Chapter 7: The Battle of Naumkeag

Headmistress Elizabeth (Liz) Canon knew as soon as she saw the army that her plan was not going to work. She had been prepared for a larger than normal wizarding army. The normal army was about two to three hundred. She was ready for up to five hundred. But the mob which was lined up opposite her moat was much larger than that. She didn't have time to think of a new plan; the British would just have to prove their worth. She looked up at the British children standing on the Astronomy Tower just in time to see one of them fire a bright turquoise spell into the cloudless sky.

She turned back to the army and pulled out her own wand. Then she saw the thing which she had been waiting for: one of the inferi conjured a bridge and the army began to walk. Just as they were about halfway across the bridge she waived her wand at the moat and the gasoline which she had filled it with ignited into bright blue flames, consuming the bridge and the inferi. Canon hoped that this Gellert Grindelwald person was on it. From what she had heard, she didn't want any part of him.

The army seemed for a moment to be confused by the fire. But Canon knew that the gasoline would run out, that the fire was a cheap trick that would be overcome sooner or later. Canon reordered her defenses, moving more people to the front trenches and ordering that they strategically retreat to the exterior of the maze. If they could, they needed to direct the army away from the castle's door.

Suddenly a new bridge was seen opposite the fire. The new bridge rose behind it and fell over the fire, which bent out of the way to allow the bridge free passage. When the bridge had landed it provided a clear view of the army and the tall man, wand extended, who was leading it. So much for Grindelwald being killed by the fire. Canon was momentarily dazed by the fact that the fire had been conquered so easily that she didn't know, for a moment but a moment too long, what to do.

Fortunately the British had figured it out for her. She was awakened from her stunned daze by the roll of thunder from the sky. She looked up. A funnel cloud was hovering over the school, circling around the very spot where the British boy's spell had traveled earlier. The cloud had grown large enough to cover the entirety of the grounds and now large lightning bolts could be seen flashing throughout the massive cloud.

Then it started to rain. Canon knew that the plan was genius, and made a mental note to thank that Albus kid if she ever saw him alive again. The rain quickly put out the moat of fire, but that wasn't a problem anyway. But it also made the dirt trenches, which she was counting on for protection of the school, mud trenches. The army now had to slosh through them. There was no hope of simply climbing over them or mowing down the Americans within them. Not with the mud. Suddenly she had a new burst of energy.

And not a moment too soon. The first line of the inferi army entered the beginning trenches, some of them moving around the exterior of the maze before entering at another point. Liz had planned for this, making the first row feed into a central spot. But the sheer size of the army made it difficult to ensure that the enemy obliged. She sent up orange sparks, the order to surrender the first lines and move back.

That had been fast. If they didn't find a trick or trap soon, the army would be at the gates of the castle before the sun had fully cleared the buildings of Salem. Liz sloshed to the front lines. What she saw was encouraging. The maze went from the central funnel out in three directions. She arrived at the left one, which was the one which led to the castle. The defenders of the other two were slowly falling back and the army of inferi, which was still pretty stupid, was following as planned. The defenders would retreat back several feet until they passed a trap door which would shut, leaving the inferi on the opposite side and giving the Americans a chance to escape before the dead end.

Liz joined the Americans defending the correct path and encouraged them to stand their ground. It was important that each inch of the correct path was earned the hard way. It was proving easy to hold against the few members of the army which had actually turned their way. Liz stunned several, building a nice barrier which encouraged even more enemy troops toward the dead ends.

But suddenly the entire army stopped and turned straight at them marching straight toward them as if an outside force had suddenly ordered them to change direction. There was only one person who could do that, and Liz had been told he preferred to stay away from the fight. But she didn't have much time to think about that before the army was upon her and sending killing curses in their direction. She quickly sent up another set of orange sparks and fell back as quickly as she could through the rain and the mud toward their third line of defense. Only two left, she thought. Just before she got to the meeting point where they would make their next stand, an inferius caught up with her. He was a middle aged man and he was close enough that she could smell his horrible, several year old bad breath. He raised his wand and pointed it at her chest. She backed up but tripped over the mud. Suddenly a red light streaked across her vision and hit the man in the navel. His face never changed, he simply fell down on top of her stunned. She pushed him off and looked to see where the spell had come from. None of the Americans were paying any attention to her, but when she looked up she saw that several spells were streaking across the sky. The British were standing in the windows and on top of the towers sending powerful spells at the advancing army. Maybe they were better than she thought.

She managed to scramble back behind the American position just before the main force of the enemy army arrived. The Americans opened fire and for a short moment appeared to overmatch the army. Liz took the moment. "Stupefy!" she yelled, the Americans and some of the British joining their spells with hers. But the army was just too much. She sent up blue sparks and the Americans within the paths to her right and left began a strategic retreat. This time none of the inferi followed. Clearly someone was ordering them around, someone who could see the maze from above, but Travers wasn't supposed to be here. Liz sent up more orange sparks and retreated back to her final line of defense. The Americans who were left at this point lined up behind Marie Leveau, their last trick with the castle wall directly behind them.

"I hope you're prepared," Liz said as she passed Leveau.

"Just watch child," Leveau said, sipping a cup of tea which she had magically protected from the rain.

The army appeared. Leveau tilted her head and pointed her wand at the ground. The path was suddenly blocked by a row of sunflowers which grew up, in some cases around the army. The inferi struggled through the growing patch of plants while the Americans picked them off with spell after spell. The British had disappeared, apparently preparing for the army to get to the school. Only one remained, the boy at the top of the Astronomy Tower who Liz now recognized as Albus Potter.

Leveau pointed her wand at the ground again creating tiny lead balls throughout the now littered ground. The inferi which were still struggling to get through the plants now began to slip and slide on the muddy, metal balls, making them increasingly easy targets for the Americans.

Leveau pointed her wand at the sky. A bolt of lightning streaked down and hit the middle of the sunflower patch. Instantly the sunflowers were vaporized, but the metal balls which had spread for several yards back down the bath conveyed the electricity causing most of the inferi to meet the same fate as the sunflowers. But there were more behind them and one of them managed to hit Leveau with a stunning spell, sending her down.

Liz went to send up a final orange spark, a sign of full scale retreat away from the building, when she heard a roar. She looked up and was sure that the rain was playing tricks with her eyes. Four huge dragons were flying into the grounds and swooping down upon the trenches, frying whole groups of inferi with their breath. The largest dragon flew over to where Albus was standing and paused as if to say "Sorry I'm late." It was then that Liz saw that the dragon was being ridden. They were on their side. Liz was encouraged again and sent up green sparks, the signal for a full scale attack.

Americans came out of every nook and cranny of the trenches and hit the unsuspecting remnants of the inferi army with a barrage of multiple spells. About thirty went down without a fight, but it became clear to Liz that the entire force was no longer in the trenches. She knew that some had been killed by Leveau, but there still should have been more, it seemed like they had started with a thousand.

As if in answer to this thought a new bridge appeared just outside the trenches. It formed and came down upon them, crushing the maze and splitting the Americans and their enemy in two. Liz looked at the base of the bridge to find the tall man standing in front of about three hundred inferi who began marching across the bridge.

Ok, she thought. I've done what I can, time to find out just how good the British are, and she turned from the bridge and attacked a suppressed inferius who had been slipping toward her from behind.