Dark Angel

by NephyRiddle

PreHBP Harry saves the lives of Snape and Malfoy, finds out he's Salazar Slytherin, and Dumbledore makes him spend the summer with the the two Slytherins. Not long after that, he's thrown back in time to the Marauder's era. Semidarkish with some laughs.

24. Hallows Eve Battles

Longest. Chapter. Ever.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

::Mindspeech::

-Parseltongue-

Chapter Twenty-four: Hallows' Eve Battles

Come all, students, one and all,

You're invited to our Masquerade Ball!

Hand-make a costume, sew up a tear

Or magic it together with nary a care

But you must bring a costume, or don't if you dare

And wear a mask or you'd better beware!

Midnight draws near, spirits call,

Join us in our Masquerade Ball!

Bats and pumpkins; ghouls' delight

Witches 'round cauldrons in the dim moonlight

Spiderwebs and tombstones, a horrifying sight

Its Halloween spirit; mortals' fright!

Dead things dance then down they fall,

Join us in our Masquerade Ball!

Whispers filled the Great Hall before the last echoes died out. Of course, spooky songs from an apparently decapitated head inviting them all too some sort of Ball was not yet a common occurrence in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Given Rowena's penchant for pranks involving songs and poems, however, it probably wouldn't be an uncommon occurrence for very long.

The head had disappeared at the end of its song but the memory of it lingered on in almost every student's minds. All the students had been able to see of it was that it was deathly pale, feminine, and that it had curly brown hair. Harry knew it to be a mannequin's head only because he'd seen it close up when Luna had been enchanting it. It was decorated with an extremely curly brown wig and an elaborate, blue-feathered eye-mask.

It was also wearing a simple black velvet chocker with a blue stone dangling from it that made Harry suspicious as to what type of spells Luna had used on it. After all, Harry had dropped his very own green stone into the Sorting Hat, from which Silverfang or Evan, as he now preferred to be called, could both act in place of the Sorting Hat and manifest himself as a spirit.

Across the Great Hall, Albus Dumbledore stared thoughtfully at the scroll of parchment that had, just second before, appeared in front of him. Reaching over, he picked it up carefully, checking for spells. Sensing no pranks or malevolent spells, he unrolled the parchment and read its contents. Frowning slightly, he read through it again before sitting back in his chair, apparently in deep thought.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Thank you all for coming today. I trust that most of you have heard of the incident at Hogwarts during dinner today?" Dumbledore asked the group of people collectively know as the Order of the Phoenix.

There were a couple minutes of muttering while members that hadn't been at Hogwarts at the time were filled in by members that were. Dumbledore waited patiently for the murmurs to die down.

"For those of you who don't know, a group of pranksters has recently appeared at Hogwarts. I believe that this incident was orchestrated by them. During dinner today a head appeared in the Great Hall (on my plate, incidentally) and sang a song to the students along the lines of inviting them to a Masquerade Ball. At the end of the song, the head disappeared and left in its place this note. The first part of the note is the same song as the students heard but then it continues." And he recited to the rapt Order:

Teachers all, you're uninvited

But please don't think you've all been slighted

The school will be safe; elsewhere plighted

You won't be allowed back 'till all is righted!

Teachers all; please stay away,

Protect elsewhere on Halloween Day!

Shadows dance and white masks gleam

Hooded cloaks shoot spells of green

If the Phoenix comes play this game as a team

This will pass as only a bad dream!

Teachers all; lend others your might,

Protect elsewhere on Halloween Night!

Will you stay and play with me?
Run around the school blindly?

While elsewhere the game gets bloody?

Would you abandon them when Halloween's deadly?

Glowing eyes watch from 'round the bend

Werewolves and vampires and phantoms to fend

But don't be afraid, school is safe if you send

People to protect those families on Hallow's Eve!

You've been warned

"I ask," Dumbledore said loudly over the sudden outbreak of noise, "to have your opinion on the note's contents. I have copies for you all to look at." And indeed an identical scroll popped into existence in front of each and every Order member.

"Well, this is obviously a challenge of some sort, isn't it?" One Order member shouted, not bothering to look at his copy.

"No it isn't," another protested, "It's a warning. This person doesn't want to see anyone hurt!"

"I'm curious," Moody growled from across the circular table as he reached over to pick up his copy, "Was the note signed 'Evan'?" Five chairs to his left, Snape twitched.

"No, it was not, though I'm curious as to your reasons for asking," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling, "But that reminds me of another point I was planning to mention. I remember there being only one other Masquerade Ball at Hogwarts in this past century, one that was purely student-planned. I believe that it was the sole work of one calling himself Dagger with some help from the group of pranksters calling themselves the Marauders. As you can see, this note is also signed with the nickname 'Dagger'. Remus, can you tell me what you remember from your involvement in the previous Masquerade Ball?"

"Well, as most people here are aware, I was one of the Marauders along with Sirius Black, James Potter, and the traitor Peter Pettegrew. The Ball was not, in fact, a school-wide prank by the Marauders as everyone seemed to believe. It was actually an independent kind of joke that Sirius and I came up with to get James and Lily together while gifting the whole school with a fun Halloween.

"I do remember that another student helped us with the planning and spellwork but only vaguely. Everyone who was at Hogwarts at the time remembers that the note to the school was signed by someone calling himself Dagger as well as the two of us. Professor Dumbledore and I have already gone over these memories in a pensive and we believe that some sort of elaborate memory charm was cast over me. I don't remember his name or face, since both were edited out of my memory. I don't even know which house he was in. I am, however, reasonably sure that this person is male, which isn't much help. I also believe that we can take anything that he says very seriously."

"This is ridiculous!" Snape sneered, more than a little uncomfortable with the topic, "Why have you called the whole Order just to fuss about some child's prank?"

"There will certainly be a separate meeting among the teachers on how to deal with this prank," Dumbledore stated calmly, eyes twinkling overtime, "I merely hoped to discuss, with the whole Order, this person's apparent intimate knowledge of Voldemort's plans on Halloween."

"I don't think he really shows any," Nymphadora Tonks said thoughtfully, "I mean…this person only said that there would be attacks on Halloween. Voldemort always does something big on Halloween, right? I mean, it's rather predictable, isn't it?

"If you look closer," Dumbledore said with infinite patience, "Dagger is a bit more specific than that. He mentions werewolves, vampires, and 'phantoms'. We know that Voldemort has gained influence in both werewolf and vampire circles. We don't, however, know what he means by 'phantoms'. He is referring to a third group of which we have no knowledge. He also vaguely mentions both 'Halloween Day' and 'Halloween Night', does he not? This indicates that Voldemort plans on either continuously attacking all of Halloween or, perhaps, this note is naming two specific attacks."

"How do we know this is real?" Someone shouted at the same time as someone else said: "But it doesn't say where, that's not very useful, is it?"

"We are temporarily going on the assumption that this is from an informed source," Dumbledore said wisely, "And no, indeed, it does not say where, nor does it give the specifics as to when. However it does mention families; indicates, in fact, that specific families will be targeted. This also brings us one step closer to finding this mysterious prankster. Who has this sort of knowledge of Voldemort's movements?"

"Obviously more people than you think," Snape said irritably, "In Hogwarts alone I'd predict over a dozen. Several students have already been offered the Dark Mark or perhaps this 'Dagger' has a parent in the Dark Lord's inner circle."

"Or Potter," Moody interjected gruffly, "Hasn't he got some sort of connection that lets him know what Voldemort's thinking?"

Snape openly scoffed,

"I've been teaching that brat Occlumency for almost a year now. Even someone with mediocre shields like that can keep someone out of his mind when they don't even have direct skin or eye connection."

"Well, that's a contradictory statement if ever I've heard one," Moody sneered, "If Potter's just barely passed muster, how could you be sure that he could keep Voldemort out if Voldemort's really trying?"

"Potter's shields are good enough," Snape said dismissively, "With a death on his conscience, he has proper motivation. Hoping to earn a little more free time was all it took for the boy to try hard enough to make a decent shield."

"Good enough to pretend that he hasn't any, do you think?" Moody asked casually.

"Don't be ridiculous," Snape said scornfully, "Only a Master at Occlumency would be able to accomplish such a thing."

"Ah, but you don't deny it!" Moody pointed out triumphantly.

"That's enough, Alastor," Dumbledore said gently, "You are not interrogating an enemy; we are all friends here. Now, back to the topic of this discussion: does anybody have any insights as to the meaning of this poem?"

"I believe that the beginning part of the poem is only for students," Emmeline Vance spoke up tentatively, "It doesn't seem to have useful information for us; it merely warns students to have a costume with a mask in time for a Masquerade Ball."

"That's consistent with the previous Ball," Dumbledore agreed, "On that occasion, Remus and Sirius came to me warning me that there would be a prank on Halloween and advising me to make sure all students had costumes. I believe that the first part of the song is this Ball's equivalent."

"Well the general gist of the rest of the song is that there will be attacks on Halloween and teachers should be away from the school 'protecting those families,'" Emmeline continued.

"It's obviously a ruse to get us out of Hogwarts!" Elphias Doge protested, "If there are no teachers to defend Hogwarts, You-Know-Who can just walk in and take control of the place!"

"Well then it's easy; we simply don't leave Hogwarts!"

"'Will you stay and play with me? Run around school blindly?'" Kingsley quoted softly, "'While elsewhere the game gets bloody? Would you abandon them when Halloween's deadly?' Can we, knowing that there will be attacks on this day, decide to ignore the threat and stay at Hogwarts on the off chance that it'll be attacked?"

"I think," Dumbledore said quietly, and the whole Order instantly fell silent to listen, "That 'Dagger' is sincere in his requests. I do not believe he is a Death Eater, merely a student that is trying to give us fair warning."

"But Headmaster," Hestia Jones protested, "If he pulled a prank at Hogwarts twenty years ago, he can't still be a student!"

"Dagger proposes that we fight 'as a team'," Sturgis Podmore pointed out, "Doesn't that mean that he's also planning on abandoning Hogwarts and going off to fight? I mean, who's going to keep the children safe?"

"Well, the students' song says 'join us in our Masquerade Ball' even though the second part of the note mentions a specific 'me'," Emmeline Vance said thoughtfully, "Perhaps they are only sending only one or two of their number off to fight the Death Eaters." ("Or he might just be deranged," someone else muttered) "It does also say, 'but don't be afraid, school is safe if you send people…'"

"If we send people? Would the castle be any less safe if we refused Dagger's demands?" Doge asked angrily, "I don't like it, Dumbledore. This whole thing seems rather threatening; we can't let these people intimidate us out of Hogwarts! And if they are really just students, how can they be of any help against Death Eaters?"

"Perhaps Dagger is only some type of wandering spirit or something who merely encourages and helps pranksters among the students," Kingsley suggested, ignoring Doge.

"It is possible," Hestia Jones muttered, "But anything is, at this point. This is madness, Dumbledore, we really do know nothing about this situation. Why don't we simply do nothing? Demand that this person show himself or at least communicate with us? If he really is as benevolent as he claims, he will plan with us so that people don't get hurt!" Most of the group began muttering their agreement.

"We have reason to believe," Moody interrupted, looking annoyed at the idiocy of those around him, "that Dagger will refuse. We 'have been warned'! This person gave us a sincere warning and if we fail to take action, well, on our own heads be it. 'Will you stay and play with me?' He's asking you to choose between trying to prevent this mere prank (allowing Voldemort to do as he'd like on Halloween) and trying to prevent deaths. He promises that if we work together, they won't allow anyone to be hurt. I say we take his offer."

"But if You-Know-Who learns that we'll be away…"

"Which is obviously why this letter was delivered to Dumbledore privately," Moody snapped.

"I've got another question," Snape suddenly spoke up, "Isn't this Masquerade Ball against the so-called 'Marauder's Code'? I was under the impression that pranksters at Hogwarts aren't allowed to interfere with classes in any way. If this person expects the teachers to be out of the school all day…maybe even plans for it…Then that quite obviously goes against he code."

"Well obviously if it saves lives, it's not really a prank," Jones commented dryly.

"No, he's right," Bill interjected, "Old magic's like that. It's all governed by a very strict set of rules; whatever the casters decide are the rules are the rules and everyone else just has to live by that. The original casters might be able to later make adjustments, but anyone else would have to tear the wards down, even build new ones in their place, to go against that." There was a pause in conversation as people tried to come up with a reasonable argument.

"But surely it can't be that difficult," Elphias Doge protested weakly, "I mean, these are just some old wards some pranksters put up as a joke, right?"

Bill frowned, obviously upset over the lack of respect towards the magic,

"Actually, I've recently managed to confirm a rumor that these wards were put into place by the Hogwarts Founders themselves."

There was more silence; apparently nobody had anything to say to that.

"But," Doge began again, even weaker, "I mean…We're talking about a couple of ancient pranksters here, not…I mean…It's not like the Founders would…I mean they wouldn't encourage…" He stopped, obviously flustered and Snape fought the urge to ask if the man had met them personally. Blind hero-worship was something he absolutely couldn't stand.

"I believe that Dagger will keep his word," the words were so painfully extracted that most had to wonder why Snape had bothered to say them at all. Nonetheless, he did say them and his voice was clear and even; the whole Order heard.

"Oh?" Moody immediately pounced on this new revelation, "That's not like you at all! Do you, perhaps, know who this 'Dagger' person is?"

"Once again you jump to unfounded conclusions," Snape sneered, "I hope the career of the 'great Auror Moody' was not based merely off of a few lucky guesses. How many innocent people have been sent to Azkaban on a groundless hunch?"

"Severus," Dumbledore admonished, "Please be civil. We are all friends here. As it is, it is getting late, and it is time for this meeting to come to a close."

"What are you planning to do about this?" Dedalus Diggle asked excitedly.

"Let it happen, of course," Dumbledore's eyes resumed twinkling, having briefly paused as the Order members had fought amongst themselves, "The prank that is. And I expect that we'll be fully prepared to prevent any tragedy on Halloween. There are, after all, more Order members than merely the teachers. And I'm sure we can set up a system so that we can sneak a couple teachers away if necessary, leaving just enough to guard Hogwarts.

"But the note said that all the teachers have to go!" Tonks protested.

"An exaggeration, surely," Dumbledore said calmly, "This Order meeting is officially over. I encourage you all to get some rest and perhaps think a little more about this problem before the next meeting. That is all." He sounded like nothing more than a young children's teacher, assigning a class to think about an upcoming project.

Now that the meeting was over, Order members began filtering out of the room, eager to sleep or do whatever work they had planned for the night. Once the last of them left, gossiping happily, Dumbledore sat back with a sigh. He knew little more than he had before the meeting. If nothing else, he was more confused than ever, though a couple Order members had brought up a couple interesting points.

But at least he had some sort of plan now, one agreed upon by all. And after all, what could happen?

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Well, that settles it I suppose," Harry commented as they all leaned away from Luna's scrying ball. He rather thought that the most informative part of eavesdropping on the Order's meeting was finding out what Rowena had done with her one ensouled stone. She had, as he understood it, used it to enchant a crystal ball. The Slytherin Founder wasn't sure all of its properties but he did know that when the spirit encased in the blue stone was out and about, the crystal could be used to see and hear anything that 'Talon' did. In other words, they now had a rather useful spy. As a spirit, she could turn invisible and could bypass wards not specifically made to stop her. Harry was also sure that most other wards would be ineffective regardless of the caster's will.

'Claire' as she had taken to calling herself, was as different from Luna as Evan was similar to Harry. While Evan was basically Harry with the changes necessary to make him unrecognizable, Claire was physically different from Luna in almost every way. Claire had a head full of dark brown curls, while Luna's hair was strait and blond; she was tall while Luna was petit; and, most of all she had apparently chosen a mannequin's body over flesh and blood. Colorless eyes watched everyone from behind the feathered mask.

Trust Rowena's reincarnation to experiment with how far one could alter one's spirit.

"So it's as we expected?" Ginny asked, unsure. Only Harry and Luna were really aware of all the details of their Halloween plot.

"More or less," Harry said smugly.

"So what's the plan?" Draco asked, irritated that he had been kept out of the loop.

"Well, it goes like this…"

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The next day, Dumbledore made an announcement during breakfast about the upcoming Ball. All students were to have costumes ready the day before and all costumes must include a mask of some sort. Costumes can be hand-made, transfigured, or owl-ordered from specialty stores. Simple black masks would be provided as masks if the students' costumes didn't include one but students were encouraged to make their own.

Harry tried not to look openly smug (Moody was looking right at him) but he wasn't sure if he succeeded.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Are you crazy, Dumbledore?" Professor Vector demanded as soon as he stepped in through the door to the Staff Room, "This is the first I've hard of this 'Masquerade Ball'! Shouldn't we, as staff, be the first to know? And on such short notice, too…it really can't be done!"

"Now, now," Dumbledore said calmly, "I was also caught quite unprepared by this Ball. It is not my doing but rather the doing of a group of students who wish to spread joy on such an unhappy holiday. How could I refuse such an offer?"

Vector seemed temporarily appeased but other members of the staff were still looking mutinous.

"But really, Dumbledore," Flitwick protested unhappily, "This is quit unusual!"

Several other teachers voiced their agreement.

"I also believe," Dumbledore continued, ignoring this outcry, "that classes may be disturbed on the day in question. I have the utmost confident that all of you, as superb teachers, will be able to accommodate your teaching plans for such an event. As an extra precaution, I have hired Auror Nymphadora Tonks, who will be working as part of the school's new security system."

"But you've never worked with the ministry before! Not like this!" Professor Sprout gasped, scandalized, "This is a school! We've agreed to deny all of Fudge's advances to turn Hogwarts into a military base!"

"You misunderstand," Dumbledore corrected, eyes twinkling, "Nymphadora was hired entirely under pretext. Fudge believes that she will spy on the school and she will be presented to the school as a member of the Ministry. However, Nymphadora has agreed to do whatever she can to keep the school safe on Halloween. As we all know, Voldemort is usually particularly active on that day and we've reason to believe that the school might be in danger."

He quickly explained the scroll that had appeared before him during the mannequin head's song, choosing his words so that the prankster sounded like a student reaching out for help.

"…So you see that there's a possibility of danger. Also, I will be partially following the note's advice. Myself and two other teachers will leave to defend any families that might be attacked on Halloween. Nymphadora is a trained auror and will be able to help defend the school in my stead."

"But Dumbledore," Professor Sprout insisted, "You're a master Dueler. No auror could ever match your level! The school could suffer greatly without you here to back it up."

"You put too much faith in me," Dumbledore said, looking pleased, "And too little in Hogwarts. Even without me or the teachers I will be bringing with me, Hogwarts can hold her own. Now, let's see…Minerva, Severus, you will be coming with me on Halloween? Do you object?"

"Certainly not," McGonagall said primly.

Snape scowled but said nothing contrary.

"I'm glad that's settled then," Dumbledore said cheerfully.

"But Dumbledore!" Flitwick protested, "I, myself, am an accomplished dueler. Shouldn't I help out if people are in danger?"

"Filius," Dumbledore said, looking at the Charms teacher gravely, "I am aware that you are an accomplished dueler. I am not quite senile yet. But if the school were to be attacked, it is more important that you are here, helping the school, than away, possibly on a wild goose chase."

Flitwick turned pink at the praise in Dumbledore's words,

"Of course, Headmaster."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The four reincarnated Founders were in the Room of Requirement for an emergency meeting dealing with a long put-off task. Luckily the room was being especially helpful today and allowing communication with Silverfang, Goldenclaw, Talon, and Stripe; even when two of them were still trapped in stones elsewhere in the castle. Luna said that Hogwarts could do this because they were part of Hogwarts and the others just believed what Luna said.

"So," Luna said briskly, completely different than the dreamy girl that she normally acted like, "Names."

"Well, I already know that I'm called Evan," Evan said. Everyone looked towards Harry before realizing that he hadn't spoken. It was kind of inconvenient that they shared the same voice. Evan himself wasn't visible to any of those present and there was some doubt as to whether he was actually there or not.

"Yes, but you've already said that you need to change your last name. And you should have a middle name, too, just to be safe."

"Why?" Draco asked, openly confused.

"It might come in handy," Luna replied vaguely, suddenly more Luna-like. Harry agreed that this was true but personally thought that she just wanted an excuse to come up with four extra names; Luna loved riddles and secret meanings. Not that he'd say it out loud.

"Ginny first!" Harry declared, wanting to put his own off until last minute.

"What? Why?" Ginny asked, caught off-guard. She obviously hadn't expected to go first either.

"Well, you're the one who brought it up in the first place," Harry pointed out reasonably.

"I only said that we ought to have names to use before we run off to teach classes. And, anyways, yours is already partly done! You should start!"

"Luna should start," Draco said patiently, for once the voice of reason, "She's the only one who actually wants to do this." Harry had to admit that he had a point, a surprising revelation after years of Godric bringing up mostly crazy ideas.

Luna glanced at the spirit hovering beside her and they said at once,

"Claire Selene Branwen."

"Gee, think about this much?" Harry muttered, "Well, that was quick, who's next."

"No, wait," Ginny said, "What does it mean, Luna?"

"Does this really matter?" Harry asked irritably, "It's two in the morning and I know that tomorrow we'll be expected to be awake and battling for a good portion of twenty-four hours. Please can we just get this over with and get back to bed?"

"Fine, fine..."

There was some silence as they tried to think up names, ignoring the fact that they were going one at a time. Harry's eyelids were feeling heavy and he didn't dare take any type of energizing potion because he would be back in bed soon and a potion would keep him up all night. Ginny was flipping through a couple of books on names (the type that expectant parents tended to go through) that the Room had graciously created for them.

"Um...I really have no clue," Ginny said, glancing at Luna, "Do you think you could help?"

"Eris and Irene? I've always wanted to combine the two," Luna suggested, "Goddesses of strife and peace, respectively."

"Okay," Ginny said, too tired to think about resisting, "Um...Eris Irene what?"

"Humphrey." Everyone looked over, surprised to see Draco surrounded by books, one open in his lap. Next to him, Goldenclaw was also flipping through books. "Don't look at me like that! It's not like I can't read...And the sooner this is over with, the sooner we can get back to bed. It means 'peaceful warrior' whatever that's supposed to mean. And it kind of reminds me of 'Hufflepuff'."

Ginny looked rather indignant but, as everyone was too tired to care (including herself), she didn't make a big deal out of it,

"Fine."

"Hasoc," Harry said.

"What?" Draco asked.

"It's an anagram of chaos. Sounds kind of like havoc, too. It can be my…uh, Evan's…last name. That okay with you?" He directed the last question towards Evan. After all, he was the one who had to live with the name. Evan silently gave his approval of the name.

"Middle name?" Luna asked.

"No idea, I'll keep looking."

"Well, then, I can be Hasoc, too," Draco said cheerfully, "After all we're kind of brothers...sort of."

"Really?" Ginny asked, "I didn't think you were related. Other than distantly, that is."

"Well, we're only really distantly related but there was this blood-brother kind of ritual thing we did when we were little. You know, the one that went horribly wrong?"

"I don't think we've heard this story before," Luna said, glancing at Harry's slightly sheepish face with interest.

"You mean the one we agreed to never mention again? Ever?" Harry put a certain stress on the last word that the others took to mean that this particular discussion was closed.

"Yeah, that's the one," Draco agreed. Nobody said anything. He sighed. Back to name-hunting then...

"Well, since both Luna and Ginny have names based on mythology, I suppose we'd better do the same," Harry said in the general direction of Draco and Goldenclaw.

"How about Thor for Godric?" Luna asked, also not specifying whether she was talking to Draco or Goldenclaw; both shrugged, "Norse mythology, god of thunder. He's a big god with lots of muscles who needs the trickster god Loki to help him out of most situations."

"Perfect," Harry smirked, "Then Evan's middle name can be Loki."

"Loki's an evil god," Luna said apologetically, "About half of the times that he helps Thor out is because he tricked Thor into that situation in the first place."

Harry frowned,

"Ah." He went back to flipping through his book.

"Hermes?" Draco suggested hopefully, "He's another trickster god, right?"

"Did you know Hermione is derived from Hermes?" Luna asked casually, flipping the page of her book

"Or not..." There was more silence.

"Dragomir," Harry said finally, "For 'Thor's' middle name. It means 'precious and peaceful'." He snickered, "Anyway, it sounds similar to Draco but I doubt it will be noticed because names related to magical creatures are common in the wizarding world."

"And I'll take Loki," Evan said decidedly, "You four get off to bed. Lots of things depend on tomorrow and, though I don't think you'll mess up, you don't want to be tired enough to risk it."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Halloween morning transpired much as it had twenty years previous. Students woke up to find themselves in dormitories that didn't belong to them, with no cloths but their costumes (or simply a random choice of costume for those who didn't bother to make one). With no real choice, they got dressed and made their way to the hall, the friendlier ones finding other students to chat with on the way, usually talking about the unusual situation that they found themselves in or the Halloween decorations that were suddenly all over the school.

Once at the Great Hall, they found the arrangement completely different than usual. There were two rows of tables, each row taking up one of the walls (with suitable gaps for the doors that lined the walls), and each table laden with food or drink. The rest of the Hall was filled with small tables, each with four chairs and fitting, at most, seven or eight. Various Halloween decorations were hung around the Hall as well.

There was a small table in place of the head table where six unfamiliar people were sitting. All throughout breakfast, there had been a series of debates at different tables over which teachers they must be; no conclusions had been reached. The mysterious people all seemed to be too young and cheerful to be their strict teachers.

Quick eaters had found, much to their annoyance, that they couldn't leave the Hall, even though people were still filtering in. Slowly, the number of people in the great Hall increased until it seemed as if the whole school was crammed into the Hall. Once all of Hogwarts' students were in the Great Hall, one of the 'teachers' stood up to speak.

"Welcome students and thanks for joining us in our Masquerade Ball," the lady with curly brown hair, a blue eye mask, white skin, and a Renaissance-style dress spoke up. She was not hard to identify as the head that had spoken to them in the Great Hall a couple weeks prior. "My name is Claire Selene Branwen and I'd like to explain to you what will be happening today.

"Today, total anonymity is important. None of you students can identify each other. Telling each other or hinting at your identity isn't allowed and, frankly, impossible. Today you will live beyond you preconceived ideas of each other. You may even be surprised.

"As you may have noticed, there aren't as many of us teachers as you're used to. The reason for this is that several teachers are away on urgent business. The six of us remain here to make sure that the you students attend classes and don't cause any harm to each other during the day. The activities and classes will be different from usual. However, they will still be mandatory. Role call will be recorded as usual, even if most of your usual teachers aren't here. Even if the other student's don't know who you are, we know who each and every one of you is, so don't think you can get away with misbehaving just because you're in disguise."

"Because of this lack of staff, schedules will be changed as follows: Divination students will have those classes with the Transfiguration students in the usual Transfiguration classroom. Care of Magical Creatures class will meet in the greenhouses with the Herbology classes. Ancient Runes will be held in the History of Magic Classroom with the History of Magic Students. Arithmancy class will be held with the Potions class in the Potions classroom. And, finally, the Muggle Studies class will meet with the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom. Also, due to this temporary lack of staff, anyone in need of a healer can go to the Charms classroom. Charms students will also be required to go to this classroom.

"A copy of this schedule is on every table in the room; you have no excuse for not appearing in the indicated class at the appropriate times. Don't worry about the age gaps in any two classes that will be required to meet in the same room; the things you will be learning aren't normal curriculum things and they will exist quite outside of the knowledge you need to know for the class. If, because of this altered schedule, you are taking the same class twice, you can see any one of us teachers and we will approve a temporary class transfer. If have a free class, you may explore the temporary additions to the school or go to any of the six classrooms. There will also be a haunted house on the grounds that will be open all day.

After classes, students have four hours to do what they want. Then there will be the Masquerade Ball until midnight. If you don't want to stay up that late, you may make your way to any of the four common rooms. The ways to get to these common rooms are marked on the ground. Simply choose a dormitory and sleep on any of the beds; tomorrow you will wake up in your own dormitory. If you've any questions, you have twenty minutes until classes start to approach any of us six teachers." Having finished her speech, she sat back down and resumed conversation with the other teachers.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Three Hours Earlier.

"Ack!" Harry, once again in the appearance of Evan, threw himself out of the way of a yellow beam of light, quickly getting up, just in time to throw himself out of the next incoming spell.

"This is so unfair…" He grumbled, dodging behind a suit of armor, which moved to protect him from three incoming spells, "'You need to do it, Sal, he's head of your house, after all.' As if Re'na had any trouble at all with Flitwick. Probably transported him out of Hogwarts while he was still sleeping. And I'm the one who's got to be somewhere else! Well," he continued in a grudgingly grateful voice, "At least 'Rick offered to help kick Snape out of the school." Having gotten less than five hours of sleep didn't help but he'd manage well enough with adrenaline and a couple of energy potions.

"Speak up, boy, I can't hear you!" A new barrage of spells headed towards Harry. The suit of armor wobbled and fell and Harry cursed as he ran to find new shelter, throwing a few spells over his shoulder.

"You weren't meant to," Harry shouted, "Stupid, paranoid, ex-auror! Just give up and get out of Hogwarts! I mean, what type of shield is that, anyway? It deflects every spell!" The last part was muttered to himself before he shot off another series of spells. "Subsistere! Lumen caecus!Rictusempra!" The last was shouted out of pure frustration and, to his great surprised, the tickling charm went through Moody's shield, even if it didn't slow the ex-auror for long.

Harry groaned,

"Please tell me this isn't one of those shields that only really simple curses can go through…Incendio!" Moody's cloak caught fire and the professor easily directed a water spell at himself to put it out. Harry took advantage of the auror's pause to direct two more spells at the auror in quick succession, "Expelliarmus! Incarcerous!" Seconds later, Moody's wand was in Harry's hands and the ex-auror himself was on the floor, struggling against the ropes that bound him.

Harry smirked down at him, happy that he had finally gained the advantage; the duel had been drawn on far too long,

"By the powers given to me by the great Salazar Slytherin himself, I hereby banish you from Hogwarts' grounds until midnight. I hope to see you on my side of the battlefield this time. Oh, and one thing…I'd head over to the Longbottoms' house, if I were you." Moody disappeared, courtesy Hogwarts. Why she couldn't have just done it earlier and saved Harry the trouble, Harry didn't know. It had something to do with the complicated rules concerning teachers and their powers over students and vice versa.

::Are there any teachers left?:: He asked.

::Just Remus,:: Evan replied from the halls a couple floors above him::I'll get him. You just go do your job. I'm sure I don't have to tell you to do your best not to get anyone killed tonight. You sent the Portkeys?::

::Yeah. Twenty or so deserting Death Eaters will be appearing in the Chamber of Secrets in about half an hour. I don't know exactly how many there'll be, since I left the offer open to anyone who wanted to get out of the Death Eaters. That also means that Voldemort might have sent a spy or two. Do you think you can handle that and all the students that you'll have to teach today?::

::I told you, we'll be fine. You just go make sure that nobody dies.::

::I'm not sure I can promise that much,:: Harry said grimly::I'll do my best.::

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Moody cursed loudly. After he had been banished from Hogwarts, he had appeared just outside of Hogwarts grounds and had taken over an hour of precious time trying to get out of the ropes and then half an hour after that attempting to get into Hogwarts. Now he finally admitted defeat. Hogwarts seemed determined not to let him put even a foot on school grounds.

And in all that wasted time, families elsewhere were probably being attacked. He didn't doubt Evan's words on that. He would just have to trust the brat to know what he was doing and make sure that Hogwarts remained safe. Where to go…the ministry? There had been rumors of a planned attack there in Diagon Ally…But Evan seemed intent of families. Which family had he mentioned? Longbottom, yes, that had been it; an old family, fiercely defiant of Voldemort and anything 'dark'.

He dissapparated without hesitation, hoping that he hadn't wasted too much time.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Ginny walked out from behind a curtain in the Charms classroom, frowning. Behind the curtain, a doorway in the wall closed itself seamlessly; it would not be good to have the passageway between the Chamber of Secrets and the Charms classroom. The number of Death Eaters that had appeared was over twice as much as Harry had estimated. This would be good in the long run, but it was very bad now, since she had no idea which of them were spies ready to act as soon as her back was turned. She had enough to deal with, teaching several large batches of students, without having to worry about over forty Death Eaters who may or may not have been seconds away from killing each other.

Fawkes and Serphenia were standing guard over the Death Eaters but if things got dangerous for their Bound humans, they would disappear immediately. And there would be injured students coming to her later, knowing what Thor planned to teach his class. She was just thankful that wounded people from the battlefield would be sent to Eris, rather than her, though she might be called away if help was needed.

They were extremely shorthanded…but she had a class to teach. If they were going to make an impression on the student's, she'd have to make sure that they made good impressions.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Reducto!"

Harry dodged easily. Death Eaters, most of them slow with lazy spellwork, school-level spells, and bad dueling technique were nothing after his battle with Moody, even fifteen or twenty at a time. And, of course, against Moody, the whole point was not harming a potential ally; in this battle, Harry's only goal was to take down Death Eaters as quickly as possible. Dead or alive, bound or unconscious…It didn't matter, as long as they wouldn't be able to rejoin the fight.

His only worry was time: Voldemort had organized his Death Eaters to attack seven different families, almost simultaneously. Then, they would regroup and attack the ministry. The families were chosen from prominent light families or old families that had 'dirtied their blood' by marrying Muggles.

With only Draco and Harry available to lead the defense, they had enlisted the reluctant help of the teachers and Order of the Phoenix. Every Hogwarts teacher had been kicked out of the school and the more able duelers had been given hints pointing towards a specific family while those unskilled at dueling were locked away (for their own safety), far from battle. Similarly, the Order had been given an incomplete list of the families that were to be attacked half an hour before the attacks began. Harry had put tracking charms on all of their 'helpers' so he could tell witch families weren't getting help or which 'helpers' were in trouble.

"Lumen caecus! Cassesium! Cassesium! Cassesium! Sepelionoce!" Harry shot off spells as fast as he could. Over half of the Death Eaters cowered away from the bright light, three Death Eaters fell to the ground in chains, and five more were blasted away by his blasting curse. And still there were six more Death Eaters…the problem was remembering exactly which spells worked on more people at once, which would actually work to disable the Death Eaters, and which took far too much magical energy.

The Bones family was just waking up. Harry could see a light go on in a window about a dozen yards away, could see them go about in their morning routines in a surreal way. Any moment, one of them could look out the window…But they didn't. Oblivious, they sat around a table, eating breakfast; two middle-aged women and one man. One of the women was helping a young child butter her toast. Three house-elves were busily bringing food, putting it away, and generally being helpful. One of the harassed-looking house-elves was trying to take the toast to butter it herself.

"Aerdesolo! Subsistere! Somnodormio!" The Death Eater that got hit by the first spell fell to the ground, clutching his throat. The binding spell caught the second of guard as she tried to dodge and she froze, unable to move. Momentum caught up to her and she smashed into the ground. Finally, the last four the Death Eaters dropped down to the ground, fast asleep, after being caught by the third spell.

One of the Bones ladies looked out of the window and screamed, finally noticing the battlefield that her backyard had become.

Slightly out of breath but unable to pause for even a second, Harry teleported away. There were still five more families, assuming that Draco had dealt with his first family quickly. And they were probably beginning to be attacked just now; even if the Order had been able to send men to the three families that they had been informed about, they didn't seem to be doing very well against the many Death Eaters.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Evan looked around at his first class of the day. His first class stared back at him curiously behind an assortment of masks.

"Hello, class. As I'm sure you've all noticed, Hogwarts has taken up a Halloween theme for the day. Because of this, classes will also be different than your usual classes. So today, instead of struggling around cauldrons all day, we'll be discussing the various ways that potions are used for and against the effects of dark creatures. Any questions before we begin?"

A first year student tentatively raised their hand,

"Are you Professor Snape?" she squeaked, "Uh, sir?"

Evan smiled at her. The class was made wholly of younger students (first year Potions students and third year Arithmancy students), or the question wouldn't have been asked. Professor Snape's disposition towards his classes was quite different than how Evan was currently acting. It was mostly the younger students that believed that the Professor might become less irate if they simply stopped blowing up cauldrons.

"Not at all," Evan winked at them conspiratorially, "But don't go spreading that around; I'm not supposed to say. My name is Evan Hasoc but you can call me 'Professor Slytherin'; I'm one of the four teachers today that you'll find masquerading as the Hogwarts founders." He was indeed dressed as Salazar Slytherin had, though what he was wearing would have been more on the fancy side of Salazar's wardrobe. Evan had, of course, made suitable changes so that he didn't look too much like Harry Potter; most noticeably the now-silver eyes.

"Any more questions? No? Well, the four potions that I plan to cover today are wolfsbane potion, mandrake draught, hate potion, and blood-replenishing potion. Can anyone guess what these potions might do or how they might be used against dark creatures?"

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Draco ducked, stood up, and then ducked again. Really, ten against one was hardly fair. Still, he was the one who had chosen to go, alone, against ten men. Not that he'd had that much of a choice.

Spells of all colors were whizzing over his head but, luckily, he had yet to be hit by one. It seemed that Death Eaters all had really bad aim…or that strict combat training had degraded in the past millennia. Draco was willing to bet on the later. It was, as it was, far past time to start fighting back.

"Inflammatio!" A death eater was enveloped in pure white flames until, just seconds later, there was nothing left. Draco frowned. That was not the spell that he had intended. It couldn't be helped; two lifetimes worth of spells had gotten too many spells mixed up in his mind. He tried again, "Ignisduro!"

This time, a great stream of fire flew from his wand, which he directed towards the nearest Death Eaters. Before the spell was finished, he had taken out five death eaters. Four left. The problem with the spells that Godric had known, Draco reflected, was that most of them were flashy; they took way too much magic because they were effective on a lot of people at once. He had few one-on-one spells that weren't overkill on mere Death Eaters and he had a lot more battles to save energy for. Going through possible spells in his mind, he settled on the one that took the least power.

"Vulnero!" He shouted, "Vulnero! Vulnero! Vulnero!" His aim was good and his barrage of slashing curses felled three Death Eaters. The fourth was a little smarter and managed to dodge the curse aimed for him. The Death Eater's arm was bleeding heavily but he wasn't injured enough to stop him from causing damage. However, it was his wand arm that was injured; he wasn't about to do any harm to Draco.

"Truculenter constro!" The Death Eater fell to the ground, wrapped tightly in chains.

Pausing a second to make sure none of the Death Eaters were in any condition to do any damage, Draco spared a quick glance at the Finnigan home. They appeared to still be asleep. Knowing that the disturbance was sure to attract aurors, Draco quickly dissapparated.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Welcome," Luna smiled, looking around the classroom. Unlike Luna's usual behavior, there was no trace of dreaminess in her smile or her voice, "As some people who have been to the Ravenclaw common room might have noticed, I'm dressed up as Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts and the founder of Ravenclaw House. As such, you can call me 'Professor Ravenclaw' for the duration of the day."

She was also completely unrecognizable, as Rowena hadn't looked very similar to Luna Lovegood. A good foot or so taller than her petite counterpart, Rowena's piercing eyes were a darker blue than Luna's pale blue. The Founder's hair was also dark brown and usually pulled into a long braid, opposed to Luna's slightly shorter blond hair. Luna's face was rounder and more heart-shaped than Rowena's thin face and Rowena's nose was longer than Luna's button nose.

The students were all silent, some staring at her warily and others in awe.

"I'm very interested in the History of Hogwarts and most of all in its beginning years. I have read several documents from the time period that no other person today has ever heard of, let alone seen. One of them was the diary of Rowena Ravenclaw," she added significantly. Several Ravenclaws in the classroom that had perked up at the mention of rare documents now were practically out of their seats. "Because of my intimate knowledge of the events that started Hogwarts, the fact that this is half a history class, and the appropriateness of my costume I have decided to share some of these stories with my classes. I am sad to say that history got many things wrong."

"Unfortunately," She said in response to several hands waving in the air, "I am unable to let others look at the diary because I promised the person who left it in my keeping that I wouldn't show it to anyone.

"Now, are there any other questions? Well, then, where to start…I'm sure that most of you have heard…"

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Eighteen Death Eaters this time, Harry counted. He assumed that it was because the Fawcetts were all purebloods of high pedigree and they had not only the couple and some of their parents, but their oldest son, who had graduated from Hogwarts the year before. That made a total of six Fawcetts to cause complications.

In the end, this just made more trouble for Harry, since he couldn't really trust any of them to defend themselves properly. Thankfully, the battles had yet to reach into the targeted homes and the families were still quite blissfully unaware of their attackers.

Harry stopped only for a moment to assess the situation. The eighteen Death Eaters were creeping towards the house in two separate groups. A third group of Order members were approaching the house quickly, still some ways off. And, suddenly, a certain diminutive teacher apparated to the scene.

The situation got out of control very, very quickly. From the Death Eaters, came several spells towards the professor. Seeing this (and finally seeing the Death Eaters), the Order members directed their spells at the Death Eaters. Flitwick himself fared rather well, deflecting or dodging every spell that came his way with the reflexes of a trained duelist. All this would have been very good except that the noise drew the attention of the sleeping Fawcetts. Within seconds, an old ex-auror and very young man were sprinting across the lawn, each looking badly out of shape.

The Death Eaters directed their wands towards their targets and Flitwick, in a true heroic manner, moved to intercept the spells. However, his shield couldn't block all the spells and he couldn't move out of the way, in fear of the spells hitting the people that he was protecting. So the professor bravely stood where he was, between the incoming spells and their intended targets.

And, quickly, Harry moved between the spells and teacher.

"Vindicto!" The shield cast a blackish, sinister aura around Harry. The incoming spells hit the shield and were absorbed into it. The magic in the shield swirled ominously and then suddenly lashed out. Several blobs of blackish magic were pelted at the Death Eaters. Those who weren't fast enough to dodge screamed in agony as the magic hit them.

"Aerdesolo! Subsistere! Somdodormio! Cassesium!" Clutching their throats, stopping suddenly, and sleeping, the rest of the Death Eaters fell to the ground, unconscious.

Seeing that not even the Order could fail to take control of the situation, Harry teleported away.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hello, everyone!" Thor said, smiling brightly and rather eagerly around at his students, "Today we'll be combining Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle studies to learn a bit about various non-magical combat and weaponry. You will all learn some of the basics of hand-to-hand or fencing, depending on what the class chooses."

A sixth year in the back raised his hand and Thor called on him.

"Uh, sir…What're we supposed to call you?"

Thor looked sheepish,

"Sorry. My name is Thor Dragomir Hasoc; today you can call me Professor Hasoc."

"Why the costume?" A girl in the back piped up, "I mean, earlier I was in class with someone dressed up as Ravenclaw and we got to call her 'Professor Ravenclaw'. How come you haven't got a cool costume as well?"

"Lost a bet," Thor said, smiling easily. He seemed completely unperturbed about being forced into a vaguely ridiculous-looking lion costume, "Now, the first thing we have to do is figure out whether you all want to learn hand-to-hand or fencing. Let's have a vote."

"Hand to hand?" A pureblood sneered, "Fencing? I thought this was a wizarding school. Why are we learning stupid Muggle defense?"

"Each of the four Hogwarts Founders was familiar with a weapon, completely aside from learning to use each to channel magic. Muggle weapons can be very useful; as is Muggle training. A wizard's duel is more than just standing and shooting spells at each other, after all. You have to be able to dodge and if you're fast enough, you can even snatch your opponent's wand away from them."

"You could easily do the same with magic," a half-blood Ravenclaw pointed out logically.

"Let's have a demonstration, shall we?" Thor smirked, "Five of you against me…And someone else in the class can hold my wand."

The students later claimed that the match was unfair, either because their teacher had obviously had much more experience then they, or that he had rigged the whole match, start to finish.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was Draco's second battle and already he was beginning to tire. Still, he had gotten to the house before the Death Eaters had been able to enter it; that was something, at least. The Death Eaters were stealthily approaching the house and the Macmillans were probably still fast asleep, even if it was approaching noon. They had a fat inheritance that they were living off of, after all.

"Aureusacies," Draco whispered. A blade of pure light formed at the end of his wand and he jumped in front of the Death Eaters, neatly killing two before the others realized what was happening.

"Avada Kedavra!" Death Eaters shouted, panicked, "Imperio!" They waved their wands and shouted all the curses that came to their minds, but Draco easily dodged them all, slashing at the nearest Death Eaters with his wand-blade.

The Death Eaters had been halved in number, and most of the remaining were badly injured. Draco grudgingly saw that there was no need to keep attacking them.

"Multivinculum!"The remaining Death Eaters fell to the ground in roped. Satisfied that they'd do no more harm, Draco sent up a multitude of multi-colored sparks, sure to attract the attention of the ministry and Macmillan family. Wasting no more time, he dissapparated.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was with some difficulty that Claire faced the class and, for the forth time that day, delivered the exact same speech,

"Welcome, students! My name is Claire Selene Branwen and I will be taking over the duties of Transfiguration and Divination teachers today. As some of you may not know, tonight there will be a Ball to which all students are welcome. If you want anything nicer or scarier to wear to the ball than what you're wearing now, that's what we'll be working on in class. Since you're all fifth years and above, feel free to start with your costumes. I'll be teaching a few useful spells over here, for all that are interested. Also, don't be afraid to come to me for help with your costume. I've only one warning: you have to participate in this class. Inactivity will not be tolerated."

As in her other three classes so far, the students all seemed to be spending more attention considering how 'freaky' her white eyes were (and lack of skin color) than they were paying attention to what she was saying.

Frustrated, she plowed on,

"You may alter your current costumes or make new ones altogether. I have set up changing rooms over here for the girls and here for the boys if you'd like to try on costumes. I will be starting my first lesson over here in five minutes on how to sew magically and in ten minutes I will begin to explain how to create artificial blood (you must never us real blood during such events because you never know when a vampire will show up). You may all begin."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

When Harry went to protect the Jones family (formerly Mockridge), he was happy to note that the Order wasn't doing badly here. Of course, it was something he had counted on, as one of the Order members was a Jones and was therefore able to warn her family to get away. Professor McGonagall had been sent here as well. All Harry had to do was make sure that none of the Order members that were at the Jones's house would come to any harm or think to harm him.

For this, he decided that stealth would be best. Hiding in the woods near the house, Harry sniped at the Death Eaters, using mostly invisible spells.

"Supplanto," Harry whispered and managed to pull three Death Eaters to the ground with a single tripping jinx. Smirking, he aimed again, "Supplanto! Collum Angustus! Somnodormio!" …And looked up just in time to roll away from a nasty hex aimed his way from the other side of battle. It seemed as though one of the Order members had seen him hiding in the trees. The spell missed his face but hit his leg; luckily, it merely hit Salazar's battle robes and dissolved. Harry sighed in relief and, with a bit more concentration that should have been necessary (he was getting tired) he teleported to a tree several yards away and resumed his sniping,

"Supplanto!"

In very little time, all of the Death Eaters were in the custody of the Order of the Phoenix and Harry was free to teleport away. As an afterthought, he banished half a dozen little pins away from him, one to each injured Order member. The injured Order members all vanished simultaneously, causing some panic among the remaining Order members. Pulling his magic around him to teleport, Harry wavered slightly. Frowning at the lack of magic in his magical stores, he impatiently pulled out an energy potion and downed it.

Energy once again surged into his magical stores and Harry teleported away.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hello," Eris smiled sweetly at the class, "My name is Eris Humphrey and I'm a healer. Today, I will be taking the posts of your professors Sprout and Hagrid. I'm sure that you know how this works from your previous classes."

"Are you related to Madam Pomfrey? Or is the similarity in names just something that healers do?" A student spoke up.

"I'm not related to your school nurse; to the best of my knowledge," Eris said, "Any similarity between our names is a coincidence.

"Anyways, I heard that healing wasn't taught at Hogwarts any more than in passing. I thought that it would be nice to remedy that. For the duration of the class, I will teach you basic healing spells. I've heard that you've learned to heal bruises in Charms class, is this correct?"

A Ravenclaw raised his hand,

"Yes, but we also learned some charms to heal fractured bones and bloody noses."

"Ah, yes. The Herbology class is in seventh year so some of you might have taken NEWT Charms already. However, the Care of Magical Creatures class, to the best of my knowledge, only got as far as bruises. Okay, does anyone know the difference, magically, between healing broken noses, broken bones, and fractured bones?"

Two members of the class raised their hands. Eris called on one of them but then paused,

"Excuse me; I seem to have a patient in need of healing. Will people in the Herbology class who know how please begin to teach the Care of Magical Creatures class the basics of healing fractured bones and bloody noses? I'll be back in just a minute." She put the knowledgeable Ravenclaw in charge of the class and quickly walked towards the back of the room

When Eris got to the back of the room, she pulled aside a tapestry. In just seconds, the blank stone wall behind the tapestry had become a passageway and Eris walked through the resulting passageway to another room. This was the room where they had locked the staff incapable of battle and it was also the room where Harry and Draco were sending injured innocents, teachers, and members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Once there, she was surprised to see Madam Pomfrey had taken charge,

"Pomona, fetch me my potions bag. Sibyll, I'll need some hot water. Sibyll, for Merlin's sake, now's not the time to be squeamish! Do what you're told or get out of the way! Ah, there you are, Hagrid, did you get…? Ah, yes, this is it; thank you."

Turning towards her patient, she noticed Eris in the door,

"Well? An extra hand is always nice but I thought you had a class to teach. Hogwarts tells me that you're teaching the student's something useful for once," she sniffed, "Well, I've got everything quite under control here. Do get on with your classes."

Feeling profoundly grateful to the other healer, Eris curtseyed (now why did Pomfrey remind her so much of the old healing Master that Helga had been apprenticed to when she was little?) and left. Even though Eris and the others were basically holding the healer hostage, the healer hadn't wasted time to grudge Eris for it and had instead turned to the injured. A true healer.

On her way back to the classroom, she hesitated and then asked Hogwarts to create another doorway. She quickly peeked into the room that held the deserting Death Eaters. They all turned to look at her expectantly and she backed away with a shiver, allowing the door to close. Helga had always been sensitive to emotions, born to an old family of empaths, but even if she had not been made from Helga's soul, she would have been able to feel the tensions building in the room.

She hoped that Fawkes and Serphenia would be able to stop the approaching situation. Troubled, she turned and headed back to her class.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

When Draco arrived at the Abbott's house, it was clear that the Death Eaters were already inside of the house. Wasting no time, he brandished his light sword and ran inside. Cutting down the first two Death Eaters he met on his way, he ran towards the commotion. Two middle-aged women and an older one were huddled in the corner, obviously pushed aside to torture later. An old man and a middle-aged one were in the middle of the circle, bound and glaring defiantly at the Death Eaters. As he watched, one of the Death Eaters brought down his wand, a spell forming on his lips.

"Impe…"

"Tempestas aequitas!" There was a roar of pure energy and lightning struck down every Death Eater in the room.

Draco paused to get back his breath. His use of the spell had been instinctive and rather rash; it had taken far too much out of him. And there was still at least five Death Eaters unaccounted for. One of the men gave a groan of terror, bringing Draco's attention to them.

"Are there any more people living here?" Draco questioned urgently, "Any more Abbotts?"

The man babbled something quite incoherent.

"Amy," the horrorstruck voice came from one of the women. She struggled to get up but fell, "Amy was playing outside when they came. She's never been to Hogwarts; she's only nine! She can't defend herself!"

Without even uttering heroic proclamation, Draco turned and ran downstairs, sprinted outside…and came face-to-face with his godfather.

Never before in either of his lives had he been more grateful for Salazar's or Harry's paranoia. The potion that he had been forced to take blurred the drinker's identity (stolen from the cauldron that Draco had brewed in Potions class; Harry hadn't been allowed to brew that day either).

Snape was carrying a little girl. Draco looked at her kindly,

"You're Amy, right? Your parents are upstairs waiting for you."

"Draco? What are you doing here?!" Oh, right. Potions masters could often get around the affects imperfect potions. Great.

"There's no time! Take this," Draco said quickly, pressing several small objects into Snape's palm, "They're Portkeys. The password is the name that a mutual friend of ours took use when he was forced to attend school twenty years ago. Give them to any injured but don't activate any that you're holding unless you want to be locked away for the rest of the day." He hesitated, "You're as good a messenger as any. Tell the Order that an anonymous source has told you that Voldemort's original plans included an attack on the ministry at seven in the afternoon. If you're quick with the Abbotts, the only house left is the Longbottoms."

"Wait, I'm not finished…" Snape started to shout

Draco dissapparated, never hearing the rest.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"A fine mess we've gotten ourselves into," Dolohov sneered.

"Shut up, Dolohov," Nott said tiredly.

"To think," Dolohov gloated, "You put us through all this on behalf of your mutual imaginary friend. How touching."

"Shut up, Dolohov," Rabastan Lestrange said angrily.

"Make me," Dolohov jeered, "Oh, wait. They took away our wands. We can't do a thing until they all come down to execute us or send us to Azkaban."

"It-it mightn't be to late to go back," a young recruit said, stuttering badly, "I-if we…I-if we went b-back, the D-Dark L-l-lord might-might show m-mercy. W-we don't have to d-d-die."

"Shut it, Prush."

"You don't have any authority," Dolohov sneered, "You can't do a single thing unless your imaginary friend comes and tells…"

He was abruptly caught off when a large fist hit his face.

"Shut up," Crabbe muttered.

Rabastan clapped gleefully,

"Way to show him, Crabbe. Nice of you to stand up for yourself every once in a while."

Crabbe squinted at him as if wondering if Rabastan was joking and then shrugged, retreating back to his corner of the chamber. Though there were forty Death Eaters in the Chamber (they were actually locked in the hallway between the entrance from the girl's bathroom and the room that harbored the giant statue and basilisk remains), most of them chose to remain silent in their own chosen spot, watching the others.

Now that it was quiet, however, Rabastan moved to take the spotlight,

"Say, its awful dreary down here, isn't it? What I want to know is what's with all the snakes? You'd expect someone anti-Voldemort to get rid of anything symbolic of him. Then again, he's offering a chance for the dark families to remain dark and not side with Voldemort; it's not like he's a completely light wizard. Awful nice of him, you know."

"Shut up, Lestrange," Nott said tiredly.

"Now, that's not very nice," Rabastan said, annoyed, "And here I thought you were on my side."

"Look, this isn't a picnic, all right?" Nott said angrily, "We're stuck in here and for all we know our family's out there somewhere, dying. I just want to know if they're all right; then I'll figure out what I want to do."

At that moment, there was a ray of light. Everyone looked up expectantly but the girl in the doorway just stared at them for a second and then backed out, the door closing behind her.

"Well, that wasn't very nice of her," Rabastan commented, "D'you think that that means we really are at Hogwarts? Was she a student, d'you think?"

"That wasn't very smart, Nott," a gravely voice commented from the shadows of the Chamber.

"Nobody asked your opinion, Parkinson," Avery said. Close cousins, Avery and Nott usually backed each other up for everything.

"I'm just saying," Parkinson continued, "That there ought to be spies in our little group. A gathering of forty Death Eaters and not a whisper to Voldemort? No, mark my words; there are spies here. You tell them that your weakness is your family and the next second, He'll have killed them for betraying him."

"Shut it, Parkinson."

"What are we, a bunch of children?" Narcissa Malfoy said impatiently, "We chose to believe the words of the stranger and we will follow through with our decision. Out there," she made a sweeping gesture, "There are battles happening, battles that we would have been for, if it hadn't been for this Evan. We could be dead right now. Stop being impatient and see if he'll carry out his words.

From somewhere in the shadows, phoenix song was humming softly.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The scene at the Longbottoms was what could easily be described as chaos. The Death Eaters had already attacked the house and the Order was busy protecting Augusta Longbottom from any harm. As she was a fairly able dueler, they were just wasting resources by sending people to get her out of the immediate line of fire.

The Longbottom's house was a mess; furniture broken, objects scattered everywhere. And still the war between the two groups raged on. Dumbledore was here, clearly far surpassing any of the Death Eaters or Order members. Harry frowned; he couldn't use any dangerous curses here out of fear of hitting Order members.

"Obrigesco constrinxi! Cassesium! Subsistere!" His binding spells hit only Death Eaters.

"What took you so long, boy?" Moody roared from behind an overturned table.

"Was distracted by the three other Death Eater raids I had to deal with along the way!" Harry snapped, trying to think of spells that he knew that didn't involve dismemberment or extreme pain. He had been using the same series of binding, sleeping, and tripping curses all afternoon and was getting tired of it. Harry frowned. He was shaking a little. He had just used an energy potion, minutes ago; he shouldn't need another one so soon. What he really needed was sleep; so many teleportations were getting to him. His nerves still weren't recovered from the price of the spell: pain. And after so many in quick succession, his whole body was numb. After half a second's consideration, he took out a post-Cruciatus potion and drank that too.

Deciding that he had wasted too much time with his potions, Harry reentered battle,

"Supplanto! Supplanto! Somnodormio!"

"Ignisduro!"

Harry ducked behind an overturned cabinet as a long rope of fire attacked the nearest Death Eaters.

"And what took you so long?!" He shouted at Draco.

"Friend of yours?" Moody shouted over the roar of the flames.

The battle went on, Harry, Draco, and Moody managing to push back the Death Eaters from their side while on the other side of the house, Dumbledore and the rest of the Order protected Neville's grandmother from the rest of the Death Eaters. Until some of the Order finally thought to send backup for Moody.

They saw Harry and Draco, completely unknown quantities, battling quite near Moody and panicked, shooting hexes and spells wildly. Harry managed to roll behind a large china closet and Draco started to set up a shield spell. Harry could see the Gryffindor Founder hesitate and then get hit in the stomach by some type of slashing curse.

"What are you doing, you idiots!" Moody was shouting, "Stop before I curse you myself!" But the damage was done.

In a flash, Harry was at his friend's side. He fumbled with his potions for a second before taking out a handful and shoving them down Draco's throat.

Three more curses came at Harry's back while he was taking care of his friend but they dissolved before they even hit him. His aura's glow was blinding white and the wings that sprouted from his back were wrapped around him. Both served as a shield against external magic.

"Idiot!" He berated the Gryffindor, "Why didn't you put up your shield?!"

Draco gave Harry a weak grin,

"You know that all the decent shields that I know reflect magic back at the casters. Didn't wanna hurt them. You're always saying that I need to know a larger variety of spells."

"Stupid, arrogant, optimistic, Gryffindor! I've told you over and over not to make yourself a matyr!"

"Don't be melodramatic; I won't die. I've got the best healer ever (duplicated) to take care of me and she's got access to the best potions master in the world. I'll be right as rain in just a couple days, you'll see." He squinted up at Harry, "You know, those wings'a yours are actually kinda cool."

Harry rolled his eyes,

"Idiot. Get going, I'll be there in a second."

"See you then…Venia." Draco disappeared as the Portkey in his pocket activated.

Harry straightened and turned towards the Order, eyes flashing,

"Well, congratulations, Order, that has to be about the worst teamwork I've ever seen in my life. Or is it custom for you to stab each other in the back? Without us, you would have no knowledge of these attacks; without us, these families would all be dead. Have fun finishing up here; I've saved enough people for you today. I gave you a chance. Before this war is finished, I'll have your names dragged in the mud of every scandal of the wizarding world."

He disappeared.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"How is he?" Harry asked Eris shortly as he arrived on the scene. As soon as Eris had felt Draco's personal Portkey activate, she had immediately left her classes to heal him. Fawkes, too, had abandoned her position as guard of the deserting Death Eaters.

"Draco's fine," Eris reassured him, "You knew just which potions to give him. I'd even say that he's more than fine; he'll be completely healthy and full of energy…as soon as he wakes up. But I don't think that will be for more than a day."

Harry frowned. There was still the afternoon attack on the Ministry of Magic and, as content as he was to let the Order struggle along, he didn't want innocents to be hurt. Moreover, he knew Draco wouldn't want innocents to be hurt because of him.

"If you'll take my suggestion…?" Eris offered hesitantly, "None of us Spirits can leave Hogwarts yet; we don't have nearly enough energy for such a feat. And Luna and Claire are both essential to making the Ball run smoothly but…My-I mean, Ginny could help. None of the Founders were unskilled at battle. Helga was rather good, if she had motivation; even if she doesn't like hurting people, Ginny can help. She feels so useless…"

"Of course," Harry said, "But it was the Order that attacked him…It doesn't feel right helping them after all that."

"But you're not," Eris pointed out simply, "You promised to drag their names in the mud. The name of the Order of the Phoenix and the names that the Order represents, like Dumbledore. If anyone can take them out in the eye of the people, it's you. Don't fight as part of the Order, fight as someone separate from the Order, someone that can save them where the Order fails.

Harry grinned at her,

"You've always been the best to turn to for advice."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"The phoenix is gone," Parkinson muttered.

"Oh, so you noticed?" Rabastan gave a careless grin, "It stopped singing about ten minutes ago."

"Well, if our watcher is gone…" Dolohov said, a nasty grin spreading over his face, "…We can do this!" He whipped out his wand and had it pointed at the nearest deserter. Prush got up quickly and stood at his side, along with two more Death Eaters that had yet to talk.

"Your imaginary friend is rather ignorant," he said silkily, "to not notice that the wand that they were given was only one of two." Within minutes, he had all the deserting Death Eaters lined up, some of them crying for mercy.

"Where's your precious Evan now?" He jeered. He turned to the first one in line, "Avada…"

A great snake uncoiled from the darkness and struck. Dolohov was dead before he realized what had happened and his followers were soon dead as well.

Calmly, Serphenia coiled herself once again in the darkness, watching.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The school was faring rather well as the afternoon went on. The students all seemed rather interested in the decorations around them; glowing eyes painted on walls, fake spider webs, skeletons that walked around (really illusioned suits of armor), and lots of plastic Muggle things that were supposed to be scary but weren't. Then again, some students were caught badly off guard when one of the Muggle things opened its eyes and shrieked when they walked too close; Rowena had enchanted these to work inside Hogwarts by powering them with magic and they had underestimated Muggle technology.

And apparently Professor Ravenclaw had none of McGonagall's restrictions when it came to using transfiguration on students; she transfigured several trouble-makers into lizards earlier in the day and left them like that for almost an hour. Still, the afternoon was rather uneventful.

And then the Ball began.

It was really quite interesting. Students were forced to mingle with members of other houses, as they didn't know who was who. Some students who couldn't find their boyfriends or girlfriends had even started, hesitantly, to dance with others. And for people not interested in dancing or romance, there were a lot of other activities open, mostly Muggle ones.

Despite their restrictions, most students had fun.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry was profoundly glad that he'd gotten a couple hours' sleep in the afternoon. His magic, which before had been going haywire, had at least a chance to settle down before this new wave of exertion.

Currently, he and Ginny were in the Ministry of Magic, waiting for the action. They had found a strategically recluse spot in the Atrium where they wouldn't be questioned and had quite a lot of cover for when the battle began. Now, all they had to do was wait. Ginny absentmindedly played with Helga's wand (Harry had given it to her before his nap) and sometimes gave a pat to the strong quarterstaff that they had transfigured for her, as if to reassure herself that it was still there.

The atmosphere was casual, laid-back. Inside, both Founder reincarnations were tense, prepared to start fighting at a moment's notice. They had showed up earlier than Voldemort's planned seven o'clock attack because they both thought that Voldemort might alter his plans; seeing as he now knew that he had at least one spy and several betrayers in his ranks (though he didn't know if any were left as most, if not all, had deserted).

Suddenly, at long last, the doors to the Atrium burst open and all the entranceways to the ministry were flooded with Death Eaters. A muttered spell later and a blaring alarm shattered the peace of the offices upstairs, who were unaware of the attack; the Death Eaters had disabled the alarms, so Ginny had set them off magically.

The Death Eaters looked around wildly, confused by the alarm. They crept closer together, instinctively seeking protection…

"Terracapto!" Ginny initiated the battle; a large sinkhole appearing under the feet of the Death Eaters. They were quickly sucked in as the hole became wider and deeper, then suddenly closed up in a great wave of dirt, trapping the Death Eaters below the ground.

"Aerdesolo! Collum Angustus!" Harry's spells, both designed to suffocate opponents, did their jobs spectacularly. The range of his first spell was broad enough that the air around several Death Eaters simply disappeared and, unable to breath, they collapsed on the floor within a minute. The second spell hit just one Death Eater, an authorities looking figure who fell to the ground, his throat constricted so tightly that he couldn't breathe.

And so the battle began. At first, Harry and Ginny stayed in their comfortable spot, shooting spells at as many Death Eaters as they could reach. Few got into the ministry building, and even fewer made it to the elevators. None made it upstairs, mostly because Ginny and Harry had disabled the elevators beforehand.

Then the Order of the Phoenix appeared. Harry sneered at them, angry still at the damage that they had done to his friend. With the addition of new members, the fight became a melee. Each group charged at each other and shot spells at each other close-range. Few could tell if their spells were hitting friends or enemies. Not wasting any time, Harry sprang into the fight, daggers appearing as if by magic in his hands. Ginny followed him without hesitation, spinning her quarterstaff in front of her to deflect incoming spells.

Death Eaters died. In large numbers. Quickly. And still they kept coming. The Order was getting tired; Harry was spending half his time now dropping Portkeys onto unconscious Order members. He still didn't want anyone to die and he could always use the chance to humiliate the Order.

Finally, Harry realized what he should have seen earlier; Voldemort wasn't coming. He was throwing away the crumbs of his Death Eaters to test this unknown force but wasn't going to appear and fight himself. Dumbledore, too, seemed suspiciously absent from the battle but Harry was sure that the Headmaster had just found a safer place to fight. Quickly, he communicated these thoughts to Ginny.

She stopped to think about it but, when a yellow spell whizzed by too close to her head, she told him that they had to find cover. They held a quick discussion.

"We can't keep doing this!"

"But it's not like we can just leave…"

"Sure we can. You still know that mass-freezing spell, right? Let's freeze

'em all up, send away the injured, and then get the hell out of here."

Ginny gave him a dubious look,

"The power needed for that spell…"

"What're energy potions for?"

The redhead sighed, grabbed Harry's arm, and shouted

"Desinoutrogue!" Everything stopped. Nothing in the room twitched or fell, even the Death Eater who was in mid-jump. The whole room was completely frozen. But Harry heard sounds.

"I think there's fighting going on outside. And I haven't seen half of the Order," he moved towards the entrance but Ginny's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Energy spells. Now. Unless you'd rather I just collapsed…?"

Harry disconnected a small pouch from the inside of his battle robes,

"Here, it's full of energy potions and mild healing potions. You should be able to tell which is which but energy's purple, healing's blue. Why don't you finish up with everything here and then come join me outside."

"Reckless," Ginny muttered as Harry ran outside, "No matter how much he tries to deny he's even half-Gryffindor…" She turned her attentions to the frozen battle in front of her, "Laqueus labrusca!" Vines erupted out of the nice marble floor binding each Death Eater where they stood. Then she started making her way around to the injured Order members.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry ran outside to a scene of chaos not unlike the one he had just left. Finding a spot outside of the commotion, he calmly sniped at Death Eaters. He scanned the battlefield again and again. Harry kept a close eye on Snape but tried to convince himself that he wasn't doing so.

The emerald-eyed wizard scanned the battlefield once more…and saw Snape clearly loosing against a pair of older Death Eaters. He was cornered and the next spell, he wouldn't be able to dodge…Harry rolled his eyes, knowing that he'd regret this for some time afterwards…

"Accio Severus Snape!" And it wasn't as if he hadn't saved other Order members…Even if he hadn't summoned any of them.

Snape went flying through the air, narrowly missing several spells from both sides. Finally, he landed in a spray of dirt behind Harry's small cover (a deserted Muggle building nearby).

Spluttering, Snape lifted his head out of the dirt and saw Harry. He froze; then purpled with fury.

"Potter!"

Harry slapped his forehead,

"I knew that that disguising potion was nowhere near Master level! But nooo, I thought that it was okay, since there was only one other potions Master anywhere nearby and I wasn't about to run into him. Stupid luck."

"Shouldn't you be safe back at the school with the rest of your Gryffindor friends?" Snape sneered.

"Oh for Merlin's sake…I just saved your life, you idiot. Now get out of here or stop insulting me."

Snape looked at Harry incredulously, then to the many spells that were hitting the building they were hiding behind,

"I can't go back there! You've distracted all of their attentions with you little stunt!"

"Huh, so I have," Harry said, peeking around the corner of the building before quickly withdrawing his head, "fancy that."

"I leave you for one second…" A feminine voice muttered from behind Harry.

"My savior!" Harry said happily, turning around to greet Ginny, who was coming out of the ministry building, casually swinging her quarterstaff to deflect all of the spells that were flying by her. In a matter of seconds, she'd arrived at the building that Harry and Snape were taking cover behind.

"Weasley?!" If Snape was surprised before, he was flabbergasted now.

"I'd say 'the one and only'," Ginny said casually, "But that wouldn't be right. Now if you had said 'Miss Weasley'…" She looked at Harry, "That potion was useless, wasn't it?"

"Hey, I didn't brew it," Harry said defensively, "Now, how about getting out of here?"

"Weren't you going to stick around a little longer?"

"…Nah. The Order can deal with the rest. There's only about two dozen Death Eaters left. Let's go."

"Fidelis!"

"Somniare!"

Each disappeared as their Portkeys activated and Snape was once again standing alone in the middle of a battlefield.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The body count after the Hallow's Eve Battles was shocking to the wizarding world: nearly two hundred Death Eaters dead, total and over a hundred more in the custody of the Ministry…but not a single other death. This was not easily verified, since over fifty injured people had gone missing, but all turned up in various places within a couple hours. Hogwarts came out of lockdown and most of the students and teachers simply acted as if nothing had happened.

-Open: Chamber of Secrets!- It was later on the day of the failed attack on the Ministry and Harry was still tired. There was, however, just one last thing he had to take care of.

The Death Eaters all turned and faced the new arrivals. Harry and Evan stepped into the Chamber, Harry for once not under the guise of 'Evan' but just Harry. The doorway closed behind them.

There was a brief commotion among the Death Eaters and various shouts of "Potter!" Harry waited for them to stop and then motioned Evan to take the spotlight.

"As some of you might remember," Evan started lazily, "I'm Evan Hasoc. Yes, my last name used to be different, but I won't tell it to you because of security reasons. Thank you for your wait; there's only a little more waiting to be done. Harry, if you'd please…?"

-Open: Secret Chambers One and Two!- Some of the Death Eaters jumped a little, surprised at the sounds that they had for so long associated with Voldemort. Two doors appeared in the wall and Harry and Evan each walked over to one.

"Thank you," Evan said, "Now, I'm sure that you've experienced at least some amount of excitement in the last couple of hours, so there will be one more test of loyalty to make sure that you're all safe here. Please come when we call your names."

Slowly the Death Eaters trickled into the two rooms and out into another, smaller room on the other side. Through the use of numerous truth potions and spells, Harry and Evan evaluated the trustworthiness of each of the deserting Death Eaters. Three Death Eaters were sent to a side chamber and never heard of again but the rest all graduated into the small room.

Finally, all the Death Eaters had been tested. Harry and Evan walked into the smaller room, Harry with Serphenia draped around his shoulders.

"Now that you've all been tested, welcome you to the Chamber of Secrets. I'd like to assure you that all of your families have been taken care of and tomorrow you'll have the choice of returning to your families or moving your families in here. Within the week, I will also present you all with various trinkets with which you will be able to track your family's safety. If you've any further concerns, you can talk to me tomorrow. And now, I've got to go help tend to the wounded. Harry will take you on a tour of your rooms." A doorway opened in the wall next to Evan and he left.

"Just a quick one," Harry said, turning to the Death Eaters, "I'd like to go to bed soon, and I'm sure you all would as well." The Death Eaters shifted uneasily. Evan was someone that they felt they could trust. Could they trust Harry Potter, Golden Boy of Hogwarts? They had little time to think about it, for a large doorway opened in the wall beside Harry and he promptly began his tour.

"Okay," Harry said cheerfully, "This place is really huge, so you each get your own room. I really don't know what Salazar Slytherin was thinking when he made so many but it turned out useful. The rooms are all over here, feel free to pick any room that isn't already occupied. If you step into the room and close the door behind you, the first word you say becomes the password. As you can see, bathrooms are over here…

"And over here there's the cafeteria. The house-elves are going out of their way to bring you extra food so please be nice to any you see. If any of you have heard the story of Dobby, one of the Malfoy's house-elf who I set free…and who then proceeded to knock Lucius Malfoy down a flight of stairs to protect me? Yeah, I like house-elves. Don't abuse them.

"Over here's the entertainment area. It's not very big yet but if a lot of people choose to stay here, it'll grow larger. This is the library…not Salazar's library, though. That's been closed off because it's full of nasty spells and, really, most of you are still on probation. You'll find a large assortment of Muggle books in here, as well of Magical ones of the more harmless brand. This is a television. It's a Muggle entertainment item. Use this button to change the images on the screen and this to change the volume. Please note that most of the images on the screen aren't real and merely Muggle entertainment and, yes, most Muggles are well aware of how bad most of these shows are.

"This passageway over here leads back to parts of the Chamber that used to house a giant basilisk. As you can see, it's currently closed off, since her corpse is still down there and still needs to be removed." Serphenia hissed softly and Harry stroked her head. "And that's it for the tour. You'll find all of your wands in this room over here but be warned that fighting is absolutely prohibited. We will know if you start a fight and troublemakers will most likely be kicked out of Hogwarts.

"And that's it, I suppose. Any questions? No? Well, then…Enjoy your stay."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Some might want to know how Moody knew who Harry was, if he had a potion that disguised his identity. Simple, he guessed – so he doesn't know that Harry's actually Harry. Unknown quantity shows up and starts fighting Death Eaters, wasn't that hard to guess, especially for such a pro-guesser as Moody.

Also, questions were asked in reviews that I haven't gotten around to answering. I might just answer them in the next chapter but…I don't think the next chapter will be for a while. I really struggled for this one. But that's understandable, since it turned out to be about seven-thousand words above my original guesstimate. So sorry for missing the deadline, but I hope you enjoyed it!

And I have an enormous list of all the spells that the founders use, who uses them, and what they do. Anyone interested enough for me to post them next chapter?