"YEAH!", the roar of the fighters echoed with defiance, a quick lash out towards Voldemort to prove that he wasn't dealing with any pushovers. These fighters were ready and willing to give their lives if need be. Of course, that didn't stop the Dark Lord from trying to break them immediately as a dark echo came overall.
"I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. I only want three amongst you. Dumbledore, I now address you. Give up this foolish notion of fighting unless you want all those that look to you dead because of your defiance. You are to bring to me yourself, the traitor, Severus Snape, and most of all, Harry Potter.", Voldemort's voice echoed.
Harry narrowed his eyes, "He lies.", and then he heard Dumbledore's voice over the inside and outside speakers, "I will not give up, neither does Harry and Severus. Taking a note from my friend, I say, bring it on.". Harry smirked, realizing that his Pops gave Dumbledore his famous quote.
Harry then looked at his fighters, "You all know your part. Now go!", and they split off into several groups led by Neville, Ginny, Angelica, Susan, Justin, and Harry.
Voldemort scoffed as he watched over from the hill. "They never learn, do they?", he chuckled as Yaxley apparated next to him. "It's done, my Lord, the coup is underway. Might give you until tomorrow afternoon.", he explained.
"We'll only need a few hours. Begin.", Voldemort ordered to the Death Eaters as they launched an impressive bombardment of spells towards the shield; as if it was the trenches of the Somme again 71 years before.
While the Death Eaters and most of the army is wearing black with the Dark Mark insignia on their robes, the fighters of Hogwarts are wearing off-white gray with the Hogwarts emblem on their robes. Nobody cannot afford to wear bright colors to give away the location of any fighter to the Death Eaters and all.
The spells clashed in the shield, brightly bursting against the night sky as the shield held up. Harry was thinking just how long it might hold up. He sort of wished they tried to run through it and vaporize themselves against it, but Voldemort wasn't that foolish; but he knew the madman would sacrifice every last one of his followers to get to the ROR and find the Diadem to make sure he was still somewhat safe. If he discovered that Nagini, to him, was the last remaining Horcrux, he might just bail on the battle.
From that moment, all what Harry knew is returning defense, doing deadly spells, and fighting while aiding his friends and more as time flew by through the late afternoon, the sun casting a red tint on the horizon.
The delay helped for a while, but eventually the shield was just unable to hold out forever, especially when Voldemort just had enough as he threw his own weight into the strike and caused the shield to be destroyed. Now, the battle could truly begin. And it didn't waste any time as Harry heard the wooden bridge and could see it go off when a group of Voldemort's army tried to charge across it.
Harry knew that Seamus would be really glad of that, and probably be trading a high-five with his uncle Edward. He may be a squib, but he's deadly with a crossbow and a shotgun, all magically enhanced with never-ending arrows and bullets, and Waylon, the same thing for him as well as he isn't revealing his true form yet to the Death Eaters.
Electronics doesn't work well with magic, but when it's mundane without any electric part to interfere, it works really good with magic.
Of course, Harry's main concern tuned to the fight ahead as several giants and the Death Eaters were approaching the Viaduct; clashing ahead with the enchanted statues that were guarding the approach. Explosions and clashes could be heard ahead as the Death Eaters were flying by and doing hit and run attacks before making their way to the front gates.
Harry then heard Dumbledore's signal which was Fawkes's call, and then Harry heard the familiar sound of Chief rallying up the Hippogriffs. They are the first wave of air support.
The Hippogriffs flew in, clashing with Death Eaters as multiple ones were intercepted while others landed in the courtyard and found themselves being attacked by Harry's charge; the courtyard erupted in blasts around while spells clashed with each other as the fighting reached its first pitch.
Boulders crashed into the giants from the few flying Hippogriffs, with Harry and some of his group doing powerful cutting charms killing off the giants as they struggled to regain their balance, and then Harry heard a thumping roar, sparing a moment to see the large pack of werewolves coming forward, and then more of the Hogwarts fighters spilling out of the front doors, transfiguring the armor of the knights into silver as they marched out.
Harry bellowed a warning for his group to duck when the enchanted knights threw staves, lances, spears at the werewolves and remaining first wave of Death Eaters.
It was quite vicious a sight as several were killed or fatally wounded while the others quickly fled back, waiting to try again with more support as giants continued to be slowed down by the statues.
Harry kept fighting as he, his group, and the emerging Hogwarts fighters, recognizing Hermione as she led the Ravenclaws and Slytherins, battled the Death Eaters, the werewolves, and then someone bellowed out that giant spiders are coming!
Harry then saw the Acromantula spiders emerging out of the Dark Forest, and with a spin of his coin, Fawkes's call came again, and the second wave of air support came with Cedric and his squadrons, attacking the spiders.
The spiders crawled everywhere; clearly driven from their home in the Forbidden Forest as more giants started to show up. Harry was unsure what had happened with them and the Centaurs but his mind suddenly came right back to the present when a Hogsmeade villager Harry partially recognized dropped dead right by him. Harry turned to see the killer to be Goyle.
"What's the matter, Potter? Can't put up what you like to talk about?" He taunted as his father joined him and they fired curses right at him.
Harry snarled, "You have bit more than you can chew!", dodging the curses, and shot back with bombarda spells at a duo of destroyed knights, exploding the sword pieces and all at Goyle and his father, killing them indirectly.
Harry panted heavily as he turned his attention back on the rest of the battle. He is getting exhausted, but adrenaline and his magical core strength is keeping him up.
From what he can see, half of the Death Eater army, a third of the werewolves, and all the giants, along with one-fourth of the spiders are dead. Sooner or later, the Dementors will swarm at Voldemort's orders...
As expected, they did, but they strangely started heading towards the upper levels; that's when it clicked for Harry, they were paving the way for Voldemort to get into the ROR; probably to get the Diadem and hide it somewhere else where he was sure that no one would find it.
"Neville! Take over!", Harry shouted as he started to run back inside. The Gryffindor nodded and ordered everyone to pull back into the lower levels of the castle, out of the open.
Harry ran, signaling the fighters deep inside Hogwarts with his coin, to do the Patronus or attempt a shield quickly. He took shortcuts and passageways, praying that Dumbledore's there already...He absolutely hates Dementors more than anything as his Pops told him about Ariana's death and his history with Grindelwald...Dementors bring them back to Dumbledore's front mind as they are his worst memories of his life...
Harry kept ducking and dodging from any random attacks that came his way as he moved, trying to get up to the ROR level as he found a swarm of Dementors pushing through the hall before they were all blown away by the man behind them: Aberforth. Harry ran up to him. "Where's Professor Dumbledore?", he asked.
"Just up one more level; most of the dementors are spreading out...", Aberforth grunted out. "'He's' trying to get to the Room of Requirement. If he gets there and find what he's looking for, or doesn't actually, he might just flee.", Harry warned as Aberforth nodded.
"I got it; we'll keep trying to hold.", Aberforth sighed. He could clearly tell the elderly wizard was getting exhausted; if things were bad for Voldemort's side in terms of causalities, the same could be said for Hogwarts defenders. The wounded would be taken out through the Chamber of Secrets to a safer location and avoid being killed; while the dead would just be laid in there, eventually buried. Harry only prayed that if they won, he wouldn't see too many familiar faces amongst his friends... or anyone of his family.
Harry then ran up to the next level, taking the shortcut, and sprang his Patronus at the spreading Death Eaters, searching for Dumbledore, and saw Crabbe and his father fighting Dumbledore. Harry shouted, casting a cutting charm at Crabbe, causing his father to get distracted, and Dumbledore blew him off with the blasting charm.
Dumbledore smiled softly at Harry, "Good to see you, my boy.", and Harry nodded, "Did you see him?".
Dumbledore shook his head, "I suspect Tom was waiting for Crabbe Sr. or his son as look-outs to make sure nobody's in their way...To tell him that he can go in...But I can feel him at the other side of the corridor that way...".
Harry sighed heavily, "We have to distract him somehow...I hate to say this, but can you do your fire spell, like that time in the cave? We have to burn down the room of lost stuff, but if we control it enough, the ROR can still be saved...He would be angry and upset, but he would retreat for a while, giving us a bit of rest and all...".
"Especially if he thinks I may have inadvertly destroyed it... it might work. We need the time.", Dumbledore admitted.
"I don't know how we're doing, but I'm losing too many down in the lower levels. I don't know how many dead; mostly Hogsmeade and a few other witches and wizards, but certainly a huge amount of wounded.", Harry explained.
"Tom's just trying to whittle us down. But I'm surprised he's so willingly accepting these losses so fast...", Both of them hit a realization. "He's been holding back.".
"You mean to tell me he may have more followers he's been keeping hidden?", Harry feared.
"Possibly; mercenaries willing to join for wealth, Dark Wizards from other nations, similar to which Karkaroff had been. Who knows, but it would make much more sense... especially since I haven't been seeing as many Death Eaters as I thought.".
Harry frowned, "Or the rest of his followers doing the coup on the Ministry would explain it...", and Dumbledore nodded, "I suppose you'd be right about that. Luckily, Amelia will make sure that the Ministry will be safe, even if there will be lives lost...".
Harry sighed and shook his head, "You better hurry with the fire spell, Professor. I can now feel him coming. There hasn't been any sign of her yet.", referring to Nagini.
"Follow me. And Harry... you may want to wear your cloak; I promise you, you're the one that he truly wants. He probably is still fearing the prophecy.", Dumbledore explained as Harry nodded as he quickly Patronus'd a Dementor out the window that flew around the corner. "Well done.", Dumbledore smiled at him as Harry hid himself before they walked into the ROR.
They asked for the room of lost stuff, and Harry was disappointed that Dumbledore's powerful fire spell would destroy many things in this room, but distracting Riddle and making him upset, it's really needed to do so.
In the center of the room, Harry slinked back into the deep shadows within one of the piles as he felt Voldemort getting closer, and seeing Dumbledore take a deep breath, "I feel pity for you, Tom.", before casting out loud, "Fiendfyre!", seeing the familiar fire-phoenix emerging out of his wand, torching and flying through the room, burning the room of lost stuff down, hearing Voldemort's scream of rage and despair.
The fire soon stopped however as Harry moved into better cover while still keeping the cloak on him as Voldemort came into view and stared down at Dumbledore, "Good evening, Tom, I believe the last time you walked these halls when you cursed the Dark Arts position. Certainly, it has caused me quite the headache all these years to have it filled.".
"You...", Voldemort hissed. "How... I know exactly what you did, Dumbledore. How did you find out?", with a furious look. "I have no idea what you mean, Tom.", Dumbledore gave a small sly smile.
Voldemort snarled, "Stop calling me that, Dumbledore. You shall rue this day when I kill you!", firing up spell after spell at Dumbledore, and Dumbledore defended back at him, casting chains of spells. Harry heard stories of their duel in the Atrium from Waylon, but this...he is impressed...unknowing in another place within Hogwarts is the very other living Horcrux, Nagini herself, and she has scented a unique scent of helpless cubs.
Nagini was smart as she knew that her master needed to keep her out of danger for both of their own survival. But she also hadn't fed for a few days and the scent she had picked up was too enticing as she soon found herself outside a nearby room.
Dalinda is on edge as she practiced spells on pillows and such while staying close to her cubs who is snuffling and trying to move around in their new bed which is a combination of a human crib and a kitten box of bedding. She then heard a slam into the front door as the door ward gave out an alert. The noise and vibrations woke up the cubs, causing them to cry and meow for their mother.
Dalinda jumped into their bed, shushing them and caressing them as she held them in one arm, with her wand in her other hand, hearing more slams into the door, "Shh, shh, it's okay, cubs...I got you...", feeling Violet growling at the back of her mind.
"Stay silent.", Narcissa whispered as she tried to help. The two of them were staying as well protected as they could; especially if Lucius came around.
Dalinda whispered, "They're really scared, Mom. You know it's illegal to put silencing charms on newborns themselves.", relieved that her half-siblings are safe in Marauder's Place as toddlers can be teleported by Floo with extra precautions, but on the other hand, being newborns, the cubs are stuck, and right now, in danger.
Then suddenly, the door slammed open with a huge roar-like screech from the great snake of Voldemort, Nagini herself. Narcissa swiftly cast spells at Nagini, but nothing worked for Voldemort made her impervious to spells. Dalinda felt Violet roaring in the back of her head, and she let go, transforming into Violet, snarling and growling as she pushed her cubs underneath her body, her claws coming out as she spread her wings out.
Nagini strikes out as Violet tried to defend, doing whatever she could to protect her young before she slashed at the serpent and knocked out right back out of the room. Now the two creatures were in the hall as Narcissa closed the door again to keep anything else from coming in at the moment. Nagini hissed, upset at the quick meal she lost, but was more than willing to devour as much of their mother as she could.
Violet roared as she went to battle Nagini. Her cubs are forbidden to be harmed by any enemy, especially snakes!
The two of them clashed out in the hall while the snake's master was unaware his Horcrux was even in danger at the moment as he continued to duel with Dumbledore. The two wizards just absolutely unleashed everything they had on each other, especially in the case of just how close to vulnerable the Dark Lord was now. But Voldemort had the advantage, two of his Horcruxes were still alive and Dumbledore had been fighting for much of the evening while Voldemort waited on the sidelines.
"You're weak, old man! You know what I've archived and know that you can never defeat me!", Voldemort taunted. "All I've known you've achieved, Tom, is a very perversion of the natual order of life!", Dumbledore spat back.
Harry barely blinked, eyes forever darting between Dumbledore and Voldemort. Okay, this duel is actually one of the top best things he has ever seen!
He wished to help his professor and psuedo-grandfather, but Dumbledore ordered him to hide and stay...And he doesn't know where Nagini is...If he only had a clue...
Meanwhile, the battle between the great creatures was quite ferocious, with bruises and such ending up on each one, and each one tied in strength and experience, but things eventually had to finish as they grew unamused and exhausted.
Before Violet knew it, she was bashed by Nagini's tail, and crashed into the opposite wall, and when she regained her focus, she grew horrified to see Nagini at the door, ready to bash it in again when a bugle called out.
All of a sudden, a new creature attacked Nagini from the side, revealing it to be a unique mix of a Kneazle, unicorn, and phoenix. From the front is a unicorn's face, horn, ears, chest, and legs with hooves, covered in golden-white fur, with the middle covered in red feathers, and wings of a phoenix, and the back with a kneazle hind, legs with claws, and tail, covered in bronze-orange fur.
And it's the size of a draft horse as it gorged Nagini's face, causing blood to appear, stomping on her, and Nagini fought back with her tail and head, hissing and biting which the new creature dodged, and then kicked her to the other side of the wall.
Nagini began to get up, now furious at this new creature, and started to strike when the last thing she knew was pain and darkness as a very familiar sword came out of nowhere behind her, slicing her neck, and the slicer/sword welder is revealed to be Neville Longbottom.