James Castle
Chapter 22: Prophesy Revealed
Albus Dumbledore tinkered with the fireplace in his office, wondering what had happened to cause the Floo network to go offline in the last ten minutes. "Puzzling, what do you think Fawkes?" he asked his familiar who was watching from his perch. "Powerful magic would be necessary to cause damage like this to the Floo," he mused as he tried various spells to repair the damages. Suddenly the school's alarms began to ring loudly and Fawkes vanished in a flash of fire. He quickly ran over to his desk, examining several complex devices. "Emergency portkeys to the hospital ward," he frowned, leaving his office as fast as his legs could carry him.
He made it down several hallways, cursing the castle's anti-apparation wards before a blur ran by him before skidding to a stop. "Headmaster!" the man panicked, catching his breath. "Thank god I found you," he spat out between breaths.
"Oliver Wood, is that you? Why are you in Hogwarts?" Dumbledore questioned as the ex-student finally caught his breath enough to speak coherently.
"Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade around 20 minutes ago, we had to evacuate the worst injured using the emergency portkeys your security team had, but we need to get back there to get the students back here safe," Wood explained, wiping at a cut on his arm that was freely bleeding.
"You should go to the hospital wing too Oliver, you are injured as well, the staff and I can handle the students," Dumbledore started walking briskly in the direction of McGonagall's office.
"It's just a scratch, I'll be fine, the others are in a lot worse shape than I am," Wood shook his head, accompanying the headmaster to his former head of house's office.
Madam Pomfrey whirled around to the area where she knew emergency portkeys deposited their travelers as the alarms went off. She was startled to see the Headmaster's familiar flame in immediately, watching the portkey zone intently. "Alastor!" she cried out, rushing to help the pale ex-Auror who was being supported by former student Oliver Wood. "Quickly, get him on the bed," she motioned as she helped Wood move him to the closest bed. "What happened?" she demanded as she examined him quickly, noticing the blood soaked clothes and trail of blood from where he portkeyed in.
"Death Eaters, he got hit by a bad slicing curse," Wood explained as another pair of bodies were deposited via portkey. "He's in the worst shape of the lot, we think," Wood moved out of the way to help Remus who was carrying Luna's still form. "There's a lot more incoming, I need to go get the Headmaster so he can lead the students out of Hogsmeade," he helped Remus set Luna down as Pomfrey started pouring potions down Moody's throat and Fawkes flew over and began to shed tears on the gaping wound across his chest.
"Go, Remus knows a fair bit about medicine from his time at Hogwarts," she waved at the young man. "Remus, come here, keep pouring blood replenisher down his throat," she ordered before going over to Luna as Wood bolted through the hospital door. "What happened to her?" she frowned, noting the girl was barely breathing and very pale.
"Took a curse to the head, I've never seen anything like it before," Remus explained as two more bodies showed up.
"How many more are coming?" Pomfrey asked as one Weasley twin drug the other over to an open bed. "And what happened to him?" she frowned at the pale look on the moving twin.
"Bludgeoning curse knocked him for a loop and he cracked his head off the ground pretty bad," George responded. "We think he got a pretty bad concussion at best," he explained.
"Third shelf, blue potion about midway across, it will stabilize him for now," she ordered the twin. "How many more are coming Remus?" she frowned, checking on Moody as Luna did not seem to be getting any better or worse.
"Shacklebolt, Castle, Hermione, and James probably need the most attention, everyone else should be good enough to help," Remus counted as James dropped in with Hermione in his arms, carrying her to a bed immediately making her comfortable.
"I'm going to need assistance, we need to Floo St. Mungos for extra Healers," she looked over at the cold fireplace. "Why is my Floo connection out?" she frowned.
"Sorry," James shrugged, holding Hermione's hand tightly. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," his face grew dark when he saw Luna's light breathing.
"I need Healers…" Pomfrey frowned as Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared, being heavily supported by a pair of Hufflepuff seventh years. "Fawkes," she looked to the phoenix that finished crying another tear into the wound before looking at her. "I need you to find my two apprentices and bring them here now, please," she begged the creature that vanished into a flash of fire.
"Mr. MacMillan, top shelf, red potion on the far right, give it to Kingsley," she ordered the boy who moved quickly to follow her orders. "How many more Remus?" she asked the werewolf who was looking down at Moody numbly.
"Castle, Sirius, Max, Nymphadora, and…" he stopped as Tonks dropped in with Max and Frank.
"I heard that!" she glared at him for using her name as she and Max carried Frank over to a bed.
"Is that who I think it is?" Pomfrey's face went pale.
"Yes, he helped us defend the students and stop the Death Eaters," Remus nodded.
"The Ministry wants him dead," she bit her lip, grabbing several potions from her cupboard. "I'm going to have to report him to the Aurors once he's stabilized," she frowned at the nasty broken leg and other wounds.
"You let us worry about that," James fumed as Sirius portkeyed in with another body and Fawkes returned with two young girls.
Dumbledore and Wood gathered McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick quickly and made it to the edge of the school's apparation wards after informing Haggrid to find the remaining professors and prepare for the students. "Is the apparation point still functioning or did the Death Eaters take that out with the Floo?" Dumbledore asked Wood.
"Should still be up, it was our side that knocked out the Floo, that's where the Death Eater reinforcements were coming from," Wood nodded, not explaining who and how the Floo got knocked out.
"Okay, let's go," Dumbledore ordered as he disappeared with the Auror and three Heads of House. They reappeared outside the Shrieking Shack and moved as fast as they could toward the small town. "My word…" Dumbledore frowned as he came upon a group of four dead Aurors and a dead Death Eater. "Mr. Wood, how many Aurors were stationed to patrol today?" he asked the young man who was gritting his teeth at the bodies. "Oliver," he said his name again, snapping him out of it.
"Sorry sir," Wood snapped his head to look at the Headmaster. "We had the standard four teams, plus an additional two patrols that were called in when Alastor Moody contacted Scrimgeour, so there were 24 of us here," Wood explained numbly.
"Where are the others gathering the children?" Dumbledore asked the man who blinked back at him.
"There are no others, the Death Eaters took us out first, I'm the only Auror that lived past the first minute," Wood frowned as he led his old professors into the town. "Should be some holed up there in the Three Broomsticks, this is where we caught up with the last of the Eaters and Shacklebolt's team," he watched as McGonagall and Sprout carefully entered via the hole in the wall of the building.
"How many Death Eaters were there?" Dumbledore questioned as he counted the bodies in his mind.
"Hell if I know, we didn't have time to compare notes," Wood snarled as he poked at a body to make sure it was dead. "Sorry," he apologized, letting out a deep breath.
"Hmm, I can identify most of the damage here from Reductors and other curses, but some of this damage, I cannot identify," Flitwick looked at Wood.
"Ask Castle when you get back to Hogwarts," Wood frowned at the diminutive professor before going to work identifying some bodies.
"Minerva, how are the students?" Dumbledore asked as a surprised McGonagall emerged from the wreckage of the Three Broomsticks.
"They're fine Albus, they're all fine," she looked confused as she explained. "Albus, they're all inside, every student that was here today that we did not suspect of being in league with You-Know-Who is in there," she swallowed loudly. "They say Castle, Granger, Lovegood, MacMillan, and Finch-Fletchley helped fight back and took portkeys with the rest of Shacklebolt's group," she explained, looking at Wood.
"Mr. Wood, why did you not mention that students aided in the defense here?" Dumbledore asked quickly.
"Did not seem important at the time," Wood grinned before pulling his wand on some advancing figures. "Hold! State your business!" he shouted, taking cover, prepared to battle.
"Command Authorization Blackbird, confirm," a voice shouted back.
"Acknowledged Blackbird, this is Puddlemore," Wood waved his wand, sending a short burst of sparks into the air as the figures came up the street.
"Head Auror Scrimgeour, Minister Fudge," Wood snapped to attention quickly.
"Stand down Wood, what happened here," Scrimgeour pulled him away from Fudge who went directly to Dumbledore.
"Sir, the Auror teams were all ambushed, I got lucky enough to escape the initial attack and met up with the resistance left in the town," Wood continued carefully. "We retook the town one building at a time, disabling the Floo when we realized it was how they were getting reinforcements. We made our way to the Three Broomsticks where we met up with the last of the resistance and downed the Death Eaters," Wood glanced at Fudge who was yelling at Dumbledore.
"Auror Wood, who were the resistance?" Scrimgeour examined the young man.
"Sir, they are in the hospital wing at Hogwarts now, they are in no danger," Wood said quickly.
"This is an order Auror," Scrimgeour studied him. "Who were the resistance?" he asked again.
Wood seemed troubled as Flitwick, Dumbledore, Fudge, Scrimgeour, and anyone within earshot waited for his reply. "Weasley twins, Shacklebolt, Moody, Lupin, Black, Tonks, Smart, Granger, Lovegood, a pair of Puffs, and the Castles," he tried to fight as the oath binding him to the Auror command made him speak.
"Harry Potter fought them?" Scrimgeour asked again.
"No, James Castle did…with his Uncle," Wood shook as he tried to fight the compulsion.
"You can threaten all you want Fudge, you and your men are not going in there with your wands," Remus Lupin glared at the Minister of Magic outside the door to the hospital wing.
"Stand aside you bloody werewolf, we will be given entrance," Fudge glared at him as the door opened a crack and Sirius Black slid outside. "Black," Fudge spat at him.
"Hello Fudge, Dumbledore, rest of you whose names escape me," Sirius greeted the small crowd. "What seems to be the problem?" he smirked at them.
"The werewolf is refusing to let us into the hospital wing to talk to the survivors and arrest Frank Castle," Fudge shook in anger.
"Oh, is that all?" Sirius laughed. "Thing the first, you have tried to kill me, along with two members of the security team in the past, we don't trust you for shit," Sirius glared at him. "Thing the second, no, there will be no questioning, at least until they wish to entertain you," he grinned as Fudge glared at him. "Thing the third, you'll not be taking Frank Castle from here today, or any day," he moved to the side as Fudge and the Aurors tried to break down the door.
"Persistent, aren't they?" Max and James watched the door, reinforcing the charms as Kingsley directed them from the chair he had settled in, sipping his recovery potion.
"Should have told Sirius to just get to the point and take their wands before they came in," James frowned, glancing between the many occupied beds.
"And deprive him a chance to taunt the Minister?" Kingsley laughed weakly. "We'd never hear the end of it," he added.
The three of them watched the door as the others that were able to, worked together to treated the injured. Pomfrey's two apprentices, Susan Bones and Ginny Weasley, went to work once Fawkes had brought them. Fred was unconscious on his bed; Ginny had tented to him immediately, chasing George away. Hermione was resting in her bed, sleeping soundly from exhaustion. Susan was working on Frank as Max had to hold the man down at points to force him to take potions. Luna has not moved much since she had arrived, her vital signs stable, Pomfrey said she needed a curse specialist to treat her. Pomfrey cried openly as she pulled the sheet up over Moody's face, the slicing charm that hit him was too much, he had died despite the continual flow of blood replenishing potions into him.
Justin, Ernie, and Tonks watched over the last injured body that had been portkeyed in, Severus Snape. Tonks looked over his wounds, seeing the massive amounts of shrapnel in his side and face, administering stabilizing and replenishing potions before she pried his wand from his hand. "Let's see just what you've been up to Snape," she muttered casting a charm on the wand. "You son of a bitch," she recognized a few spells in, the slicing spell that had mortally wounded Moody.
She stood over the Death Eater with wand out along with the two Hufflepuffs as the door to the hospital wing opened. "He moves, Reducto to the head," she grabbed Ernie by the front of his shirt before pushing him away and going to back up James and Max.
"Minister Fudge, Head Auror Scrimgeour, Headmaster Dumbledore," Kingsley nodded at the three of them that were allowed in before Sirius and Remus had closed and locked the doors again. "Got their wands Black?" he waited as Sirius came over, turning over the three wands. He watched James carefully as he stood between the three men and Frank's bed. "Sirius, try to keep James under control," he said quietly as he took the wands from Sirius.
"Kingsley, I demand you arrest and turn that man over to us now," Scrimgeour ordered as the ex-Auror slowly got up from his chair near the door and limped over to stand beside Tonks.
"All yours Tonks," he grinned as the young woman's hair turned various shades of red, purple, and black.
"We're not Aurors any more, you bloody wankers," she pointed her finger at the men. "First you," she poked Fudge in the chest hard. "You damn near got us killed when you tried to kill Sirius all because he proved your damn courts were wrong!" she moved to Scrimgeour next. "You backed him up on assigning us to track down someone who you thought would kill us as much as look at us, and then had the nerve to fire us because we couldn't save the lives of some damn Death Eaters!" she glared at the Head Auror.
"And you, you and your damn Order of the Phoenix!" she moved onto Dumbledore. "All this time, the Death Eaters have been building up, preparing for something like this," she poked in his beard. "You knew, hell, I did the recon warning you about it," she glared at him. "You knew Voldemort was back for over two years, and we say back and did nothing!"
"Nymphadora, I assure you…" Dumbledore was stopped as she slapped him hard across the face, knocking his glasses to the ground.
"I was not finished!" she glared at him. "And don't call me Nymphadora!" she pulled her wand, on the Headmaster before Remus wrapped her up from behind and pulled her away. "Let me go Remus!" she fought against him as he wrapped her up tight, whispering in her ear as he pulled her away from the door to go check on Luna.
"As you can see, my team is not particularly happy with the direction of this war," Shacklebolt commented as he fixed Dumbledore's glasses and handed them back. "How many people died the last few years, all because no one took action?" Kingsley asked.
"There was no action to take, there we no laws being broken," Scrimgeour said through his gritted teeth. "All of the free Death Eaters were found to be under the Imperius curse following the first war," he glared at Kingsley.
"We have to try to save them Kingsley, they deserve a second chance," Dumbledore lectured.
"Second chance!" Tonks fought free of Lupin. "You and your second chances, see where they got us all? See where they got Moody?" she screamed, pulling the sheet back, revealing the dead ex-Auror before Remus pulled her away again, this time giving her a calming drought that Pomfrey slipped him.
"Alastor…"Dumbledore was stunned to see the man not moving. "What happened to him?" he tore his gaze away as Pomfrey pulled the sheet up to cover him again.
"He took a bad slicing curse during the battle," Pomfrey frowned as Tonks muttered things softly to her and Remus. "He had bled out for the most part before he got here for treatment, even with Fawkes' tears and five times the safe dosage of Blood Replenishment potion, he didn't make it," she frowned as Tonks handed her a wand before breaking down into tears in Lupin's arms. "Priori Incantetum," she pointed her own wand at the one Tonks had given her, seeing evidence of multiple Avada Kedavras, Reductos, other dark curses, and finally Sectumsempra. "This is the wand that killed him," she frowned, handing it over to Kingsley before checking on the bed where the Hufflepuffs were guarding Severus Snape.
"Recognize it Dumbledore?" James glared at the man who studied the wand for a moment before the realization dawned on him.
"Severus…" Dumbledore stumbled a moment, not believing what was before him.
"See what your second chances got us?" Sirius frowned as he levitated the bloodied but alive body of Severus Snape from the bed, dropping it roughly in front of the Headmaster. "He was helping lead the attack against the Three Broomsticks," Sirius spat at the man. "He's the reason Moody is dead, a lot more of us would be dead if the kids hadn't exploded the front wall of the pub into him," Sirius jerked his thumb at the two Hufflepuffs.
Scrimgeour knocked on the door quickly, opening it as Kingsley nodded. "Aurors, take this Death Eater away, charge him with the murder of Alastor Moody, among other things," he called out, letting an Auror in to drag the body out, taking the wand with them. "There's nothing we could have done about this, we had extra patrols there," Scrimgeour leaned on the wall.
"Patrols that were undertrained and picked off first," James glared at Fudge, ignoring the others. "Frank, myself, and the others here have done more for the war in the past eight months than you lot have in the last three years," he snarled before walking away to check on Hermione.
"How are the others?" Dumbledore frowned, noting the other occupied beds.
"Weasley twin #1 has a bad concussion, he'll be fine in a couple days," Kingsley explained. "Hermione is suffering from magical exhaustion from crushing a troll with a pebble she transfigured into a boulder," he noticed the Headmaster smile, having obviously seen the rock in the town earlier. "Luna got hit with some kind of a dark curse, we don't know what it was, but she is stable. Everyone else besides Frank just has some cuts and bruises and is very tired," Kingsley watched the men look over to the bed where Susan Bones was treating a man.
"That man is a murderer, you are going to give him to us now," Fudge ordered Kingsley.
"I don't think you want to try to do that Minister," Kingsley warned as Fudge ignored him and started walking toward the bed.
"I am the Minister of Magic, I will do what I want," Fudge sneered until he felt something press against the back of his head.
"You take another damn step, and you're going to have a closed casket funeral," James glared at him, having hurdled Moody's bed pulling his gun to place it at the head of the Minister.
"Put your toy away, boy," Fudge shook with anger. "I am the Minister of Magic, I will not be treated like a common mudblood!" he shouted as he felt the gun leave his head. His resulting smile as he turned was short lived however, as James cracked him in the head with the butt of his pistol, knocking him out with a sickening crunch.
"James!" Dumbledore frowned as Kingsley and Sirius held him and Scrimgeour back.
"This man has caused as much death, through his corruption and stupidity, as the Death Eaters, he pardoned after the first war," James pulled the man by his robes back to the middle of the room. "This," he handed a vial containing a memory to Scrimgeour. "Is the Punisher interrogation Bellatrix LeStrange before he killed her, long story short, you cannot take the Dark Mark under Imperius," he glared at Fudge, binding him with magical ropes. "And this, is Umbridge offering a peace on behalf of Fudge to known Death Eaters in Knockturn Alley," he handed over another vial. "Puts a different spin on all those campaign contributions from the Malfoys and others, doesn't it?" James glared at Scrimgeour.
"Dumbledore, I need a Pensieve, now," Scrimgeour spoke to the Headmaster.
"My office, password is Blood Pop," Dumbledore replied numbly.
"Come with me, Minister Fudge," Scrimgeour spat as he drug the Minister out by his robes.
"James, we need to talk," Dumbledore watched the boy that had moved back to Hermione's bed. "There is something important you need to know about," he continued.
"Then talk," James frowned at the man, making sure Hermione was comfortable.
"It is really something that you should hear alone James," Dumbledore protested.
"Not leaving them, so talk," James ignored him, climbing in the bed beside Hermione, cradling her body next to his own.
"There was a prophecy, before you were born, it said…" Dumbledore was interrupted.
"That James has the power the Dark Lord has not, and will defeat him," Luna's calm voice jumped in as she sat up in her bed.
"Miss Lovegood!" Dumbledore rushed over as Pomfrey examined her. "Do you know what it was that they cursed you with?" he was stunned as she looked back with her eyes, now completely black, like the spell that had hit her.
"No sir, but don't worry, it cannot be cured," she smiled at him. "I don't see anything anymore," she wiped a tear away. "I still see… but I am blind," she chuckled at the Headmaster.
"Miss Lovegood, there must be some way we can help you, some countercurse, possibly a magical eye like Alastor," Pomfrey examined the eyes as she talked to the girl.
"No need Madam Pomfrey," Luna smiled. "They won't work, the curse has permanently damaged the nerves in my eyes, I will never see again," she glanced her side where she heard Frank being treated still. "The fates are strange, they show so much ahead of time, but when the event is near…the choices are narrowed," she mused.
"Miss Lovegood, are you sure…" Dumbledore stopped as she got up and walked over to Frank's bed, as if she knew where everything was.
"Quite sure Headmaster," she smiled. "This war needs and end, I needed to get him away from danger," she patted Frank on the arm. "He still has a role to play, as do we all," she glided back to her bed, curling up in it. "You should gather your Order Headmaster," she whispered. "He is coming, he is coming to destroy Hogwarts," she murmured before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
A/N: See, I'm not evil, she's fine, just blind. Anyway, the next chapter will likely be a slower update that usual, it will be the final chapter, and probably 2-3x as long as any other chapter. In addition to that, I will not be publishing it until I have the Prologues for Project: Super Soldier and Unified Theory ready to post. Yup, I'll be posting both new stories the same time I finish this one. And to those who have mentioned the Horcruxes, they do not come into play in this story and will not be hinted at. Since Harry never met the Weasleys, Malfoy had no reason to sneak Ginny the diary, so Dumbledore's idea that there might have been Horcruxes never really happened. Of course, there might be Horcruxes, depends if I ever want to do a sequel^^