*A/N* Sorry it's been a few weeks you guys. Between writers block and back to school for my kids, I haven't been able to write. I'm back on track now though!

Chapter 23

Lock and Load, Wands at the Ready

It was Sunday afternoon, the last day of Easter break, and Tyler had arrived with news about Greyback. Needless to say, the werewolf was not happy.

"So what did he say when the story broke about Godric?" Harry asked, as we gathered around the study table in the common room.

"He's pissed." Tyler said in a serious tone. "He still thinks that he can win this. He has an army at his command that is very vicious, and everyone is loyal to him."

"That's what I don't get. There are 400 werewolves in those caves, and you can't be the only one who feels this is wrong." Remus said.

"I wasn't. There was talk from some of the other non-wizard wolves, about how attacking a school full of children was wrong, but the wizard ones said we just don't understand how hard it is for them in your world. The wizard wolves are 100% loyal to him, but the non-wizard wolves were trying to find a way to leave, until Greyback put them under some kind of spell." Tyler said, shaking his head. "All of us non-wizard wolves were brought before him, and now all of them are loyal to him. It's almost like he is controlling them."

"Where you also brought to Greyback?" Tonks asked. "And if you were, do you remember what happened?"

"Yes ma'am." Tyler nodded. "He pointed his wand at me and said something like 'emperor'.

"Do you mean imperio?" She asked, and Tyler nodded.

"The imperius curse." Moody grumbled in disgust.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, I believe you are correct Alastor."

"But why am I not being controlled. I feel like my usual self." Tyler asked confused. "All the others changed just like that." He said, snapping his fingers.

"Vampires are immune to the imperius curse, and since you're a hybrid, your protected." Klaus said.

"Well it's a good thing I've been pretending." Tyler grinned. "I figured it might be something like that."

"Ok, so if all these non-wizard wolves are under the imperius curse, is there a way to reverse it?" Hermione asked. "Can they be compelled to fight with us, instead of Greyback? I trust everyone here, but we have to be reasonable and look at the odds. There is 400 of them, and only what, maybe 50 of us total? We are extremely out numbered."

"I like the way you think My Dear, but I don't know if it's possible." Elijah said. "How many non-wizard wolves are there?" He asked turning to Tyler. "Can you give us a rough guess."

"150 maybe. There's a lot, but not many, considering there are 400 total." He answered. "All of the non-wizard wolves have no sire bond connection to Greyback what-so-ever. Most come from other countries."

"That would certainly help our numbers." Hermione said. "But how do we release them from the curse?"

"Unfortunately we can't compel them. It just doesn't work that way." Salazar said with a sigh. "They need to be strong enough to resist it, but with them being muggles, I don't even think they know what's happened to them, much less how to fight it. I don't think there is a way."

"Actually Mr. Salazar, there is." Pinky nervously squeaked, as if she was afraid to speak up.

Elijah turned to her and smiled. "It's ok Pinky. Please feel free to speak up if you have an idea."

"Thank you Master Elijah." She said, smiling at him. "Elf magic goes beyond wizard magic, but elves can't use it without their Masters permission, that's why no one really understands the full extent of it. Elves have a way of reversing the imperious curse, and they know how to spot someone that is under its influence."

Stefan looked at her. "Pinky, would you be willing to help us?" But before she had a chance to reply, he held up his hands. "Before you answer, I want to make it clear that you have a choice in this. Do not automatically say yes because you think it's what we want. It could be very dangerous and you might get hurt, or worse, killed."

Pinky hopped down from her chair, walked over to him, and held his hand. "Master Stefan, when Pinky first met you all, she was very scared to serve vampires, but Pinky learned quickly that you all were kind, and that you would treat her with respect and dignity. Pinky vowed to protect her Mistress and Masters no matter what. Pinky loves you, and she knows that you love her. Pinky assures you sir, she is not saying yes because it's what she thinks you want. She's saying yes because she loves you, and Pinky knows she can do this. She can go with Mr. Tyler to the caves, and do what needs to be done. Pinky will be ok, sir. She can make herself invisible without the use of cloaks. She will not be seen, and she can apparate Mr. Tyler out if there is trouble."

"Ok Pinky." Stefan said, smiling at her. "Just promise me you will be careful."

"I will Master Stefan."

"We may not have the numbers." Harry laughed. "But we have a wide range of different magical abilities. Hybrids, elves, muggle vamps, human immortals, magical vamps, original vamps, and the most powerful wizards in the world. Greyback is nuts if he thinks he can win."

"Ah yes Harry, but let us not get overly confident about it." Dumbledore said. "Greyback may not be very smart, but he is not stupid either."

"This is true." He sighed. "But I still think we can win."

"So how do we get the non-wizard wolves on our side?" I asked. "They can't really help us with magic, and they have no way to defend themselves from curses."

"We can help with that." Fred said. "We have a line of products called Defensive Objects."

"He right." George replied. "Decoy detonators…."

"….Shield hats…."

"….Shield cloaks…."

"….Shield gloves…"

"….And our personal favorite," they said with identical grins, "Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder."

"It provides a person enough time to escape, and it's so dark that no light can penetrate it." George said.

"We would be happy to donate all these items to anyone who needs or wants them." Fred added.

"If you can give us what you have, we will see that it gets into the hands of those who do." Dumbledore said with a smile. "I think they will be needed."

"So how do we get the non-wizard wolves, over to our side." Draco asked.

"I have an idea." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.

That could mean anything!

Turns out it was simple enough. Dumbledore said if Pinky went with Tyler, she could locate the ones under the spell, apparate them out of the caves, and bring them to Elijah and Klaus. Then she would release them from the spell, and they would be given a choice. If they wanted to help us, they would be kept safe in the castle, and if they wanted to go home, they could. Dumbledore said it was best if we do it slowly, because if 150 wolves disappeared overnight, Greyback would get suspicious. I was all for compelling the ones that wanted to go home, and this made Salazar laugh, but Dumbledore said that would make us no better than Greyback. He did have a point I guess.

Dobby came up with the idea to use the Room of Requirement to house the werewolves that wanted to help us. Salazar and Godric said it was a brilliant idea and that they had both completely forgot about the room. This idea was better than having the wolves in the dungeons, and the room provided them protection from the wondering eyes of students. Dumbledore also said this would be a perfect way to get the residents of Hogsmeade into the castle if they wanted to help fight. Madam Rosmerta volunteered to have the entrance into the castle in the Three Broomsticks, because it wasn't unusual for the pub to have so many visitors. Now it was just a waiting game.

As to be expected, several parents had decided to pull their children out of school until the threat was over. A few of the younger students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were gone, but no one from Gryffindor and Slytherin had left, except Pansy. Her parents had come to get her the day the story broke in The Daily Prophet about Godric. Millicent and Daphne's parents had tried to pull them out too, but they refused to leave because of O.W.L.S. They wanted to stay because of them? Something smells fishy!

Older students from all the houses banded together in the Great Hall at dinner a few nights ago, and said that they wanted to help when the wolves attacked. Dumbledore had tried to persuade them to rethink their decision, but relented when they didn't back down. He finally said that they needed to get permission from their parents if they wanted to fight. This to me didn't make a whole lot of sense because how do you keep someone from fighting for something they believe in? I guess Dumbledore has his reasons though. He did say however, that no one in third year or below was allowed to fight, simply because he thinks they are too young. This I DID agree with.

It was two days before the full moon, and I was starting to get butterflies. I won't lie, I was scared. All of the non-wizard wolves, including Tyler, were now inside the castle, but there were only about 50 or 60 that decided they wanted to help us fight. The rest wanted to go home to their families. I guess I don't blame them, because without magic they were powerless. However, Tyler was elected to be the new leader of the ones that did stay, and they decided that even though they couldn't do magic, they were still capable of fighting the muggle way. I just hope we don't lose anyone.

"Dobby says that Greyback knows there was a mole. With all of the non-wizard wolves gone, he knows it was one of them." Dumbledore said, as we sat down in an impromptu meeting in the Room of Requirement.

It was after classes Wednesday night, and we had decided to relocate our meeting in order to get all the Aurors, werewolves, hybrids, elves, vampires, professors, students that wanted to fight, and the parents that were involved, together and on the same page.

"Are they still going to attack tomorrow night?" Kingsley asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, Dobby says that Greyback still thinks we don't know when the attack is to be held. Greyback has stated that he doesn't know how the wolves broke the imperius curse, and that none of them knew when he was planning to attack."

"Or so he thinks. I only overheard the exact day because of my vampire hearing." Tyler said, sitting down with the other wolves.

"Exactly how many wolves were freed?" Godric asked.

"140, but only 50 of you decided to stay." Dumbledore said nodding toward them. "And we are very thankful to you for it."

"You're welcome sir." One of them stood up and said. "We are loyal to Tyler, who is loyal to Klaus, who is loyal to you. We know there is great risk for us getting involved, because we can't do magic, but we have been training with these cloaks, hats, and gloves. We have come to find that they work really well at shielding us from some harmful curses."

"But they won't protect you from really dark curses, so remain alert and be careful." Klaus said, and the wolves nodded.

"It's just too bad that we don't have weapons of our own." An older wolf with dark hair said, shaking his head. "Bar room brawling might not cut it. It just doesn't feel right going into combat with no weapon. When I was in the British Army, I was a sniper."

"A sniper?" Damon asked, looking at him in surprise, and the wolf nodded.

"How many more of you are ex military?" Stefan asked, and about 35 of them raised their hands.

"No wonder most of you gentleman decided to stay and fight." Godric said with a nod. "Which branch of service did you all serve in?"

"Royal Marine Corps."

"British Army."

"Royal Air Force."

"United States Air Force."

"United States Marine Corps."

"Royal Air Force."

"British Army."

"United States Navy."

"United States Army."

"Royal Marine Corps."

"Royal Navy."

I watched as one by one they all stood up and announced which branch of service they were from. Most were from the U.K. but a few were from other countries. We even had two ex-Metropolitan Police Officers from London that stayed to fight.

Suddenly there was a loud clanging noise that sounded like steel hitting the stone floor. We all jumped up and looked toward the back corner of the room. Our eyes widened at the sight of all the rifles, handguns, and shotguns, not to mention the ammo, that had appeared. There was also a sniper rifle.

"Well it seems that the Room of Requirement has provided a way for you all to be able to use weapons of your own." Godric commented. "Which makes sense really."

"I wonder if it will supply us with an airplane?" The air force guys joked.

"No, but you could use brooms!" Hermione exclaimed.

Harry looked at her confused. "Hermione, they aren't magical. They can't fly a broom."

"I know that Harry." She replied. "But you can."

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"What are you saying My Dear?" Elijah asked curiously.

"Ok hear me out." She said, standing up at the front of the room. "I've been thinking about an air defense of some sort, and I think I've got it figured out. If Harry, Draco, Ron, Crabbe, Goyle, Fred, and George can fly around on brooms, the air force guys can ride with you. Not only will we have a magical air defense, but we will also have a muggle air defense. That's something the werewolves won't be expecting. All of you are Quidditch players, so you are already good fliers."

"I would be up for that." One of the Royal Air Force guys said. "What about the rest of you?"

"I have a question Miss." The USAF guy said. "How stable are those brooms? The reason I ask is, if we shoot at the wolves on the ground, won't we be blown off course when the gun goes off?"

"No." Harry said shaking his head. "All brooms have a stabilizer. We won't be blown off course."

He nodded. "Ok, then I'm all for it." He said, reaching down and picking up a handgun. "But a rifle is going to be too big, so I think we should stick with the smaller guns." The rest of the air force guys nodded in agreement, and picked up the other hand guns.

"What about extra ammo? How do we carry that? The Air Force Guys can't fly on a broom with a heavy Military rucksack on their back."

We all looked at each other for a moment.

"I have a few dark colored wrist clutches that could work." I said. "Some might be kinda girly though."

"We could put undetectable extension and feather light charms on them. That way they are easier to carry." Mrs. Malfoy added.

I turned to Pinky. "Can you go and grab all the dark colored handbags out of my closet at home?"

"Of course Mistress." She replied with a grin, and disappeared.

When she got back, the wolves started getting their guns and ammo ready. They were amazed at how light Mrs. Malfoy made the handbags and rucksacks, and at how much gun magazines they were able to stuff inside them.

One of the USMC guys pointed and laughed at the USAF guy that had a dark blue glittery wrist clutch tied around his wrist.

"You look so pretty dude!" He laughed.

"I think it matches my eyes!" He joked. "But at least it's Air Force blue!"

"Is this scene bringing back memories?" Stefan asked, looking at Damon.

Damon grinned. "Kinda, but in the Civil War and WWII, we didn't have glittery purses."

"They aren't purses Damon." I giggled. "They're wrist clutches."

"It's a purse." He said.

I rolled my eyes. "Men just don't understand fashion."

"HEADMASTER, HEADMASTER!" Dobby screamed, suddenly appearing in the middle of the room. "They're coming! They're coming! Greyback has just ordered the attack."

"Wait, what, now?" Harry asked, nearly choking on his words, and Dobby nodded.

Chaos erupted. People started running around grabbing everything they would need. The air defense summoned their brooms, and the 'Hogwarts Air Force' flew out a window that had suddenly appeared. Dumbledore told Pinky and Dobby to alert the elves, and get all the students to safety. Salazar and Godric ran out of the room so fast I didn't even have time to tell them to be careful.

"Why are they attacking early?" I asked frantically, running up to Klaus. "I don't get it!"

"I don't know Love. Maybe he suspects that we know, and he decided to hit us a day early. Please be careful out there." He said, giving me a quick kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too." I whispered, as he flashed out the room.

"Lock and Load boys!" I heard one of the Royal Marine Corps guys shout, and they grabbed their weapons and headed out.

I ran out after them into the corridor and stared in amazement around me. Not only were students, parents, and professors running around, but the stone statues and suits of armor had come to life and began moving toward the front entrance of the castle. The castle itself seemed to be coming to life, because the walls were moving, but the layout didn't seem to change. At the end of the corridor I saw Salazar looking out the window, toward the front gates to the grounds.

"What's happening to the castle!?" I asked frantically, running up to him.

"It's transfiguring itself into a large square solid stone structure." He replied. "I told you I had a way to lock down the castle. To anyone outside looking at it, it looks like you can't enter it, but for anyone inside, you can look out the windows and walk outside."

"Can you get back in?"

"Yes. Just go to the front entrance. The castle itself knows who belongs here and who doesn't." He said with a smile.

"You're a genius Salazar!" I exclaimed, giving him a hug.

My brief jovial mood turned dark however, as I began hearing loud pops of gunfire. I looked out to see a Draco and his rider fly over. I looked down and saw a mass army of werewolves flooding the grounds. Salazar flashed down the stairs to the front doors. I quickly followed, and caught up with Elijah on the first floor.

"Are the bullets even doing any damage?" I asked. "Or are the wolves stopping them?"

"Doing damage. It's so chaotic out there, that they don't have time to stop them. I highly doubt that any of them know what the bullets are." He said peering out a window and firing a killing curse.

"Maybe we can just stay inside, and fire spells at them. Salazar said it looks like a solid block of stone to them." I said hopefully.

Elijah laughed. "Sweetheart, that would be too easy. Besides, they would just retreat further away and out of our firing range. We will have to go outside eventually."

"Be careful Elijah." Hermione said, coming up behind us.

He turned to look at her. "I don't suppose I can talk you out of going outside My Dear."

"Nope." She said shaking her head. "I will fight."

"Then please drink my blood. That way I won't lose you forever."

She shook her head. "No, I haven't thought enough about becoming a vampire, and now is not the time to make a rash decision."

"But you might die…"

"Then I die." Hermione said, cutting him off.

"Look!" I exclaimed, pointing out the window.

Swamps were appearing out of nowhere and some of the werewolves were getting trapped in the deep muck. We saw the twins running back toward the castle with wide grins on their faces.

"ELIJAH!" Damon shouted down from the second floor. "Light 'em up!"

"What in the world does that mean?" Neville asked.

Elijah grinned at him and turned toward the window. Suddenly large bolts of lightning began striking the ground. The werewolves that were trapped in the twin's portable swamps were being killed, and the other wolves began running in different directions. The Hogwarts Air Force was swooping in and out between the bolts, firing curses and bullets. Once the lightning stopped, Aurors, Military guys, Professors, parents, and students began rushing out the doors with shield charms up in case any stray bullets hit anyone. The last thing we need is for someone to get hit by friendly fire.

Once we got outside we saw stakes had been conjured by the werewolves, and they were flying through the air. Remus got hit with one in the leg and stumbled backwards. Klaus caught him, and dragged him over to us. He pulled the stake out of his leg, but Salazar came running over, snatched it up, and stared at it horrified.

"Oh no. No, no, no." He said shaking his head. "How did they find out?"

"What?" I asked confused.

"This is a white oak stake!" He exclaimed.

"WHAT!?" I yelled snatching it out of his hand.

"Impossible. We burned the tree to the ground." Klaus said, shocked at what he was seeing.

"Niklaus, the tree in Mystic Falls is not the only white oak tree in the world."

"But I thought, it was just that specific tree that could kill us." Elijah said.

Salazar shook his head. "No, any of them can. Even conjured ones."

"I can't take this. I can't take this." I said as I backed away. "You guys are going to get KILLED!"

"No Love, listen to me. We will be fine. Please don't worry. As long as they don't hit us in the heart, we will live."

Suddenly Klaus's chest exploded as a stake shot through his chest cavity. His body went limp and he hit the ground with blood spewing out of his mouth.

"KLAUS! NOOOO! KLAUS! KLAUS!" I screamed.

Hermione grabbed me, as werewolves began heading our way. Elijah picked up his brother's body and ran with it toward the castle. Salazar followed, but he was firing killing curses over his shoulder at them.

I was hysterical as Elijah laid Klaus on the stone floor. No one but Hermione, Elijah, Salazar, and me were in the front entrance hall. Remus's leg had healed, and he stayed outside to fight.

"Lynn! Lynn! You must calm down!" Salazar said shaking me. "Thankfully the idiot werewolf who conjured it doesn't know his left from his right. The stake struck his right side. If it had hit his heart, he would have burst into flames. He's not dead."

This calmed me down considerably, but I still had tears running down my face. Madam Pomfrey came running down from the hospital wing, and began to tend to the injured that came staggering in. Some were being carried, but others were able to walk. Damon came bursting in carrying Carling's lifeless body. Salazar saw that and ran back outside to fight.

"She's dead." He said, gently laying her down. "Stefan's gone crazy out there. He's pissed, he really did like her a lot. Stephen is beside himself with grief, and I think he may have switched off his emotions."

He suddenly stopped cold when he realized who I was hovering over.

"What the hell?" He asked, kneeling beside Klaus.

"White oak stakes. That's what the werewolves are using." I mumbled.

"Is he…"

I shook my head. "No, Salazar said he would have burst into flames."

"Princess, that's good then. He will recover." Damon said, wrapping his arms around me.

Elijah must have called for Pinky, because she had arrived with a butterbeer cooler full of blood bags, and she began force feeding them to Klaus. Elijah suddenly let out a howl of rage and bolted out the doors, with Hermione and Damon following close behind him, but I wasn't going anywhere.

"Mistress, I know how you must be feeling right now, because Pinky is feeling the same, but they need you out there. Of all the people here, you are the only one that can't be permanently killed. You must go, Pinky will look after Master Klaus. Kill as many of them as you can." She said looking at Klaus and Carling, then back to me. "You know Master Klaus would want you too."

As I stood up to run outside, the residents of Hogsmeade came running down the main staircase from the 7th floor, with Aberforth Dumbledore leading the way. I joined them as they burst through the doors and onto the grounds. Dead bodies of werewolves were laying all over the place. Stone statues were stained with blood as they swung their weapons at the wolves. Suits of armor were swinging their swords and spiked balls on chains. I could hear the steady pop, pop, pop as gunfire rained down on us from the air, and from the Military guys on the ground. There were still many werewolves left to kill. More than 200 or so, but with the residents of Hogsmeade, we were kinda even now. At least the werewolves on our side knew who to aim for.

Bolts of lightning were streaking through the sky, but I knew Elijah was only doing it so we could see. It was pitch black dark outside, and the lightening was the only light available to us. People were dueling werewolves everywhere. Hagrid's hut was on fire, but I could see him amongst the fighters, so I knew he was alright.

It looks like a scene right out of the movie Braveheart out here!

I was running everywhere destroying stakes. I decided that was my main mission. There were plenty of people killing werewolves, but no one paid any attention to those deadly pieces of wood. I was not about to lose any of my boys!

I checked in on Klaus a few times, and I always found Pinky right beside him, feeding him blood. He was healing slowly, but at least he was alive. It's more than I can say for Carling and Stephen though. Both of them had been staked through the heart, and all the Macons, our vampire neighbors, had been killed. As far as humans go, several residents from Hogsmeade had been killed, including the owner of Zonko's. Several students and parents were also dead, Lavender was among them and so was Blaise. This hurt a lot because they were my friends, but then my hurt turned to anger and I headed back out for the last time.

When I got back outside, I saw someone hanging around the edge of the dark forest so I went to investigate. They didn't see me creep up to them, but as I got closer I realized who it was. I should have known.

"Well Pansy, what brings you here tonight." I said as I lit the tip of my wand.

She wheeled around with her wand in her hand and gave me a grin. "Watching everyone die!" She laughed. "But I'm not the only one."

"Who else?" I asked, cautiously as I looked around.

"Us." Millicent and Daphne said, appearing out of the shadows.

"You two were suppose to be on our side!" I shouted at them.

"We were spies." Millicent said. "We told Greyback everything. That's why he decided to attack tonight instead of tomorrow. He wanted to catch you guys off guard."

"Now who is a traitor?!" I yelled. "You have betrayed Slytherin, not to mention Salazar himself!"

"That loony old man doesn't mean anything to us!" Pansy yelled. "Salazar is a shell now compared to what he was 1,000 years ago. He himself is a blood traitor to the very cause HE started!"

"Don't you dare speak that way about him!" I yelled.

Pansy laughed. "Why not? Is he dead yet? Is he dead like your half-breed boyfriend is?"

I glared at her. "It was you! You told Greyback about the white oak stakes didn't you?"

"It's amazing how two cupcakes laced with veritaserum can make two idiots talk. Crabbe and Goyle told us everything we needed to know. Then we obliviated their memories of what we did."

"I will kill you for that!" I screamed, pointing my wand at her face, but she just laughed at me.

"Oh I don't think so vampire." She said motioning toward some more people that were appearing out of the shadows. They were dragging someone by the arms.

"STEFAN!" I screamed, and tried to run toward him, but I was stopped by a tripping jinx and chains that suddenly wrapped themselves around my wrists and ankles. "Stefan can you hear me!?" I yelled.

"Let her go." He said weakly, as he nodded in my direction. He had a wooden stake sticking out of his stomach and one sticking out of the right side of his chest.

"Just let him go!" I begged. "Kill me instead. I'm the one you hate. Please just let him go."

"We hate all of you!" Mr. Parkinson said. "And we are going to kill you both."

"Pansy honey, which of them do you want us to kill first?" Mrs. Parkinson asked sweetly.

"Him." She said pointing to Stefan. "I want to make her watch."

I was near hysterics for the second time tonight. I was struggling to get free but every time I tried, the chains would tighten even more.

"No please. Not Stefan. Please let him go." I cried as tears ran down my face.

"Lynn, I love you. Please remember everything I've taught you." He said. "Tell Damon and the others I love them."

"Aww how sweet and touching." Pansy laughed. "But I'm afraid she won't be telling anyone anything, because we will kill her next. Do it Father."

"NOOOOO!" I screamed as I watched Mr. Parkinson drive a stake through Stefan's heart. I watched him desiccate before my eyes. "We will kill you all! Damon will kill you! Salazar will kill you! Elijah will kill you! Remus will kill you! Tyler will kill you!"

"Not if we kill them first!" Pansy yelled, driving a stake through my heart.

***Preciousann runs and hides from the rotten veggies she is sure to be thrown her way.***

*A/N* Only two more chapters you guys! Hang in there, and please dont leave me just yet! I need you to tell me what you think about this chapter! What do you think is going to happen next? If anyone has any suggestions, or something you would like to see, let me know! I will consider all of them! Thank you to those who have followed, fav'ed and reviewed! I try to respond to all reviews, so please tell me what you think. Thank you for reading!**