flanks take a slight lead, let's make a kill box and get them mired."
Harry watched critically as the eleven squads rushed forwards to take positions across the entrance courtyard and the quad where the fighting was expected to be most tense in the coming battle. Thinktank Squad, named for it's entirely Ravenclaw membership, was bouncing on their toes, ready to support either of the second or third units if needed, push came to shove Harry would lead the command squad to the other flank if both units were under stress.
They'd fought this combat scenario a few times with the Auror's simulating death eaters sometimes and the Regiment others. Typically the defenders either lost or won depending on the first few minutes; either the centre would crumble or it would hold, that one factor universally decided the battle. Today harry had stationed the three most powerful squads after his own in the centre. The one time when he Hermione and Pavarti had joined the centre they had succeeded in holding the centre but had only just beaten Alastor and Captain Fletcher in the subsequent assault due to fatigue; it was one of the times Harry had been last man standing, it wasn't something anyone wanted to repeat.
The bridge was cluttered with 'Death Eaters' as they rushed forwards, doing their best to get a decent way along the distance before the Regiment got into position. The bridge was, despite its open nature, often a non-entity in the skirmishes as the attacking force used their strongest shielders up front to soak most of the incoming fire spat at them from the defenders. It was when the attackers spilled into the kill box of the quad that things truly got nasty. For once Harry wasn't contesting the bridge, rather he was allowing the Aurors to waste energy shielding while the Regiment conjured barriers of marble as cover.
He and Hermione had argued back and forth with Pavarti over the viability of the contentious decision; the bridge was often seen as the first milestone for victory for the attackers as, typically, a squad was positioned on, or in the entrance to, the long narrow approach. Pavarti had pointed out that letting the Aurors' impetus carry them straight into a more heavily defended kill box in the quad would be a more efficient strategy for the defenders. Harry had been concerned about whether they could actually force the Aurors back if they had such impetus, and Hermione had been doubtful about the viability of spot conjuring adequate fortifications.
In the end they had decided to try the tactic, it wasn't like it cost them anything to lose if things went badly, indeed if things went well then all to the better.
Back in the present Harry noted with some satisfaction that the squads did indeed have the power, speed, and concentration, to spot conjure a full set of fortifications including low barricades and stun spheres; the small ground based packets would detonate in proximity to anyone approaching them from a specified direction. They would spray a foul smelling and massively adhesive substance in the general direction of whatever triggered them.
On the surface this seemed more like a prank than anything else but through heavy testing it was found to be almost impossible to act when you were choking on a truly foul stench and your limbs were glued in place. In short they acted as exceptionally effective mines.
It had been mentioned about a week into the training that the enemies they were likely to be facing in the approaching engagement were unlikely to be actual death eaters and instead would be mostly mindless undead, with some of the higher orders speckled through the enemy ranks. A long discussion had been had as to how to simulate combat against such enemies, in the end it was decided that the defenders would simply cast spells that would be effective against both the living and the dead, blasting curses and sorcels, concussion hexes and wave detonation sorcels.
The result was that the defenders had a slightly harder time of it at first as without jabs and slashes their typical duelling tools were taken from them, but when they figured out how to maximise their abilities the result was that when they won it was a much more satisfying victory that boded well for the coming combat.
Unit one was forced into cover almost immediately as the Auror's came across the bridge and fanned out bringing their full force to bear on the centre of the defenders' formation, knowing that if it cracked they would have the advantage. To Harry's delight they played right into his hands as the attackers' first salvo of eldritch fire and coruscating beams flickered off shields and tore chips from the marble fortifications standing between them and the Regimentals in their way, all in all achieving not a thing.
Busybody Squad, consisting of Fred, George and Lee, were the first to return fire with their own salvo of wave detonation sorcels: A nasty sorcery that created a directional explosion of magic similar in effect to a shotgun, but much, much bigger. The Aurors in the first row were knocked bodily from their feet and were tossed into the ranks behind them by the sheer force of the sorcels. Wave Detonation sorcels were taxing to cast but the results were undeniable. Professor Umbridge had taught them the sorcery in response to harry searching for sorceries and spells that could be used as all-purpose combat tools.
Directly after Busybody squad opened up, so too did Harry's Angels, heavy blasting hexes detonating in the middle of the Auror ranks, were it not for the practise wands the defenders were using the men and women would be obliterated. Finally Tyrant Squad returned fire, and it was spectacular.
Tyrant squad was so named because, apart from Harry and Hermione, they had the highest magical power of any three people in the school, Dumbledore and Umbridge included. The three seventh year Half Bloods were especially talented at a squad favourite sorcel that cast about fifty jabs, one after another, in the space of about three seconds. It was an enormously taxing sorcel but it had proven to be the single most effective way to supress an attacking or defending force. The individual power of each jab combined with the rapidity of the casting meant that not only was it effective against flesh and bone, but the sorcel also decimated shields, shattering them by overwhelming a Witch or Wizard's ability to pump energy into the defence.
The result of this first counter offensive saw the first four ranks of Aurors, about twenty of them all told. Dazed, peppered with bruises, and aching from dislocated joints and bone fractures. Many of them passed out from the shock immediately but the rest tried to stagger to their feet, only to be met by incoming spell fire from the flanks where twelve more Regimentals, six each side, were rapidly casting as many stunners and concussion hexes as possible. In the actual battle the stunners would be replaced with blasting sorcels, but it was agreed on by all the parties involved that the risk of accidentally giving someone a dangerous head injury with the powerful sorcery was too high, even though the restriction provided by the practice wands was significant.
Harry shouted a command and pitched forwards into a sprint, harry and Pavarti at his sides and Unit Four arrayed before them. The defender's centre split apart and two lanes were formed through which Unit Four and the Command squad stormed through, already casting as they ran fierce expressions upon their faces.
-:-
Alastor Moody was annoyed, being beaten to a pulp by Potter, or even Granger, he could tolerate; they had an absurd amount of power available to them. But the counterattack that had flattened the first few ranks of Aurors was almost insulting. He had been confused that the defenders had yielded the bridge and had urged Captain Fletcher into caution, but his old comrade had insisted that the forces encroaching on the castle wouldn't hesitate, and had ordered the Auror's forward.
The result was half of their unit sprawled on the ground either stunned or unconscious, and the remaining Aurors unable to advance over the bodies of their comrades. Before Moody or Captain Fletcher could respond to the startlingly sudden counter offensive a shout had gone up behind the defending front line and almost instantly a surge of defenders had sallied through lanes opened up rapidly in the fortifications.
Six Aurors fell immediately to Potter and Granger's overpowered concussion hexes and were nearly tossed clean over the walls, only the previously erected repulsion wards saved the Aurors from a grisly fate. The remaining attackers hastily threw up shields but they were batted aside almost contemptuously by the Regimentals as they surged forwards. Moody swore loudly and returned fire as best as he was able but a light golden shield had sprung up around the regimentals, the result of the appropriately named 'Aegis Squad'. They had discovered a spell that flooded the air in front of the caster with minute glass beads charged with free magic. Any spell fire entering the cloud would be neutralized almost instantly by the field of magically neutral beads that absorbed the incoming magic and then disintegrated.
This of course prevented the onrushing defenders from firing their own spells but Alastor's worries weren't assuaged as the flanks of Potter's defenders opened fire again, peppering the very open quad with concussion hexes that send bits of stone flying everywhere. All the while the sallying force was approaching rapidly and both Alastor and Alain knew that if they closed into melee the fight was over. Aurors hadn't been trained in close quarters combat for generations but the Regimentals were fond of short swords made of focused magic that, even through the restricting wands, hurt like a kick from a bull.
The Auror's fell back, tossing concussion hexes of their own into the ground, hoping to shred the shield that Aegis Squad was maintaining around their fellows. Moody had tried to train some of the Auror partners to cast the spell but the damn thing needed to be concentrated on constantly and was heavily taxing. No two people, with some exceptions, could maintain that kind of energy for any length of time, but three people, rotating the channelling of the spell between them could keep it up for several minutes at least.
The shield did not fall and the sallying unit reached the Auror ranks mere seconds after it burst from the defending lines. The front ranks of both forces slammed together loudly and Moody cussed violently as the Auror front ranks crumpled under the fierce attacks of the speedy teenagers. Point blank stunners and hastily cast repulsion charms were the Aurors' only defence now and even that wasn't enough. A gap opened in the melee and Moody saw Potter, eyes glowing like a demigod, advancing rapidly with his magical sword 'drawn' in his right hand and a duellist's shield distorting the air around his left.
Moody fired a snap cast blasting curse knowing that Potter would deflect the spell easily, it was more a method of gaining an extra moment before the younger Wizard was in his face hacking away at his good leg with that magical blade. He vaguely saw Fletcher stumbling backwards frantically parrying spells cast by the two witches of the Regimental Command Squad.
Potter closed with him and Moody just barely deflected the glowing blade with his duellist's shield before retaliating with another point blank blasting curse.
They spun about each other for a moment but Moody's innate immobility was his undoing as Potter gained that infuriating grin and darted forwards to sink the magical blade into his good thigh, numbing the leg from the knee down and causing a massive bruise to sprout on his skin. He couldn't see it of course, but he could feel it, and it hurt. The ancient Auror toppled backwards and knew no more as a spell of Potter's met his chest.
-:-
The aftermath of the skirmish was staggeringly one sided, the Regimentals lost four members of their assault force who were still acclimating to fighting in close quarters, and the entire Auror force was wiped out to the last Witch and Wizard. Pavarti was almost insufferable in her smugness at the success of the plan. Yielding the bridge had afforded Harry a full unit of fresh squads for a counter offensive once the Aurors had entered the kill box of the quad. It also cut down on casualties severely with Thinktank Squad not even seeing combat. Thirty five Regimentals had engaged and defeated the forty two Aurors with a meagre four casualties, and those would be reduced in number as time went on as the squads gained proficiency in melee.
All in all it was a stark example of why Pavarti was part of the Command squad, she was no fool and indeed, she was actually a talented leader; albeit one hidden behind a very girlish exterior. A host of things arose from the success of the stratagem, most importantly was its inclusion in nearly every subsequent skirmish, used by both sides with some subtle variations. Another was the boost to Pavarti's self confidence that was so desperately needed. Finally it gave the Regiment tangible experience to draw from, experience of victory.
-:-
Aside from training the students were still going to some of their classes, mostly DADA, Transfiguration and Charms as those classes were the most relevant to the coming crisis. Occasionally a student would fret about OWLS or NEWTS but Dumbledore had reassured the school that they would be given plenty of time to revise for exams and the chance to test at a later date if they felt it necessary.
Harry, who was of course intimately bonded to Hermione, was constantly in awe of her ability to compartmentalize her endeavours. Training, Schoolwork, her various personal academic pursuits, and of course Harry himself. With the realization that the castle was under threat time for just the two of them had greatly diminished, but they still had one another in the evenings to cling to as sleep overrode their senses, and their minds were more often one than two in those few short weeks.
It had been debated amongst the Regiment many times what would have happened had the Command Squad not joined the dots and ingratiated themselves into the defence discussions for the castle. Would they have been left in the dark and been surprised when the undead army arrived at the castle's wards? Would they have been brought into confidence at a later date, perhaps too late to do any real good? Were they mere days, or even hours away from being included in the defence planning and Harry had simply jumped the gun?
None of the students would ever know the answer to that question but it did become something of a sticking point that few in the Regiment ever forgot. Until Harry Potter had stood up and had them counted as useful, they had been treated as just more children, never mind the training they had been doing for months and the official sanctioning from the minister herself.
The rest of the school was on tenterhooks, with most of the upperclassmen in the Regiment the school had taken a distinctly warlike tone and when the Regiment arranged their own uniform things escalated to the point of the castle feeling like a fortress. The younger years were mostly oblivious to the goings on outside the castle walls. The training of the Regiment was fun for them to watch, but they didn't really comprehend the significance of it.
Privately Harry prayed that they never needed to.
-:-
As the end of march approached Auror Scouts returned to the castle with disturbing news; Valmortis' army was mere days away from the castle.
The phenomenon that was the army's travel was quite fascinating to Hermione, they needed no food or sleep, yet they could not travel by normal magical means. So the army had been marching north for over a month without rest. Without a logistics train for the Aurors to raid the army had been mostly unmolested and would reach the castle almost at full strength. But because of the nature of the castle's defences sieging it was impossible. So the natural benefits of not needing a logistics train for the army was neutered quite efficiently.
Furthermore Valmortis had to commit to one target. Because of the relative slowness of the marching undead he couldn't redeploy his troops nearly as effectively as the ministry could. Apparently he had chosen the juiciest target he possibly could, just as Harry and Hermione had predicted he would. That said Aurors constantly patrolled the public venues of the wizarding world and rapid response teams were ready for anything Valmortis might try to attempt with an auxiliary force that was unattached to the main body.
All in all the defenders of the castle had been waiting in relative comfort as they trained awaiting the arrival of their foes. And yet the hard march that the undead army had endured wouldn't bother it in the slightest. The one advantage that the defenders had was that the castle was a natural fortress: With the black lake, impassable to the undead who could not abide natural lakes, on one side and the forbidden forest on the other, an impassable wall of trees on its furthest border. The undead would be forced to cross the bridge.
Forced into the kill box in the quad.
-:-
Hermione sat back in the chair she was in, waiting for Harry to return from the headmaster's office. He spent almost as much time there now as he did with the Regiment. Training was over, the defenders were resting, gathering strength for the coming conflict. Classes had been put on hold, the lower years were still going to them, but from fourth year up, everyone was preparing. Non-combatants were brewing potions and conjuring fortifications in the grounds, Regimentals and Aurors were resting, communing with their loved ones, and preparing.
In another life, one where she didn't have her bond with Harry, she might have objected to being excluded from the defence meetings held in the headmaster's office. But really it was just a formality, the people attending might not know it but Hermione was there with Harry whenever he went in anyway. Sometimes he just let her have the reigns if she had something particularly important to point out.
It was an old world, misogynistic decision to exclude her. Harry had power behind him, he was an heir to one of the ancient and noble houses, he was male, and perhaps most importantly, he was half blood, and she was only muggleborn. It didn't really matter to her anymore, just so much water under the bridge, but somewhere in the back of her mind it still stung to be such an insignificant member of a community that she was going to risk her life to defend. The fact that she had been mulling over her own thoughts tonight and hadn't 'attended' the meeting was besides the point.
She and Harry had both discussed leaving, abandoning the school and the wizarding world to their fates. Taking their parents and starting over in another country. Hermione still didn't know if she was making the right decision. But Harry would not leave, not for any loyalty to Wizarding Britain, but because he knew, in his gut, that if he left hundreds of innocent children would be slaughtered, and after that, thousands of families.
Harry's saving people thing was out in full force and Hermione couldn't be more proud of him, exasperated certainly, but proud.
Her thoughts were broken when the door to their private room opened and Harry stalked into the room, he was in a mood, and had been for days. Dumbledore was being obstinate about the Death Eater children within the walls, confident that they wouldn't cause a problem. Thankfully Alastor and Captain Fletcher hadn't been so foolish and had hounded Albus into having them locked up in the dungeons during the fighting.
Albus' attitude however was concerning, if he was still so soft-hearted after everything that had happened, all of the arrests and executions, then was he going to be able to do what was right in the coming conflict, instead of what he thought was best? A warm hand settled on her shoulder and she looked up into Harry's beautiful eyes that were looking down at her with a concerned expression, involuntarily her own hand came up to cup his cheek and she pulled him down into a sweet kiss before allowing him to pull her out of her chair and towards the bed where they could snuggle comfortably.
When at last they were settled, with Harry cradling Hermione in his arms as was his wont, he finally spoke.
"Umbridge thinks they might have an undead giant hidden in the midst of their forces."
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow
"A giant? How did the scouts miss that, moreover, how do you hide a giant?"
Harry shrugged, the motion of his shoulders jostling her gently.
"Glamours, or perhaps a really, really, big invisibility cloak?"
She snorted ungracefully at his simple joke, the idea of an invisibility cloak big enough to hide a giant was quite amusing indeed.
"What does that mean for the defence?"
Harry's hands clenched slightly, indicating his frustrated mien.
"It opens the forest to them."
Oh
"That's not good."
"No, it's not."
"We're going to have to take it out before it gets here aren't we? If they can enter the forest we'll not be able to hold them back, we just don't have enough manpower."
Harry's weary nod was enough for her to understand the problem.
"Albus doesn't think Umbridge's idea has merit… Does he?"
The clench of Harry's hands around her waist told her just how right she was.
Suddenly Hermione was tense, they had two days before Valmortis' hordes reached the castle and at such a crucial point they were coming apart at the seams. A sharp thought in Harry's mind got her attention. His sudden words took her breath away.
"You, Alastor and I are going to go take it down, tonight."
Oh dear.
-:-
AN3: Hiya folks, been awhile hasn't it? Sorry for that. Hope this fulfils your cravings… should there be any.
AN4: I think by now everyone has figured out that I'm having a lot more trouble writing this story than the one that preceded it. And I want to talk for a moment about the difficulty, and utter uncertainty, that is writing a sequel. When you write a story, you have a plot, you have characters and location, and everything falls into place where you want it to go. There are no expectations as to how the story should evolve; you have that all at your own discretion.
But writing a sequel is fraught with worry, initially everything seems fine, you write a few chapters and everything sits nicely, but as you get deeper you realize that there are unanswered questions from the first book, that you feel you have to answer, there are loose plot lines that need to be tied up, and then there's a question of length. I'm not saying that longer stories are necessarily better, though particularly short ones are obviously worse. Rather you have to at least match the length of your previous work, you have to be able to maintain enough interesting material over a vast number of chapters and written words, just so that you don't feel like you're slipping as an author.
Then there's the actual need to keep writing. I've sat at my computer for nights just trying to get chapters right. I had this whole story written to chapter fifteen at one point, then I changed Professor Umbridge's character… and well you can see how that would change things. Thing is, I tried to write JKR's Umbridge into this series and found the task impossible, I had to suspend my intuition as a writer to have harry, or Hermione, or Alastor, supplant her, slaughter her, or have her fired.
What am I trying to say here? Am I trying to say that this won't be finished? No, I'm absolutely going to finish it. Am I saying that it's going to take longer than expected? Obviously. What I'm really trying to say though, is that this has been one of the most difficult things I have ever attempted in my life, and I have a character at NG+20 on Dark Souls 2.
What I am really trying to say is this. Thank you for sticking with me, it'll be worth it in the end.
I think.
AN5: Review Responses:
Jkar: They will be, I'll promise that they don't die in this story.
Anotherboarduser: Well… we know who resurrected her, Valmortis did, well, Valmortis and Voldemort. As for her strengths weaknesses ad al? Well they haven't covered Nosferatu in class yet have they?
Lupinesence: Thanks! And thanks for reviewing!
ShadowDragon: I'm sorry for your loss :/ Deaths in the family are always a kick in the jewels. I hope things are getting better for you. Thanks for taking the time to review.
Vegasman: Thanks! Always nice to hear that.
Beyondthesea: Ah yes, lots of things happening all at once, by comparison this chapter is practically single minded.
Imortalgee: I shall in fact inform my reader base when my book gets published. Though it might be a while before it reaches out across the globe. As for your review… thanks, just, thanks, I typically have no reply to reviews like this because it's just: Hey, this is awesome, good job! But in this case there are a couple of things I can address. Namely the idea of Harry being a believable child of prophecy.
Firstly, you have no idea how many times I've rewritten fight scenes with Harry in them across the two stories, trying to both pare down his power and make it seem greater than those around him, which it is.
The greatest challenge I've faced is not going overboard, Harry's strength is potent, certainly, but he isn't, as you pointed out, a god. He's human, he's vulnerable, and he has to account for those vulnerabilities in battle. He still uses a shield, he still fights with others at his back, he doesn't 1v5, typically he goes 1v1 or 1v2, 1v3 at most. He's still a teenager and keeping that in mind has been the single greatest challenge in this series so far.
IcySneasel: I will take it somewhere, probably over the summer. Thanks for your review!
God of all: Sorry this is so late in coming out, I hope it's what you've been waiting for.
Akasanta: Thank you very much, it's not often I have someone completely new come in and be happy with the series.
Dag33ker: I hope you enjoy this one just as much!
Right, that's it for another update, tune in next time for Chapter Eleven: Bloodless, where a daring night raid takes place and battle is joined. Thanks for Reading and other Shenanigans, see you next time!
LGreymark