Power Within Chapter 8
WARNING: This chapter contains graphic battle scene. You have been warned!!!!!!!
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Shortly after Snape told Dumbledore that Voldemort was going to attack, Dumbledore sent out his patronus to every order member telling them of the imminent attack on Hogsmeade. It simply told them to be on red alert because the attack could happen at any time. After he did this he sat down at his desk rubbed the bridge of his nose. Things where not looking good in these last few weeks. He felt hundreds of years older than he really was. He sat there in his private study in the big cushiony armchair contemplating what the best course of action to take against Voldemort's attack. While he didn't feel comfortable with taking lives, he knew that this was war and killing people was sometimes a necessary evil. Dumbledore was just about to start drawing up battle plans when his detector on the stone gargoyle went off showing Minerva was about to enter his office. With the thoughts of battle plans washed from his mind Dumbledore strode into his office to meet Minerva. Hopefully she could offer up some advice on battle plans or tactics they could use.
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Minerva was jus about to knock on Albus' door when he told her to enter. I wonder how he always seems to know who is about to enter. It is really unnerving sometimes. Minerva thought to herself as she opened the door.
"Ah good afternoon Minerva, What do I owe this lovely visit" asked Dumbledore sweetly.
"Albus is it really true that Hogsmeade is going to be attacked?" she asked in a panicky voice.
"I'm afraid it is my dear, I'm afraid it is" Dumbledore said sadly.
"Do you have any plans on what to do Albus?" Minerva said in a soft tone hoping the wise old man had thought of some ideas he had used against Grindawald
"Ah I have some ideas but none of them are quite what is needed in this situation, I was hoping that maybe you could help me come up with some ideas or at least offer your opinion on who could help us" he said steepling his fingers.
"Me?" Minerva asked incredulously.
"Yes" Dumbledore stated.
"Well Albus I know how you don't like to use violence but will use it if necessary, so my idea would have to be to contact the Weaseley twins and ask them if they have anything they can do to set up a trap for the deatheaters." Minerva stated shocked at her own thinking.
"Well that is something I hadn't thought of." Dumbledore stated happy that his deputy had given him some fresh ideas.
"Also Albus something else I jus thought of, if you find yourself stumped on battle plans if the need arises maybe you could ask Ron Weaseley, as he is the only known person to have ever beaten your enchanted chess set. That is something only done with great strategy." Minerva stated simply.
"Thank you again Minerva that was some very good ideas" Dumbledore said astounded that he hadn't thought of those two options when he had all three boys inside the school and had known them for a while.
"Is that all Minerva?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes Albus it is, thank you and have a good day" with that she got up and left.
Albus sat there contemplating how glad he was that he had Minerva around to help him out when he was stumped. With that thought in mind he grabbed a self-inking quill and some parchment and began to draft the letters to the Weaseley boys.
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Dumbledore's patronus arrived at the burrow just as all the Weaseleys and Harry and Hermione where sitting down to lunch. Mrs. and Mr. Weaseley were shocked at the news but kept their composure in front of the children. The kids all stared at the place Dumbledore's phoenix patronus had come through. After several tense minutes of silence Mrs. Weaseley started bustling around setting out sandwiches for lunch. The kids all ate their sandwiches rather quickly, then preceded upstairs to Ron's room to discuss the recent developments of the afternoon.
"Bloody hell guys, Voldemort is going to attack Hogsmeade" said Ron utterly shocked and scared.
The others sat there in too much shock to say anything else. Suddenly before anyone else had time to think of anything else Flawks appeared in a ball of flames, which caused everyone to jump as they were all on edge. Harry got up to retrieve the letter from him and noticed it had a familiar handwriting on it. He untied the letter and Flawks flashed away. It was addressed to Ron so Harry handed it over to him. He opened the letter and dropped it in shock because Dumbledore had written him. Once the shock wore off he picked it back up and started to read.
Dear Mr. Weaseley,
I hope this letter finds you well. As you may know Voldemort will likely attack Hogsmeade in the near future and knowing you are a great strategist I would like to ask for your help in drawing up some battle plans to protect Hogsmeade. If you could please reply back as soon as possible with your answer it would greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Headmaster Dumbledore
Ron was absolutely floored that Professor Dumbledore had asked him to help make battle plans for protecting Hogsmeade. When Hermione asked Ron what was wrong all he could do was hand her the letter and stare blankly off into space. When Hermione finished reading the letter she was shocked into silence.
Harry finally got tired of everyone jus sitting there shocked so he bravely asked "What was in the letter Ron?"
"It was from Professor Dumbledore, he asked me to help him make battle plans" Ron replied meekly.
Harry simply didn't know what to say, on one hand he was proud of Ron and the other he couldn't think of why Dumbledore would ask him, not that Ron wasn't smart it was just that Harry was still in shock.
"Why did Dumbledore pick me" Ron said after a little while.
"It's simple Ron; you are the best person at chess we know and the game itself takes huge amounts of concentration and strategy. Also you are the only person I know of to have beaten professor Dumbledore's enchanted chess set.
All Ron could do was blush at Hermione's comment. Harry and Ginny both shared a glance between them but now was not the time to say anything because Ron needed to get a response to the headmaster.
Well Ron do you accept" asked Harry softly.
"Yes" Ron said somewhat shakily.
With that Ron grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote a quick reply to the Headmaster. As soon as he finished Flawks reappeared and took the letter back to professor Dumbledore.
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As soon as Flawks returned to professor Dumbledore office he sent out the Weaseley twins' letter to them hoping it would reach them before Voldemort's forces had time to reach Hogsmeade.
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When the letter arrived George was the one to read it first because Fred was conveniently downstairs in the shop checking the inventory. George ran down and explained what Dumbledore wish of them and Fred readily agreed. They wrote that they would be at Hogwarts as soon as they gathered everything they thought would help trap the deatheaters. They grabbed some instant darkness powder, a bunch of their portable swamps and a few prototype orbs that had stunning spells contained in them; once that was done they flooed straight to the headmaster's office.
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As soon as Ron sent off his answer the kids heard professor Dumbledore arrive downstairs. They received the shock of their lives when the headmaster asked them all to hurry to Hogwarts. When they arrived Fred and George had just returned and told the headmaster that had placed two portable swamps at both entrances of the town. The one closest the gates was to slow the deatheaters incase they took Hogsmeade and headed to Hogwarts. They had roughly five minutes before Voldemort's forces where due to arrive so time was of the essence. Ron immediately set to work on the battle plans. He grouped the order into teams and began analyzing the map of Hogwarts to get a look at the best places to attack from. He set team one near the first swamp and told them to hide just in the edges of the forest to give them the element of surprise. They were the last line of defense. Team two was to be scattered through out the village to attack when necessary. Team three was told to go to the roof tops and to act as muggle snipers would. Everyone was astounded that Ron had come up with all of this. It appeared as if Ron was in his element. Even Dumbledore was shocked. He would seriously be thanking Minerva for the idea of Ron. With everything in order the teams set out their posts. Now all they had to do to wait.
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In Hogsmeade it was eerily silent. Everyone waited on baited breath. The battle was about to begin. They all heard the distinct pops of apparation. The deatheaters had arrived. Team one erected anti-apparation wards. No one could escape. This was going to be a fight to the death. The first swamp was activated when Bellatrix stepped in front of the first house. She screamed in rage when she fell into it, but soon dispelled it. The twins saw this and realized this wasn't going to go good. They along with the rest of the teams started firing stunners and anything else they could think of. Bella soon laughed her evil laugh and the deatheaters soon began throwing the avada kedvra in all directions. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all dodged the green jets of light any way they could. Bella started taunting Harry about Sirius dying in the department of mysteries. Harry started to lose control of his anger and his eyes started glowing and he doubled over in pain then his body burst into green flames. He ran out and took off his invisibility spell and started throwing the spells Godric had taught him. Seeing Harry run into the fray scared Ginny and she began shaking. Harry was struck with a very dangerous curse that split him from his shoulder to his hip. Ginny screamed in rage as her boyfriend went down before she got the same glowing in her eyes and doubled over in pain and bursting in to red flames. She then took off to rescue Harry. Ron and Hermione soon followed. The adults covered the children with stunners and exspelliarmus. They soon realized that simple stunners weren't going to work as every time they hit a deatheater, they were revived by a comrade. Ginny sent a cutting curse at the deatheater that attacked Harry. It was so strong it ripped through his shield he had put up and sliced his head off. The battle froze on both sides as everyone stood in shock that Ginny Weaseley had taken a life. She didn't stop however and sent sectesempra at another deatheater leaving him unable to fight. The shock soon wore off and the order soon stepped up their attack using more lethal curses. Dumbledore was taking on six deatheaters sending them on the defensive. Tonks and Remus where battling four deatheaters together. Ginny was taking on deatheater after deatheater when suddenly Bellatrix appeared behind her and cast the curcio spell at her. It hit her and her screams filled the battle area. Mrs. Weaseley stared in shock as her daughter went down. Suddenly there was a huge explosion where Harry had gone down. Everyone stopped to look. There stood Harry with his clothes torn and his pervious wound healing. He started making his way to Bellatrix, Ginny's screams still echoing throughout the village. Deatheaters went down with a flick of his wrist.
He stopped jus short of Bellatrix and shouted, "Hey itty bitty Bella."
Bellatrix turned to him lifting the curse off Ginny, "Awwwwww has baby Potter come to save his wench of a girlfriend?"
Harry simply smiled and then cast crucio at her before she could even blink. Bella went down in agony. Her screams piercing the afternoon.
"You see my dear Bella since we met last time I have learned to mean it" Harry said smiling evilly.
He lifted the curse. Bella lay there gasping for breath.
"This one is for Ginny," Harry smiled evilly before bellowing, "CRUCIO MAXIMUS."
The spell struck Bellatrix instantly. Her world exploded into a world of pain as millions upon millions swords began to pierce her body. Blood began to pour from any place on her body it could find. The Dark Lord had nothing on the boy. Harry held the spell on her for two minutes before stopping. When he released the spell Bellatrix was a mere mass of twitching muscles.
"Finally dearest Bella this one is for Sirius, Tom will think twice before messing with my Ginny," Harry said before bellowing out "AVADA KEDAVRA."
The spell struck Bella straight in the face and her body slumped to the ground. Her reign of terror had finally met its end. There were maybe only five deatheaters left when Fred threw one of his stunning orbs. It hit the ground with an explosion. The blast shocked the deatheaters before ten stunning spells hit them after the orb exploded. They all fell soon thereafter. It was the last thing Harry and Ginny saw before the flames on their bodies flickered out and they slumped to the ground unconscious.
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Harry awoke to the smell of a hospital. He groaned softly. "Great I'm in the hospital wing again," he thought to himself. Hermione heard him groan out and she ran to his side.
"Harry wake up, are you ok," Hermione asked frantically.
"I'm fine, what about the others?" Harry asked worried if anyone had been killed.
"Everyone is fine Mr. Potter; the question is how are you feeling?" Professor Dumbledore answered from the doorway.
"I'm truly fine sir,"
Harry's eyes swept across the room, everyone had minor scraps and a few cuts and bruises but other than that they were all ok. He gave a sigh of relief, but when he laid his eyes on Ginny he noticed she was curled into the fetal position. He jumped out of bed startling Hermione who gave a mild shriek. He hurried over to Ginny's bed and gently touched her. She flinched at first then when she realized it was Harry she grabbed a hold of him and refused to let go. He laid down next to her and she curled up into him. He laid there gently stroking her hair softly and whispering sweet nothings into her ear. She relaxed and gently transcended into a peaceful sleep. Dumbledore spoke once again from the door slowly making his way over and conjuring up a plush armchair.
"Harry I wish to speak with you about what happened during the battle"
Harry thought back onto the battle and remembered how he had tortured and killed Bellatrix without mercy.
"I'm sorry Professor, I don't know what came over me when I was battling Bellatrix," Harry said hanging his head.
"Harry while what you did was regrettable, as it should be because if you stop regretting killing then you become to used to it, it is not what I wished to speak with you about," Dumbledore said sadly at the way Harry had killed Bella.
"What did you wish to speak about sir?" Harry asked confused because he had no idea he was covered in green flames.
"Harry, I am speaking of when you burst into flames," Dumbledore said.
"I-I-I burst into flames?" Harry asked utterly shocked.
"Yes Harry you did," Dumbledore said laughing softly at the shock on Harry's face, "Now that we have got that point across I wish to find out why you did."
"Well sir I don't know why exactly I did but maybe I can tell you what happened to see if you can figure it out," Harry said looking at Dumbledore.
Albus gave a nod of his head that he agreed and for Harry to continue.
"Bellatrix had just started taunting me about Sirius when I remembered what happened in the Department of Mysteries when I felt my blood start boiling in anger; then I doubled over in pain like Voldemort was possessing me again before I felt a rush of magic course through me then I ran out there intent on making her pay for what she took from me." Harry said somewhat ashamed at the last part of his statement.
"Well while that was rash and irresponsible it helped us greatly, please don't make a habit of it Harry as you might not be so lucky to be alive," Dumbledore reprimanded.
"I won't sir," Harry said simply.
"Professor when you mentioned that Harry went down I remembered the same thing happened to Ginny when he went down, why was that?" Hermione asked suddenly from beside them.
Dumbledore smiled at the bushy-haired girl before replying, "It was because of her love for Harry that caused her magic to give her what the muggles call an adrenaline rush as it did with Mr. Potter; also it takes a person with great magical power to have their magic do that."
Hermione looked shocked that her two best friends had that much power but was otherwise satisfied. With his questions answered Dumbledore left the teens to be tended to madam Pomfrey. "Harry and Miss Weaseley seem to be very powerful indeed if they could force their magic to cause flames to appear on their bodies, the last known people to be able to do that were the founders." Dumbledore thought to himself. Yes it was for certain that love was the power that the Dark Lord knew not.
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Voldemort was sitting in his throne room wondering where Bellatrix and the others were. It had been well over two hours after they should have returned from attacking that pathetic excuse for a town. He was starting to get angry, for he was not a patient man. Suddenly one of the deatheaters that had been a scout for the attack returned.
"My Lord the mission was a failure, everyone was else was either captured or killed," the deatheater said kneeling and shaking with fear.
Voldemort screamed in rage before answering, "HOW THE FUCKING HELL WAS THE MISSION A FAILURE?"
"They were ready for us master, they had traps set and everything. Also my Lord, Potter killed Bellatrix." The deatheater said visibly shaking now at the fury in his master's eyes.
Voldemort screamed in rage before sweeping out of the thrown room, when he got to the door he turned and killed the man still keeling on the floor.
"That was for failing me," Voldemort said to the now empty room.
He then proceeded out the door into his personal chambers.
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Sorry for the long update. I just recently got my spark back for writing. This is my longest chapter since I have been writing this story. I hope to get a lot of reviews for this chappie.