Harry Potter and the Power of the Past
Disclaimer: All JKR's, not mine.
Summary: This is a complete AU- Harry Potter is a 21-year-old wizard, who's on top of the world. He's rich, in love, and loved by all, but his life is turned upside down as a spiral of events leads to the ultimate battle between good and evil. Can Harry lead the fight for the light, but yet manage to keep his life together?
A/N: Thanks for the reviews everybody. Oh, and review again!
S/N: Clearly, this is a set up chapter, I hope you like it. As for Barty Crouch, Jr, in this chapter: he's been doing what he's been doing for a long, long time now. He was ordered to breach the Ministry, that's why he's been a very, very busy boy.
S/N 2: I have a lot of subplots to finish, so I think I'm going to have to add an entire chapter to finish it all off, meaning there is about four more chapters left.
Chapter 38: Heat of the Moment
Harry and Tonks both woke up around nine o'clock the next morning, and after taking showers, they both put on their official Ministry robes: white for Aurors and blood red for Hit Wizards. The Ministry robes were a special kind of robe that had inherent protections charmed into them, such as shielding charms and anti-curses that made sure that the person who was wearing them was protected from the lesser dark magical attacks. While it was customary for the Hit Wizards to wear their robes when they were on duty, the white robes of the Aurors were not, and many of the Aurors instead wore their own personal robes to work most days. After the pair enjoyed a brief breakfast of fruit and toast, they flooed over to the Ministry and walked to their respective offices, planning on meeting for lunch later that day.
Harry rubbed his scar as he entered the Hit Wizard lounge—he was the last to arrive as the rest of the Hit Wizards were already present, each doing their own thing. He sat down in a plush chair next to the wizarding wireless, across from another Hit Wizard who gave him a smile. "I hope this isn't too interesting of a day." He said to the other Hit Wizard, who cocked an eyebrow up at him, though he did not elaborate any further.
Harry pulled an eraser and a keychain out of his robe pocket, and then placed them both down onto the coffee table that was in front of his chair. He took his wand, pointed it down at the eraser and said, "Portus," while thinking of the destination that he wanted the portkey to travel to. The eraser glowed blue for a few seconds, before ceasing and returning to its natural state. Immediately, he flicked his wand over to the keychain and repeated the same actions, creating a second portkey. Then, he got up from his chair and walked over to the desk in the corner, grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment and jotted down a note.
The eraser goes to your home, while the keychain goes to St. Mungo's. I trust you know when to use each one.
-Harry
Meanwhile, a group of six people were sitting around the table in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. Kylie and Cedric had arrived just minutes prior, each having come by the house to make sure that the arrangements for the Order were taken care of. Cedric had decided to take the entire week off, wanting to be able to react to the threat against Hogwarts as quickly as he possibly could. "How do you keep your hood on and your face shrouded like that?" Cedric asked, watching as Kylie took a piece of toast and buttered it with his silver knife.
"Magic." The spy answered casually, taking a bite of the toast.
Ted Tonks snorted in laughter at that from behind his paper, having heard that answer many times as a child. Seeing that everyone was staring at him, he sighed with a large smile on his face, and folded the paper and placed it down on the table. He realized that he was the only person with even the faintest of knowledge about muggles, with all of the other occupants of the room being pureblooded and therefore generally unaware of muggle customs. "Muggle children tell people that in sarcasm or when they want to keep the answer a secret. 'Hey, how'd you do that?' Magic, they'd say. It's funny because, well, that's the first time I've ever heard that answer in a serious meaning."
Before anybody could react to what Ted said, Dobby walked into the kitchen, holding an envelope in his small hands. "A message came for you, Mister Kylie, sir." Dobby said as he pushed the envelope into Kylie's outstretched hands.
"Thank you, Dobby." Kylie replied, before opening the envelope and dumping out the contents onto his lap: it held a keychain, an eraser, and a note. He quickly read the note and secured the eraser and keychain in his inner pockets, making sure that they were close to him for when he would need them.
"So tell me about Gaetana," Sirius stirred the porridge he was eating around the bowl with his spoon, more interested in talking than eating. "She's your future bride, isn't she?"
"Perhaps," Cedric nodded, wondering what Sirius was getting at.
Sirius grinned, looking over to the brown haired wizard. "And she's Tonks' best friend, right?"
"Maybe," Cedric shrugged, inwardly doubting that he would actually make it out of the war safe and alive enough to marry her.
"That's…convenient." Sirius laughed, wondering how two couples could be best friends with one another like that—Harry and Cedric, Gaetana and Tonks.
"Ted, do you remember when Gaetana first came over to our house after their first year?" Andromeda questioned her husband, a smile of remembrance on her face. "You thought Nymphadora was playing a trick on you with her silver hair and it wasn't until she started mumbling something in Italian did you realize that Gaetana wasn't your daughter."
"I didn't remember, but I do now." Ted admitted with a pinkish tinge to his round cheeks. As a child, Nymphardora would always turn into a different looking girl; one day she'd have pink hair, purple eyes, and a pig nose, while the next she would have wrinkled-looking skin and gray hair.
"Why does she have silver hair?" Sirius questioned, serious for the first time. He didn't know anyone who didn't have some sort of mixed heritage in their genes that had such a color of hair.
"Her mother has silver hair." Andromeda shrugged, knowing that Gaetana's Italian mother looked very similar to her daughter. "It's kind of like a family trait."
"Sirius, we should get going." Emmeline suddenly said, as she hopped up to her feet and brought her porridge bowl over to the sink.
"Right," Sirius agreed, shimmying himself out of the bench and getting to his feet, as well.
"Where are you going?" Cedric questioned, looking up to the older wizard.
"To a Muggle store, we need to get a rope." Sirius grinned, exiting the room without saying another word; Emmeline waved to everyone and followed Sirius out.
"What does that mean?" Kylie questioned, using a napkin to wipe his shadowed face.
"Who knows, its Sirius, he never makes any sense." Andromeda muttered, turning the page of her paper.
Later that day, Harry and Tonks met in the Ministry atrium around noontime, and then both flooed to their home, where they were going to have lunch together. They usually went to Grimmauld place to eat along with the other Ministry members of the Order, but today they wanted something special, both having a sense of dread for the coming battle. After fifteen minutes of preparation, they found themselves at their kitchen table, a spread of lunch meats and cheese in front of them as they each made a sandwich for themselves.
"I might not make it, Nymphie." Harry said, slowly, after taking the first bite of his sandwich—all of the sudden, he wasn't hungry anymore. "Voldemort is a better duelist and knows more about magic than I can even fathom."
"Don't say that, Harry." Tonks replied, not daring to meet his gaze. She couldn't think about such horrors; the thought of Harry dying broke her heart.
"We both know it's true." Harry murmured in a voice barely above a whisper. "This is my fight, but we have to be truthful to ourselves. I love you, I always will, I just wanted you…I wanted you to know that."
"I do know that." Tonks said, looking up at him with a sparkle of life in her eyes, the same spark of life that made Harry fall in love with her in the first place. They ate in silence for a few more minutes, each just enjoying being with the other, both inwardly hoping it wouldn't be the last time that they would eat lunch together.
"Do you still think I'm dangerously close to being the next Dark Lord?" Harry questioned, his gaze moving over to the window, where he could just make out the crashing of the ocean waves against the sand in the distance—little packs of ice had began to form on the shore line.
"No," Tonks shook her head, moving her gaze over to the window as well. "Because we're married now, you know I'm the line in the sand that makes sure you don't go too far."
Harry smiled at that, remembering how Tonks had been worried that he hated muggles too much many times during the earlier part of their relationship. While he certainly didn't hate muggles, he still preferred to stay within the magical community, rather than go out into the muggle world. "Are you done?" Harry asked, looking at Tonks' half-finished sandwich.
"I wasn't too hungry." Tonks replied, giving Harry a sheepish smile.
"Good," Harry nodded, rising to his feet. "I want to show you something then."
Tonks nodded and got to her feet as well, wondering just what it was Harry had up his sleeve. The pair walked up to the library, where Tonks took a seat on the couch, while Harry entered his workshop to get a few things. He came back less than a minute later, carrying his precious invisibility cloak and a few other objects in his hands. He sat down next to Tonks, placing the items that he had gathered down next to him. "So what is it that you wanted to show me?" Tonks inquired, curiously, looking from the items back to Harry.
"There is something I haven't been telling you," Harry began, meeting Tonks' multicolored gaze—one eye was blue, while the other was brown. She looked at him and blinked slowly, wondering just what it was that he had been lying to her about, hoping that it wasn't serious. "You know how I told you about the Elder Wand after you saw the marking on my back?"
"Right," Tonks nodded, nervously. She gulped down the ball that was in her throat, trying to calm the nerves that were rising in her belly.
"What I didn't tell you is that the Elder Wand truly is one of the Deathly Hallows, and that I have the two other Hallows, as well: the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility." He took the Peverell ring off of his right ring finger and placed it on the table; likewise, he took his invisibility cloak that was on the couch next to him and placed that, too, on the table.
"But that's your cloak; you mean to tell me that that's a Deathly Hallow?" Tonks questioned, confusedly. She knew about the Deathly Hallows from the stories that her mother had told her as a child, though she had always thought they were just a fairy tale, a story that was fabricated by Beedle the Bard.
"Yes," Harry nodded with a wide grin. "They're real, Nymphie, which brings us to why we're up here." Harry reached down to the table and picked up the Peverell ring into his left hand. He wiped the sweat off of the palm of his right hand, a nervous excitement overcoming him as he realized that he was going to see the people that have littered his dreams since he was a child. He turned the ring in the palm of his hand three times, saying, "I want to see my parents."
When he placed the ring down on the table, two images popped out from the black stone; they were more solid and less fluid than a ghost or a spirit, but much livelier than a priori shadow—they were different than both, yet in many ways similar to both as well. They were more than a priori shadow, he could tell, but they weren't like they would be if they had become ghosts. It was like a reflection in a mirror, not the person itself, but not someone different either. The two forms grew and grew until they were about the size of a man and a woman, their feet connected to the black stone that rested on the table in front of Harry and Nymphadora. Their faces then became more and more pronounced, forming into a woman with dark red hair and brilliant almond-shaped green eyes, and a man who wore circular glasses and had jet black hair that stuck up at all angles: Lily and James Potter.
"Hello Harry," Lily said, smiling down at her child, the boy that she willingly gave her life to protect. In her opinion, he looked exactly as James, perhaps even more handsome, though she immediately recognized that he still had her green eyes that looked remarkable on him. She was wearing the same clothes that she wore the night that she died, just as James was next to her.
"Mom," Harry replied in a soft voice, trying to fight back the tears that were coming; he wiped his eyes, and looked over to his father, who hadn't taken his gaze off of Harry's features. "Hi Dad." It was strange looking at his father, who still seemed so young, even younger than Harry was, but still, Harry could see the aged wisdom that was hiding behind the young face.
"Hiya, Harry." James said cheerfully, though Harry could tell he was also forcing back some tears. He loved his son more than anything in the world, and to finally see him as a grown adult, it was almost overwhelming.
The parents' eyes flicked over to Tonks, who was sitting over to the side, watching them with her mouth open agape: all of this was incredible to her. That magic, the magic of the resurrection stone, was unreal, something that seemed much too powerful to actually exist. "And who is this lovely young woman?" Lily questioned, giving a sideways glance to her son.
"This is Nymphadora, my wife." Harry grinned, grabbing Tonks' hand and pulling her closer to him.
"I've heard so much about you." Tonks rasped out, trying to figure out how this was all possible. She was thrilled to finally be meeting the couple that she had heard so much about from Remus, from Sirius, and even from Dumbledore. To her, they were this mythical love couple, who died so very much in love in a courageous way and would always be together, like Pyramus and Thisbe or Tristan and Iseult.
"Not about us exactly, but…we get the point." James grinned a mischievous smile, one that he wore so many times during his days at Hogwarts. "It's a pleasure."
"It's coming soon." Harry said, looking from his father to his mother. "The final battle with Voldemort, well, it's coming. I don't know if I can beat him, I could die."
Lily gave harry a sad smile, knowing that it was destiny designed by a prophecy that forced her child against the darkest Dark Lord of all time. "We believe in you, Harry."
James nodded from his wife's side, his black hair flapping all over the place. "We will always believe in you."
"You can do it. Stay true to yourself and what you represent, and you will defeat Voldemort, I know it." Lily cooed in her soft and soothing voice, a trait that Harry had always imagined she would have. "You are special, so very special; you would be special regardless of the prophecy that was made."
"Be confident, you're a Potter, you'll be fine." James said with a large smile on his face, a confidence to him that Harry knew masked a deeply worried individual.
"Thanks, I…I needed that." Harry replied, giving his parents a small, almost timid smile.
"We should get going, Harry." Lily said, still smiling sadly at her son.
"I know," Harry agreed, nodding his head.
"While we will always answer when you call, both of us do not want you living your life based around using the Resurrection Stone to speak with us." James said, looking over to Lily, who nodded next to him. "We love you, and we want you to be happy, living the life we both dreamed that you would have."
"I know," Harry said again, knowing that what they were saying was true. While the Resurrection Stone was a remarkable object, engrained with countless of fabulous magicks, it wasn't something that should be used wildly—but that didn't mean he wouldn't use it, because he knew he would; it was his to use after all.
"We love you." Lily cried, and then her gaze moved over to Tonks, who had been silent while they talked. "Take good care of each other." She said to her daughter-in-law, knowing that they both loved each other just as much as she and James did.
"We will." Tonks whispered, holding back the tears that had accumulated in her eyes.
"Good bye." Both Lily and James said in unison, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, their souls going back into the world behind the veil.
Harry gave out a loud sigh, his green gaze staring at the ring, a happy and content look on his face. He thought about summoning Roger, to talk to him and make sure he was okay, but decided against it, knowing that he wasn't ready for it. It still had only been three weeks since his close friend's death, and while he understood that death was necessary and sometimes desirable fact of life, he wasn't happy that Roger was dead. Plus, he figured that Roger wasn't ready for it, either—he would summon Roger sometime, just not now, not yet.
He put both his invisibility cloak and the Peverell ring back into his workshop, but held onto the Elder Wand in his inner robes, hidden away from the rest of the world, knowing that he would need it in his duel against the Dark Lord. Then, he left the library and made to move down the stairs, but suddenly stopped, turned around, and ran into his room at the end of the hall. "I can't believe I forgot!" He said, rushing over to the pile of dirty clothes that was in the hamper in his bathroom. He ruffled through them, searching for the pair of pants that he was wearing the previous day, and after finding them, he quickly emptied the pockets.
A small, book-sized portrait fell to the ground, and Harry grinned as he reached down and picked it up. He walked out of the bathroom, out of his room, and down the ahll to the other side of the house, where he stopped in front of a small, cubby-sized indentation in the wall. He took his wand, ran it over the indentation, and then placed the portrait on the wall. He said the incantation that was needed to make it grow and watched as it took its normal size, which was about the size of a wooden door that was able to grant a human passage. "Knock, knock." He said, knocking on the frame as if it was a door.
"Yes?" The Headmaster came into the frame, giving Harry a smile. "I was wondering when you would hang me up." Then, looking behind him to the back of the portrait, he noticed something. "What's behind my frame? Is that a hole in the wall?" He questioned, somehow sensing what was behind his frame, though Harry had no idea how.
"It's a potential secret room." Harry grinned, knowing that there was room for another six secret rooms throughout that hallway alone. All it was, really, was an indentation in the wall that allowed Harry to perform his magic in expanding it and resizing it, which was his specialty in the field of charm work.
"You haven't yet received the package, have you?" The Headmaster asked mysteriously, looking down at Harry with a gaze that was clearly hiding something.
"What package?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
"A package from Gellert; oh well, you'll get it soon." The Headmaster said, walking out of the frame. "I'll let you know if I hear anything." The voice of the Headmaster came from the portrait, though the Headmaster was already out of sight.
Harry shook his head and confusion, and as he headed for the stairs to go down to the first floor, he saw a large bird flapping its wings outside of one of the hallway windows; he quickly made his way over, wondering what was going on. He opened the window and allowed the bird in, and then he reached down and took off the small box that was strapped onto the bird's leg. Once it was free of the box, the bird flapped its wings and took off into the air, not waiting for Harry to give it an owl treat. "What is this?" He asked to himself as he unwrapped the brown paper that covered the box. He ripped off the tape that sealed the box and opened it up, revealing a piece of white parchment with a golden border around its edges. He took the piece of parchment into his hands and when his skin made contact with it, words in blue ink appeared in the center of the parchment.
It is up to you to decide if you want it or not. You know the spell.
G.G.
"What the…?" Harry questioned confusedly, before he heard Tonks' voice calling up to him to leave. He put the piece of parchment down onto a table that housed a vase of flowers, deciding to figure out what it meant later, and then walked downstairs, entering the living room.
"Ready?" Tonks asked as he entered the room, handing Harry the bowl of floo powder. They stepped into the large fireplace, and in a flash of green flames, they both were gone, traveling back to the Ministry to finish off the rest of the day. After arriving in the atrium, they kissed each other goodbye and went to their respective offices.
"Potter, can I speak with you?" Gawain Robards called as soon as Harry entered the Hit Wizard office. His eyes moved about the room, seemingly taking a count of who was on duty at the time, though Harry wasn't quite sure why.
"Of course," Harry nodded, following Gawain down into the Auror Office and entering his personal office—Kingsley was there, sitting down in a chair in front of the large oak desk. "Hey, Kingsley, how are you?"
"Kingsley here told me about the Dark Lord's plans." Gawain started, not allowing Kingsley time to respond. "What will you need?"
"Me?" Harry cocked an eyebrow, startled by Gawain granting him authority. Since there were countless of other Hit Wizards or Aurors who had seniority over Harry, he was surprised that Gawain decided to choose him, rather than the others—he guessed that Shacklebolt had something to do with it. "I figured I would let you know when I get word that Voldemort is attacking and then I'd leave, while you gather all of the Ministry Officials that you think could help and come to Hogwarts as soon as you could."
"Right, right, that'll work." Gawain nodded in agreement, making a mental mark of it. "I take it that you have the Portkey password for Hogwarts?"
"I do, sir." Harry answered in the affirmative. Seeing that Gawain was done, Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of parchment. On the parchment, four names scrawled in green ink, with the first being Snape and last name being Rosier. He had been planning on giving this to Gawain on the day that he left to protect Hogwarts, but he figured now was a better time since they both would probably be in a rush at that time and he might potentially forget.
"What's this?" Gawain questioned, looking down at the parchment and then back up to Harry.
"If anything should happen to the Order or me, make sure these people are protected." Harry answered, not responding to Kingsley's questioning glance. Gawain nodded, but stayed silent, securing the parchment in the top drawer of his desk which was locked with a charm that only he could undo.
Harry and Kingsley left the office not long after that, and Harry decided to walk with Kingsley down to the Minister's Office, where the Auror was now stationed. "Rufus!" They heard Ludo Bagman yell out, jogging up to the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Office. "I'm glad I caught up with you, my father needed to discuss something with you."
"Oh," Rufus Scrimgouer said, turning around to meet Ludo. The Aurors that were acting as his bodyguards looked away and talked amongst each other, as Ludo and Rufus began to speak. Harry threw a look to Ludo when the pair passed them, but he and Kingsley continued on towards Amelia Bones' office, not thinking twice about the situation.
"He asked me to find out if you wanted to go hunting with Tiberius Ogden, Bertie Higgs, and him this weekend." Ludo said, watching as Harry and Kingsley disappeared with a dangerous look in his eyes that Rufus didn't notice.
"This weekend, you say?" Rufus questioned, furrowing his bushy eyebrows. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea, we still have work to do against the Dark Lord."
"Well," Ludo smiled charmingly, trying to persuade the influential Ministry Official. "If we were alone, I'm sure that if I told you what it was they planned on hunting it would change your mind."
"Would it, eh?" Rufus said, a small, mischievous smile appearing on his face. "Shall we go into my office, then?" The pair headed to Rufus' office which was the opposite way down the hall from the Minister's; it was directly the below the Auror Office and the Hit Wizard Office which was one and two floors above, respectively.
"Sir, should we come in?" One of his two Auror bodyguards said, moving his eyes over to Ludo.
"No," Rufus shook his head in the negative. "That won't be necessary." The two Aurors nodded and turned around, taking their spots as sentinels in front of the door. "So what was it that you had to tell me?"
"You shouldn't let strangers into your office." Ludo Bagman mocked, flicking his wand at Scrimgeour and gagging his mouth. Ludo flicked his wand again and strings wound their way tightly around Scrimgeour's legs and hands, binding him from moving. "It took me awhile to figure out a way to get close to you, but once I found out that you liked to keep your hunting trips with father Bagman and your friends a secret because they were illegal, I knew I had my way in." Scrimgeour squirmed in his bindings, but no matter how hard he tried, they would not release their grip. He looked up at Bagman, his eyes asking the question that was on his mind: why?
Bagman squatted down, and a broad smile appeared on his face as he stared at Scrimgeour. He reached down to his ankle and pulled out a silver flask, and then brought his hand up to Scrimgeour's head and yanked out a single grey hair. He uncapped the flask and dumped the hair into it, and then took a swig from the flask before capping it back up. "First, let's change my clothes." Bagman said, bringing his wand down the entire way of his body, transfiguring his clothes to be an exact match of Scrimgeour's. "And then let's say bye to you." He reached back into his pocket and brought out a small pocket watch, and then shoved it onto Scrimgeour's body. He pointed his wand at the watch and said, "Sprung," which initiated the portkey.
He watched as Scrimgeour disappeared; then, almost immediately after, his body began to transform into Scrimgeour's body. When the process was done, he conjured a mirror and stared into it, making sure that everything was in place. "I forgot the glasses," He scowled to himself, disappointed that he could overlook such an important part of the outfit. He scanned the office, hoping that Scrimgeour had an extra pair around. There, on the wooden desk, he saw a pair of reading glasses that looked similar to Scrimgeour's so he quickly walked over to them and put them on, hoping that it would suffice for the time being. When he was ready, he walked out of the office, giving a smile to the Aurors that were directly outside.
"Where is Bagman, sir?" One of them asked, looking into the office for the brief time that the door was open.
"He apparated out." Scrimgeour said, gruffly, clearing his throat a bit with a cough. "You two must not tell anyone that Bagman and I talked, it's of the utmost importance that our conversation stays a secret."
"I thought it was impossible to apparate out of your office, sir?" The other Auror asked, slightly confused by the thought of Bagman disapparating from the office.
"It's possible; you just have to be allowed to do it by the person that owns the office." Scrimgeour lied, knowing that it would suffice as long as he looked confident about it. People were easy to fool like that: all you had to do was look like you belonged and no one would question you. "Now remember, our meeting must be a secret."
"Understood." The Aurors said, and after receiving a nod, all three started to walk down the hallway again.
Meanwhile, the real Rufus Scrimgeour had just landed in a dark dungeon, his bindings still tightly wrapped around his hands and legs. "Are you okay?" He heard someone say from behind him. Before he could try to answer, however, the door flew open, revealing the Death Eater Stephen Cornfoot.
Cornfoot flipped his wand through the air and the rope bindings on Scrimgeour's legs and feet were replaced with chains that were secured to the stone wall and his arm bindings disappeared. With another flick of his wand, the gag on Scrimgeour's mouth disappeared, allowing the older man to speak. "What's going on? Who are you?" Scrimgeour growled, staring up at Cornfoot, trying to decipher through the darkness just who the man was.
"Don't speak!" A female voice scolded, and Scrimgeour looked over to it and was surprised to see Rita Skeeter chained to the wall, as well.
"It would be wise to listen to your cellmates." Cornfoot laughed, before slamming the door and leaving the chamber.
"Where are we?" Scrimgeour questioned, looking around the room, trying to see if there was anything that could help him out.
"We're in the Dark Lord's dungeon." A familiar male voice answered, one that surprised Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour's gaze immediately snapped over to the voice, and his eyes went wide when he saw just who it was.
It was at five o'clock at night that the Dark Lord Voldemort stared at Barty Crouch, Jr, as the man walked into the throne room. The Death Eater had a cool air around himself, as if he was bringing great news to his lord. "We got Scrimgeour." The Death Eater said; his voice had a maniacal giddiness to it.
"You did?" Voldemort said, perking up in his throne a bit. He was thrilled that everything was finally coming together as he had planned, with the Ministry ready to fall as soon as he conquered Hogwarts. "That is why you are my most powerful, Barty."
"Thank you, my lord." Barty bowed deeply, admiring the praise that he received from his master, which was a leading factor in his defection to Voldemort in the first place. In Barty's mind, unlike his worthless father, Voldemort acknowledged Barty and his great powers, whereas Barty Crouch, Sr, ignored Barty and spent more time furthering his own career than he did with his own family.
"Give me your arm." Voldemort said, reaching out towards Barty. The Death Eater got back to his feet and stepped forward, rolling up his sleeve and allowing Voldemort to see the Dark Mark that was tattooed onto his arm. The Dark Lord pushed his spider-like pointer finger into the tattoo and the mark immediately burned black, signifying that the he was calling his Death Eaters to come to him. He sat back in his throne and waited for his servants to arrive, knowing that he would be sitting in a new throne room within the halls of Hogwarts soon enough.
It took a few minutes, but eventually, the Death Eaters began to apparate into the room. They appeared with a swirl of their black cloaks, their hoods up and their masks on their face, hiding their identity from the outside world, including their Death eater brethren. Then, more Death Eaters came in from the doorway, and before long, the entire lot was there, minus Quirinus Quirrell, Peter Pettigrew, Walden Macnair, and Fenrir Greyback. "Welcome, welcome." Voldemort spoke, watching as Nagini slithered around the circle of Death Eaters.
"We are here to serve, my lord!" A Death Eater, who Snape thought was the younger Avery, yelled, as many other Death Eaters nodded vigorously in agreement. Finally, at long last, they would get their decisive battle against the mudbloods, the half-breeds, and the blood traitors that opposed them.
"The time is now, my Death Eaters." Lord Voldemort said slowly, rising from his throne-like stone chair. "The time is now to secure our dominance, to take a hold of the wizarding world's future and take our rightful places at the top. We will need to fight, to claw, to use our magic like ways we have never used it before, for blood alone moves the wheels of history, and it will be the blood of our enemies that allow us to ascend to power and bring in a new dawn to the wizarding world we all share in. It is our birthright as the most ancient and most powerful of our kind to rule, to use our magic to punish those who are beneath us. Once we capture the grand castle of Hogwarts, the Ministry is next!"
"Yes!" Bellatrix Lestrange screamed out, her masked-face hiding the ecstasy that she felt inside. At last, they would be able to do what she dreamed of doing ever since joining her lord's forces. Meanwhile, unknown to the other Death Eaters, both Kylie and Snape reached into their pocket and grabbed the stag sickles, and with one quick flick of their hand, they both touched their wandtips to the silver, alerting the Order of the coming threat.
In Harry's pocket, he felt the silver sickle heat up and his gaze shot over to Kingsley, who was staring right back at Harry with wide eyes. "It's time." Harry said, and then quickly flicked his wand and summoned his stag patronus, which disappeared almost instantaneously. "I just sent a message to Robards, he'll bring along the Aurors and Hit Wizards."
Harry immediately rushed up to the fireplaces in the main atrium, he heard Kingsley's footsteps pounding the floor behind him, and moving as swiftly as he could, he disappeared in a flash of green flames. He saw in the corner of his eye that the Order members who worked at the Ministry were also rushing to the fireplaces as well, presumably to follow him to Grimmauld Place. Once he arrived at the Order's safe house, he rushed into the sitting room, where Sirius was just laying out a long, thick rope, which Harry would turn into a portkey for the Order. "Is everything ready?" Harry questioned to Sirius, while he and Emmeline pulled the rope tight; it was so long that it reached from one end of the sitting room, through the thin hallway and to the front door.
"Portus," Harry said, pointing his wand at the rope, and then quickly thought of the password, Earwax Bean. It was tough to create password protected portkeys as the person had to concentrate on both the spell, specifically where the portkey would take them to and when it would take them, and the password that would allow the portkey to breach the wards.
It took just over two minutes before most of the Order members arrived, ready to go and protect Hogwarts with their lives. "Where are the Weasleys?" Wayne Hopkins questioned, looking around for Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George.
"There's no time to vait, Harry." Viktor said, wanting to get to Hermione as quickly as he could. He needed to make sure she was all right, to see that she was safe and sound, free from the danger of the Death Eaters.
"I agree." Tonks nodded, looking up to Harry, wondering what he wanted to do.
Harry bit his lip and after a brief moment of thought, he brought his wand up to the rope and said, "Sprung." With a pull behind their navels, the Order of the Phoenix disappeared from Grimmauld Place, only to reappear in the Great Hall of Hogwarts a moment later.
Meanwhile, in Gawain Robards office, he had just received word from Harry's Patronus that the attack of Hogwarts was commencing soon. "Excuse me, sir." Daphne Nott knocked on the door of Gawain's office, as Tracey Davis watched the Aurors rush around the office next to her. "I can see you're busy, but I'm here to tell you about something very important."
"Is it as important as Hogwarts being attacked?" Gawain replied, not looking up from his desk to meet Daphne's gaze.
"Well, no, that's what I was here to tell you about, actually." Daphne answered, surprised that Gawain knew about it already.
Gawain quickly looked up at Daphne and after seeing who it was, he nodded his head and continued gathering everything that he needed off of his desk. "We're leaving in a few minutes; you can come if you want." And with that, Daphne and Tracey knew that the conversation was over and they readied themselves to leave with the Aurors.
Harry and the rest of the Order had just arrived at Hogwarts when they saw the entire community of the school—students, teachers, and other personnel—funneling into the Great Hall. Headmaster Minerva McGonagall walked briskly towards Harry, who came over and met her halfway. "Potter," She said, looking at the students gathering at their house tables. "I suppose we should go over just what we will be doing."
"Of course," Harry nodded, and opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped when he saw groups of Aurors, Hit Wizards, and other Ministry Officials appearing via portkeys throughout the Great Hall. "Here they are," Harry muttered with a smile, knowing that they would need the reinforcements that the Ministry provided.
It took another few minutes for everyone to gather their wits and gather around to discuss what needed to be done. Remus had just left his students and joined the main group, and was standing in the back next to Sirius when someone caught his eye. "Sirius, you see that man over there? The one that has the brown hair and that is wearing the Weird Sisters' shirt?" Remus asked, pointing over to an Auror who was leaning against the wall with some other Aurors.
"Yeah, I see him, why?" Sirius asked, looking over to the wizard.
"That's Edgar Bones' nephew, Gerald Bones." Remus answered, staring at Gerald with his amber gaze. His brown hair was cropped and parted in the middle, and his wand was poking out of his shirt's pocket.
"Really?" Sirius replied with interest, remembering how talented Edgar was before he was brutally murdered by Voldemort—he was one of the most powerful wizards of that age, a top member of the Order. He was a nice man, a pureblood who accepted everybody, regardless of their bloodlines, like most of the purebloods within the Order of the Phoenix. "Did he inherit his uncle's talent?"
Remus quietly shook his head in the negative. "He's good, just nowhere near Edgar was. He did, however, inherit Edgar's personality and beliefs. His sister, Susan Bones, was in Harry's year, and his aunt is obviously Amelia Bones, the Minister of Magic."
Meanwhile, a gang of small students, no older than twelve, giggled amongst each other as they pointed over to a female Auror and a male Hit Wizard that were a few feet away from them. "What is the difference between an Auror and a Hit Wizard?" The bravest of the group said with wide, interested eyes. The others behind him all smiled up to the pair of Ministry Officials, each showing their curiosity on their young faces.
The Auror and the Hit Wizard both looked at each other, giving a small grin. "Well," The Hit Wizard said with a voice that was somewhat gruff. "Hit Wizards like myself are trained in entrapping and hunting, while Aurors are trained in searching and dueling."
The kids looked up at them, more confused than ever. "Are you a muggleborn, sweetheart?" The female Auror questioned, bending down to be eye level with the boy. The boy nodded, allowing the Auror to continue on with what she was going to say. "You know about Muggle Policeman, right? Well, an Auror is like a detective, trying to find the bad guys who use bad magic, while a Hit Wizard is like a member of the S.W.A.T team, going into a dangerous situation to save people. And then there's the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, which acts like regular police patrolmen, keeping the general public safe on a day to day basis."
"So you fight Dark Wizards?" A girl behind the boy asked, looking at the Hit Wizard. Then, her eyes moved over to the Auror. "And you capture criminals?"
"Sure." The Hit Wizard nodded, just wanting the children to stop bothering him. In truth, the girl had it backwards, but they were annoying him too much so he didn't bother correcting her.
"Thank you!" The kids said in unison before running back to their friends, who were sitting on the ground with the rest of their house.
"You could be a little more patient, you know." The female Auror scoffed, rolling her eyes as her partner's actions. The Hit Wizard didn't bother replying, instead just shrugging his shoulders.
Across the room, many of the Hogwarts Professors and the higher Ministry Officials were gathered together, discussing what had to be done. "We need to get the students out of here." McGonagall said, earning agreement from all those in the circle.
"What are we going to do? We can't just march them out of the front gates." Flitwick argued, looking up to the Headmistress, wondering if she had any ideas.
"Send them through the floo to the Ministry." Gawain Robards suggested, knowing that the Ministry would be as safe for them as any other place.
Pomona Sprout shook her head, realizing that it would take too long for the students to floo to the Ministry using only the common room fireplaces. "That would take a long time."
"Not necessarily," Cedric piped in, looking over to Harry. "We can use the Room of Requirement, and ask for a room filled with enough floo connected fireplaces to get the students out quickly."
"Go; send me a message when the room is created." Harry agreed, not seeing any other solution. They could lock them away in the house common rooms, but if they were to fail and Voldemort was to take the school, the children would be left at the Dark Lord's mercy.
"Right." Cedric replied, gesturing for Viktor to come with him up to the Room of Requirement.
"Head of the Houses, talk to your students, tell them to be prepared to move as soon as we get word." McGonagall said, wanting to mobilize as quickly as possible.
"What about the Slytherin House? Snape isn't here." Professor Sprout questioned, looking over to the group of Slytherins that were sitting at their long house table.
"We'll talk to them." Daphne Nott, nee Greengrass, said as she and Tracey Davis walked up to the group.
"Tracey? Daphne?" Harry gasped, with his eyes wide in confusion. "What are you two doing here?" He questioned, wondering how the pair had gotten there.
"We heard from my husband," Daphne started, a tone to her voice that Harry had heard only once before when she was really angry. "That Hogwarts was being attacked tonight, so we're here to help."
"Right," McGonagall started, nodding to Professor Sprout, Remus, and Professor Flitwick, the Heads of House for Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw, respectively. "Tell the students to listen to the grown ups who will lead them to their safety, do not trail away from the group, and that the students of age may stay and protect Hogwarts, if they desire to."
"Are you sure about that?" Gawain Robards asked, wondering if it was the smartest idea to let students stay and fight.
"It is their right to decide." McGonagall ordered with conviction, remembering how she was so independent when she turned of age: she would have never left the school if in the same situation as the current students.
Without saying anything else, the Heads of the Houses and the duo of Tracey and Daphne all walked over to their respective students. Harry also walked over with Tracey and Daphne, and after they were finished, he brought them over to the side, and said, "I want you two to lead the students to where we're sending them and then stay with them at the Ministry."
"If that's what you want, Harry." Tracey said, knowing that Harry had his reasons for sending them away. She looked over his shoulder and saw that Despereaux was watching them, clearly interested in what she was doing there. She excused herself for a moment and walked over to the Frenchman, wanting to tell him that she hoped that he would be okay after the battle. She came back two minutes later with a smile on both her face and Despereaux's face, as well, just as a silver patronus appeared in the Great Hall.
The patronus took the form of a mole, which was an animal that Harry knew signified Cedric Diggory. Sure enough, when the mole opened its silver mouth to speak, the voice that came out was Cedric's. "The room is ready, Viktor tried the floo and it worked."
"Okay!" Harry yelled with his voice magically magnified to reach everybody in the room as if he was standing right next to them. "Will all of the Heads of Houses gather your students, with the youngest in front, and prepare to move. Four Aurors, two in the front and two in the back, will be escorting you all, along with the other members of the Hogwarts staff. After all of the students are safe, you may come back down here if you so choose. Do not be alarmed, we have already made arrangements to have the children chaperoned at the Ministry."
Gawain Robards sent over a combination of four Hit Wizards and Aurors to each of the four houses. Two of the Aurors or Hit Wizards stood at the front of the line of students, while the other two stood at the back, guarding the students like a sentinel would a city gate. Before long, the Gryffindor House started the procession, with Remus leading them up to the Room of Requirement; next went Hufflepuff, then Slytherin, and finally, Ravenclaw. When the students were all gone, Harry looked over to the spot the Houses just were standing at, noticing that a few of the of-age students actually did stay.
Ravenclaw had three members of the house stay, all of whom were half-blooded and did not agree with Voldemort's ideals. Five members of the Hufflepuff house stayed, each one trying to hide the fear they had inside, though none of them were very successful at it. In Gryffindor, there were seven members who stayed, but most surprisingly, the Head Boy who was in Gryffindor left with the younger students. Slytherin only had one wizard stay; he was tall, dark, and brooding, but his eyes had a light to them that showed he was good natured and loving. A girl from Gryffindor, a pretty but skinny witch, came over to him and held his hand tightly, giving him a large smile as she kissed him on the cheek, her fear showing on her face just as much as the students from Hufflepuff.
"It figures that the Slytherins would have the least support stay, most of their parents are probably the Death Eaters they'd be fighting." The Auror named Proudfoot scathed with a look of disgust on his face. "Cowards."
"They're seventeen years old." Sirius angrily scoffed at the Auror's words, staring at him with disbelief. In a way, they insulted the memory of Regulus, Sirius' now beloved brother who died in the fight against Voldemort. "You can't blame them for being scared."
"The bravest men I know are Slytherins," Harry replied, disagreeing with Proudfoot's assessment of the Slytherin House. Regulus Black, Severus Snape, and Kylie were all Slytherins, people who braved death in their drive to defeat the Dark Lord. Plus, his own mother-in-law was a Slytherin, and she was anything but a coward.
Harry jumped onto the teacher's table, looking over everyone that was in the Great Hall. There were teachers, members of the Order, Ministry Officials, and Aurors and Hit Wizards, all with their wands at the ready. They all seemed to know that this was important, that Hogwarts must not fall that night or any night. "Students, you are so brave for staying, for wanting to protect this castle, which many of us call our home." He said in a loud voice, this time forgoing the spell that would magically enhance it, instead wanting the connection with everyone that using his own voice offered him. "We cannot, under good conscience however, allow you to put yourselves in danger." Seeing many of them about to speak up in discontent, he smiled and put his hand up to stop them. "Instead, you will be going up to the towers with many of your professors and guarding the castle, preventing any Death Eater from entering the halls of the school."
"Why is he in charge?" John Dawlish muttered to Gawain Robards, wondering why a much lesser Ministry worker was ordering him around. He was one of the personal bodyguards of the Minister of Magic; he didn't take orders from some puissant Hit Wizard, regardless of said Hit Wizard's history as the Boy Who Lived.
"Hogwarts is not Ministry property." Robards replied, giving Dawlish a look. "If the Headmistress does not disapprove of his leadership, and the Governors of Hogwarts are not here to veto her decision, he is the leader and you cannot change that. Plus, I trust him and have given him authority enough to make decisions regarding how we fight this vile threat."
"Filius, you will lead the students up to the Astronomy tower—there, you will be able to see the main gate and the grass below or anyone who wishes to enter the castle that manages to get past us." McGonagall ordered, knowing that he was the best wizard of the teaching staff that did not include members of the Order such as Hermione, Remus, or herself.
Filius nodded, and gestured to a few teachers off to the side that Harry didn't know. Then, turning to the students who were all grouped together, seemingly ignoring the divisions that the Houses created, he said, "Come students, we will get prepared." Before they left, however, six more students came rushing into the Great Hall, all of age and with looks of confidence on their faces. Many of the students already present in the Great Hall ran over to their classmates, all giving them hugs and pats on the back. The Slytherin boy especially seemed to give a sigh of relief, though Harry did not understand why. Perhaps he was disappointed in his schoolmates? Harry questioned to himself, before shaking the thought off.
There were three more Slytherins, two Ravenclaws, and a Hufflepuff, all who appeared to have overcome their fear and decided to defend their school. "Is it too late to fight?" One of them questioned, earning a smile from Flitwick. They all walked out of the Great Hall together, twenty students and five teachers, led by Filius Flitwick up the tallest tower of Hogwarts, the Astronomy Tower.
"Right," Harry continued, noticing that there were only four teachers of Hogwarts left: McGonagall, Hermione, Pomona Sprout, and Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher. Argus Filch, the caretaker of the school, was off in the corner, as well, with his cat Mrs. Norris tucked protectively under his arms. "As for the rest of us, well, I think we all understand the risks we are undertaking and what is at stake. Try to watch each other's backs, but most of all, be careful, and retreat to fight again if you have to."
On the other side of the room, the doors of the Great Hall were pushed open, and Remus, Cedric, and Viktor all returned, followed closely by four redheads. George and Fred Weasley entered the room, flanked by Bill and Charlie Weasley, two of their older brothers. Three wooden boxes were hovering behind them, charmed to float just a foot above the ground. Many of the Order members headed over to the Weasley's, welcoming them to the group, while Remus, Cedric, and Viktor all walked over to where Harry, Sirius, Hestia Jones, Emmeline Vance, Hermione, and Tonks were standing, all conversing quietly.
George, meanwhile, bent down and cracked open one of the boxes, taking out a dull grey cloak. "Shield hats, cloaks, and gloves, all on the house. They'll protect you from all sorts of jinxes and curses, except the deadly ones, of course." George yelled, tossing an Auror the cloak.
Fred popped open another box, and then said, "Well come on, what are you all waiting for?" Most of the room meandered over to the boxes, many of them taking one of the offered garments, while making room for their comrades to take one as well.
"How did you get in here?" McGonagall questioned, confusedly, wondering how they all got through the gates without being killed by Voldemort's Death Eaters.
"We got here through a secret passageway." Fred replied with a broad smile on his freckled face.
"How, we secured the ones that Pettigrew knows about." Sirius asked, thoroughly intrigued about the prospect of another secret way into the school. How had he missed it? A few days prior, Sirius and Remus had gone around Hogwarts and made sure that all of the passageways between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade were protected, in the hopes that Pettigrew couldn't use his knowledge of the school to smuggle Death Eaters in.
"One that even your clever little map doesn't know about." George replied, giving a Sirius a shady smile, though Sirius questioned whether that was true or not.
Fred made his way over to Charity Burbage, knowing that the woman was most likely worried about her daughter, Verity. "Verity's fine, she's hiding at my apartment." Fred whispered, referencing the fact that Verity was their store's attendant, and had been working there since they first opened after leaving Hogwarts.
"Thank you." Charity said, giving him a small, nervous smile in response.
"Harry, do you know where Hagrid is?" Remus asked as he walked away from the boxes with a cloak; he put the cloak on and marveled as it changed its size to fit him better, shrinking a bit in the arms and chest. "Good magic in this." He muttered to himself, impressed by the charm work woven into the cloak.
"Aren't you going to get one, Harry?" Emmeline Vance inquired, noticing that Harry had yet to move towards the boxes.
"What?" Harry asked, before shaking his head. "No, I already have a charmed cloak on." He smiled to the pretty witch as Sirius came over and whispered something into her ear which made her snort in laughter. "What were you saying, Remus?"
"Do you know where Hagrid is?" The werewolf questioned again, wondering why the half-giant wasn't in the Great Hall.
"He's in the Forbidden Forest." Harry replied, moving his gaze over to the werewolf.
"Doing what?" Tonks asked her husband with a quirked eyebrow.
Harry grinned in response, but did not answer, instead just saying, "Have you ever heard loud barks in the Forbidden Forest, Remus?"
"I guess I have." Remus shrugged, not seeing the relevance in the question.
"I did for the first time a few weeks ago when I went in there to get Acromantula venom." Harry replied, confusing both Remus and Tonks even more.
"Forget I asked." Remus exasperatedly said, leaving Harry and walking over to Hestia Jones.
"What was that about?" Tonks nudged Harry with her elbow, giving him an amused glance. "You haven't gone crazy on me, have you?"
"You know I'm only crazy for you." Harry corrected her, kissing her on the top of the head, breathing in the smell of her shampoo. He didn't know what it smelt like, but it was intoxicating to him, like the ambrosia was to the gods. "I love you." He whispered into her ear, before jumping back onto the table and doing a headcount of all who were there. There were thirty-three Aurors, five members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, ten Hit Wizards, twenty-five Order members, two teachers of Hogwarts that were not apart of the Order, and seven other Ministry Officials, bringing a grand total of eighty-two wizards and witches that were defending Hogwarts.
Meanwhile, in the Death Eater's compound, the Dark Lord had just apparated out, telling all of his servants to follow him to Hogsmeade. "Father!" Kylie said lowly, gripping his father's right arm, preventing him from apparating out with the rest of the Death eaters.
"Son, we have to go. If the Dark Lord finds us lagging behind, he'll kill us." His eyes flew wide open when he saw his son raise his wand towards his chest. "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, stupefy!" Kylie apologized, as a red beam rushed at his father's chest, hitting him not a moment later. The older wizard dropped to the floor, unconscious, and Kylie stuffed the eraser portkey that was given to him by Harry into his father's hand, said the spell needed to activate it, and watched as his father disappeared back to his home. "It's for the best, you'll see that."
"How touching." Snape drawled as he and Rosier came over to Kylie.
"Come on." Kylie snapped, walking towards the door that would lead into the hallway that went to the dungeons—he could have sworn he saw Nagini slither that way.
"Where are you going?" Snape questioned, staring at Kylie and Rosier. "The snake is over there." He said, gesturing to the stone chair that was over on the other side of the room.
Back in the Great Hall, there was a sense of tension as everyone waited for the Death Eaters to start their attack, their nervousness palpable. "Charity," McGonagall quietly said, as she hovered one of the Weasley boxes over to where the pair stood. "Bring these up to the students when you go up to the Astronomy Tower. Tell them to put them on, that it'll protect them."
Hermione, having overheard what McGonagall said, raised a questioning eyebrow. "Charity isn't coming out with us?"
"No," McGonagall replied, shaking her head. "Charity is going to lock the main doors behind us with Argus and then go up to the towers with Filius and the other teachers."
"Oh," Hermione only managed to respond, not thinking of anything else to say. She walked back over to Viktor soon after that, who welcomed her with open arms.
"We should divide up who is fighting who." Cedric whispered to Harry, wanting to know what his friend thought about the idea. "It will be safer for us if we all stay in our own skill range, you know, so none of us try to over compensate and die as a result."
"That's fine, if you would like." Harry answered, seeing Tonks agreed with Cedric. "I'm fighting Voldemort."
Cedric smiled and pulled the other members of their tight group into it. "Sirius, who are you going to fight, if we can manage to see who is who out there?"
Sirius looked over to Remus, who gave a slight nod, almost as if he was answering an unasked question from Sirius. "Pettigrew is mine." Sirius growled; his hatred of Peter Pettigrew was written on his handsome face. He would do anything to get his revenge, and he knew that it would be coming soon, so very soon.
Before they could finish the conversation of who was fighting who, Harry felt a surge of heat overtake him, and for the briefest of moments, he was seeing the world through Voldemort's eyes once again. Like all of the other times, he was sensing everything that Voldemort sensed, as if it was a movie. He noticed that his surroundings were Hogsmeade, signifying that the Dark Lord had finally arrived. He had just passed Honeydukes and then the Hog's Head Pub, and was nearing the main gates of Hogwarts quicker and quicker.
He pulled himself out of his vision, and with a voice barely above a whisper, he said, "Voldemort's here." Sure enough, the Dark Lord's voice rang out through the air, magically transporting itself to everyone in the room. The spell was ten times more powerful than the one Harry had used not twenty minutes before, and many times more powerful than that of the Sonorus spell that most people used when needing to magnify their voice.
"People of Hogwarts: If you do not allow me entrance into the environs of Hogwarts, you will all die, one by one. If you resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen as every drop of magical blood is a waste, but I will not be deterred from my quest. I know you are there, Harry Potter, and if you do not hand yourself over to me, your friends and family will all die, one by one, as well. You have five minutes to acquiesce to my demands and open the gates, or else I will open them for you, and you will all die. Five minutes."
"Well, I guess it's time." Harry said to all of his friends, running his brilliant green gaze over all of them. "I wish you luck, and I hope to see you at the end of all this." He leaned down to his wife, his love, Nymphadora Potter, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "I love you, Nymphie, be safe." He whispered into her ear, sending a chill down her spine.
"I love you." Nymphadora replied, giving Harry a deep and passionate kiss. She had confidence in both of their abilities, but battling Death Eaters was always dangerous, and one simple slip up could get them killed.
Similar conversations were going on around the group, as well. Sirius and Emmeline both hugged one another, Emmeline giving the black-haired wizard a kiss on the cheek. "I think we should go on another one of those dates when this is all over." Sirius said with a charming smile appearing on his face.
"I would like that." Emmeline replied, returning the smile as she stared into Sirius' stormy gray eyes.
"Be careful out there." Hermione whispered to Viktor, not wanting anything to happen to her husband. If anything did happen to him, she didn't know how she would react: she had already lost so much during this war, but losing her husband would push her over the edge and she would just about die of a broken heart.
"Diggory, you remember our deal, don't you?" Gaetana asked with a raised eyebrow, referencing the couple's plan to marry after the war if they both survived.
"Of course," Cedric smiled in response, nodding his head vigorously. "I'll be waiting for you."
"Not if I'm waiting first." Gaetana replied, before running over to her father, Gawain, and giving him a hug and wishing him luck.
Sirius walked over to Remus, who was just pulling away from his hug with Hestia Jones. "Moony…" The wizard said, looking at his werewolf friend, seemingly not knowing what exactly to say. He had enjoyed the time spent with Remus since his escape from Azkaban; it was something that he wouldn't have traded the world for.
"Padfoot." Remus smiled sadly, disappointed that his group of friends weren't all together—it was eerily similar to what was happening between Harry and his friends, Remus thought. "For James?"
"For Prongs." Sirius grinned, though it did not reach his eyes. There was a feeling inside of him that made him think this would be the last time he would see his dear friend, though he didn't know if that meant he would die or if Remus would be the one to die.
After that, everyone began to funnel out of the Great Hall and out of Hogwarts itself, knowing that their five minutes were almost up. Harry and Tonks were the last to leave the Great Hall, each walking out of the school with their hands clasped together; before leaving the Great Hall, Harry peaked up at the ceiling, and gave a small sigh when he saw that it was cloudy outside, which couldn't help but make him think that it was foreboding of something. Argus Filch and Charity Burbage closed and locked the large doors behind them, then Charity added to the wards with a few flicks of her wand—they then both ran up the stairs till they reached the Astronomy Tower and joined the other teachers and students who were already waiting there. In the distance, they could just barely make out the swarm of Death Eaters who were standing at the gates, and some of the students were suddenly consumed with fear that they tried unsuccessfully to swallow down.
"Your time is up." Voldemort's voice rang out as everyone found their places on the great lawn that was in front of the school, in between the Forbidden Forest and the lake.
Harry's gaze moved above the tree line of the forest, and made out what looked to be a mass of floating black cloaks, and his eyes went wide with worry. Quickly, he grabbed his ebony wand from his pocket, making sure to keep the Elder Wand hidden under his robes, and yelled out, "Expecto Partronum!" Immediately, a silver mist shot out of his wand before condensing into a large stag, which raced towards the forest with long gallops. Tonks next to him also sent out a Patronus, hers taking the familiar form of a tiger, similar to what Harry's animagus form looked like. A flood of other Patronuses took shape from the rest of the Aurors, each taking their place between the group of fighters and the Dementors in the woods, protecting the wizards and witches from their deathly and cold grasp.
In the distance, an explosion sounded, Voldemort clearly trying to breach the wards and enter the grounds. "Good, my Death Eaters, continue using the spell." He said, watching as five of his Death Eaters barraged the main gates with a curse that was meant to harm the wards, but not destroy them entirely. Seeing it was time for him to act, Voldemort grabbed his wand and sent out a maroon spell, which smashed against the gates and began to bend them backwards. When the ground underneath the gates began to crumble, the gates blew apart and the wards failed, destroying the defenses of Hogwarts. "Hogwarts is mine!" Voldemort cackled, taking his first step onto the school grounds in forty years.
AN: This chapter is very, very foreboding, isn't it? Voldemort returns to Hogwarts, Harry sees his parents, Grindelwald sends Harry a package from the dead, and Scrimgeour is captured. Can anyone guess who the voice that Scrimgeour recognized was? Review and let me know who you think it was!
AN: The new story entitled "Harry Potter and the Turning of the Sun," is coming along great. I still haven't made up my mind of whether it will be Bellatrix or Rowena, but both versions are going well.