Happy Holidays to all my merry readers! Firstly I must apologise for the incredibly long wait for this chapter. A lot of stuff has been going on in the world, and I have also had a lot on my plate at the moment. Anyhow, I have finished this chapter, & I hope you enjoy reading it. Merry Xmas!
Ron Weasley was standing in the Great Hall alongside the rest of the older sixth and seventh year students, including the members of Dumbledore's Army, who it seemed were more nervous than anything else. In front of them stood Snape, McGonagall and Slughorn; who were addressing the student body, the dawn light casting low shadows on the floor in front of them.
"Hogwarts has been threatened," Snape said as he amplified his voice so that everyone could hear him. "The Reaper is heading here, and wishes to claim Harry Potter's soul as his own. If he does that, no power on Earth, magical or otherwise, will be able to stop him. We must stop him at all costs before he finds Potter."
Many of the students started to whisper amongst themselves, many not believing that Harry Potter was even in the castle.
"How do we even know that Potter is even here in the castle?" Pansy Parkinson yelled, gaining some shouts of agreement from her fellow Slytherins.
"Easy," replied Ginny, who made her way towards Pansy. "I was with him tonight, I saw what has happened to him, what Death has caused."
"You were always full of it, Weasel, but you claim to have been with Potter tonight? What were you doing, sleeping with him?" came Pansy's reply, accompanied by a bout of laughter from her cohorts. Ginny meanwhile went a very deep red, almost beetroot, colour.
"Enough, Miss Parkinson," Slughorn said firmly. "Miss Weasley was able to confirm what she knows about the situation alongside her brother. They were the ones who informed the faculty, and we believe them. If you do not, I suggest you go and protect the younger students, or better yet, yourself." Many of the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws cheered Slughorn as Pansy stood speechless. She turned and walked out of the Hall, closely followed by many of the other Slytherins, and Filch escorted them to Hogsmede.
"Now that that is out of the way, we need the rest of you to help in protecting the school from attack." McGonagall stood forward and conjured a spectral image of the school and its grounds. "Considering the information we have, it will be safe to assume that Death does not have any method of appearing inside the grounds themselves via Apparition, however it will be safer if we place an anti-apparition charm around the grounds. The castle itself will be our stronghold; we will attempt to keep out the Dark forces for as long as possible."
"Professor, what kind of creatures will be attacking the castle?" Seamus Finnegan asked.
"As far as we are aware, the Reaper has an army of creatures called Shadowknights," Snape replied. "They are dark knights with no morals, corrupted by hate and vengeance. Powerful, but not invincible, their weakness is that they are very vulnerable to magic."
"We plan on using our own army of knights to fight them, so all you need to worry about is the few stray ones that make it past them," McGonagall said as she headed out of the Great Hall.
In Lestrange Manor, Hermione was busy taking in how everyone was coping; joining forces to combat this common enemy. Bill Weasley was standing alongside his family, and also Fenrir Greyback and his werewolf comrades, while the Malfoys were stood with Tonks and Remus.
"Can I just say something Tom before we get started?" James Potter said as the final few people shuffled into the room.
"Of course," Tom said, but as he turned to face him, he was knocked off of his feet by an almighty punch, courtesy of James.
"That's for killing me and my wife!" James said, as Bellatrix and Narcissa ran to pick Tom up.
"Feel better now James?" Sirius murmured to his ghostly friend, who nodded as he retook his place among the rest of the Marauders.
"I half expected that Mr Potter," Tom said wiping the blood from his nose and immediately healing it. "I am sorry for what happened in the past, but the past is gone. We must now focus on the future."
"The Reaper will more than likely use his forces to thin out the defences in Hogwarts before he joins the fray himself;" Dumbledore said, his ghostly silver aura being one of the brightest things in the room. "In this regard, he will no doubt attempt to use his army to overrun Hogwarts, so that he may find Harry unimpeded."
"Considering that the only thing that can defeat the Reaper is an enchanted sword such as the Sword of Gryffindor currently in our possession, it would be a wise assumption that by using the sword on him would allow us to defeat him;" Tom continued, glancing over at Hermione as he spoke.
"What about the forces he is commanding?" Bellatrix asked.
"He has access to Shadowknights, dark wizards and vampires, as well as Dementors, so it would be in our best interests to focus on getting rid of the Dementors first, then the Vampires and dark wizards," Dumbledore answered, his face weary with worry. "I'm not sure if we will all survive this battle, least of all you, Bellatrix. You have made a fair few enemies at Hogwarts, none of whom will be particularly glad to see you."
"The same could be said about me, Dumbledore," Draco responded, stepping forward to defend his aunt. "If anyone is an enemy of Hogwarts, it would be me. I caused your death last year, and the school knows my part in it, the rumours that spread, the hate that enveloped the students and teachers. If anyone deserves their wrath, it is me."
"How noble, Draco," Dumbledore chuckled, "tell me, are you ready to fight for the greater good?"
"I am." Bellatrix hugged her nephew tightly, as did his mother Narcissa. Lucius stood as timid as before, not knowing whether to run while he had the chance.
"If anyone wants to back out, do it now," Bellatrix said looking around the room, particularly at Lucius. He just stood silent, not moving or even looking at her. "Lucius, what say you?" she asked, her voice unusually calm and serene.
"If I am to lose my wife and only son in a battle against an enemy that is practically invincible, then I will at least die alongside my family;" Lucius said quietly, his hands clenched. "I will not be remembered as a coward, I will honour the name of Salazar Slytherin and fight, even to my death."
Bellatrix and Narcissa both looked on in astonishment, while many of the others merely applauded his courage. Cries of 'Well done Lucius' could be heard, while Tom and Dumbledore merely smiled at each other.
"Quick question, how do we get to Hogwarts?" Bill Weasley broke the applause, and immediately murmurs started to resonate around the room once more. "I mean, we can't exactly Apparate there directly, and last time I checked, there was an army of darkness approaching Hogsmede, probably making sure nobody there aided the school."
As the group pondered, Hermione looked at Dumbledore, and in a moment of sheer brilliance, an idea formed in her mind. "I have an idea that might work," she said, and almost all of the heads turned to face her. "It's actually pretty straightforward if you think about it; we fly."
"I'm not sure if you've noticed, Hermione, but we don't exactly have our brooms with us, nor do we have any animals to ride upon;" George said from the far side of the room.
"That's the beauty of it, we don't need them!" she said excitedly, almost bouncing up and down in eagerness. "Remember how the Death Eaters were able to fly without the aid of any other items?" Tom's face immediately lit up at this mention. "That is how we get there; we fly like they did that night."
"Unfortunately, Hermione, that particular piece of magic can take years to learn to perform it safely. I doubt we have enough time to teach it to everyone right now," Tom said, not knowing what she was getting at.
"Don't you see, we don't need to learn, the power of the Elder Wand courses through each of the three patronuses here today, by harnessing that power, we can use it to get to Hogwarts!"
"She's right Tom," Dumbledore agreed. "We do have the ability to fly after all, it wouldn't be a stretch to allow others to fly alongside us." Dumbledore motioned to the other patronuses, James and Sirius, who stood in a circle in the middle of the room. As they held out there arms and joined hands, they started to spin, forming a silvery-white translucent veil.
"If we are all ready, then let's go!" Hermione yelled as she made her way into the veil, closely followed by Draco, Narcissa and Bellatrix. Eventually, the circle had expanded so that everyone was cloaked in the patronuses powers. Suddenly, they all started to hover, as the light started to surround them all individually.
"Alright, everyone, let's move out!" Tom commanded, and the entire army of witches and wizards flew out of the door and across the dawn sky, cloaked in silver light. Onlookers would later claim to have seen some very low shooting stars in the dawn sky, while another believed it to be a sign that aliens were on the way. None of them knew the truth, however.
"Piertotum Locomotor!" McGonagall shouted as she pointed her wand at the stone statues in the Great Entrance, before moving backwards to accommodate the newly spawning stone soldiers. "Go, protect the castle. Do your duty for the students and our school!" she ordered, before she spun round to dodge a bolt of red light cast from afar. "Go!" she yelled, and the statues charged into the grounds, weapons readied and willing to lay down their stone lives for the protection of the castle.
"What's the next step, Professor?" Neville asked running to her side.
"We get inside and get prepared, Mr Longbottom," she replied. "If they can breach the barriers from long range, then we will most certainly have a battle on our hands."
"Got it." Neville ran off to regroup with the D.A, while McGonagall went to talk to the rest of the faculty.
"You think the golems will be enough to stop Death?" Flitwick asked her, his hands slowly fidgeting with his wand.
"I don't think they will hold it off indefinitely, but it will at least afford us some protection;" she replied quietly, enough so that the students couldn't hear her. "We need to focus on protecting the boundaries of the school for as long as possible."
"Surely it would be easier if..." Professor Slughorn was cut off by a loud explosion coming from outside.
"It's begun." Snape strode to the centre of the Great Hall, the rest of the teachers followed. "Students, listen up. The enemy has engaged us, so get ready to fight. Be careful with your spells, and protect yourselves at all costs." As he finished the entire room was emboldened by cheers and cries, and many students spread out into the corridors to better engage foes.
"C'mon Ginny, we need to stick together," Ron said as he ushered his younger sister into the far side of the room. "We'll have more protection if we stay here by the wall."
"Alright," she replied, but the moment she turned her back to move the window in front of her shattered, the shards heading right towards them. "Protego!" she yelled, and the bluish aura erupted from her wand to protect her and Ron from the glass. Unfortunately it could not save them from the beasts that had flown in; winged creatures carrying the shadowknights in their claws were invading the castle through the windows. The nearest shadowknight set its sword on Ron and Neville, leaving Ginny to fight the mystery creature.
The winged creature landed, and as its wings retreated, Ginny's fear increased tenfold; standing before her was one of her worst fears, a vampire. "Hmmm, you vill make a glorious addition to my family," the vampire spoke, his accent scaring her even more. Still, she had to summon some courage from somewhere.
"Stupefy!" she yelled, aiming the blast at her enemy, only for him to blast an equally powerful bolt of energy back at her.
"Silly girl," the vampire said as the smoke cleared, "you should know it vould not be that simple, vould it?" He grinned, showing his fangs to the frightened girl. "I vill enjoy feeding from you, young girl."
"Like hell," she responded, unleashing a torrent of curses and hexes, but the vampire deflected them all, before casting a spell of his own to knock her wand from her hand.
"Bombarda!" Ron yelled, blasting the shadowknight into the far wall, before turning his gaze to the vampire. "Oi, that's my sister you bastard!" he blasted another spell at the vampire, but the creature merely deflected it before blasting Ron against the wall.
"Oh, I must apologise;" the vampire said sinisterly, "I vill make zis zwift then." He chuckled as he grabbed Ginny by the throat and jumped into the air, the rafters of the magical roof temporarily concealing him from view. "I hope you will be this tasty once you are mine!" he grinned as he bared his fangs and readied her neck.
Desperately, Ginny focused her mind and tried to find someone out there that could help her. "AAH!" she screamed out loud, and red bolts started to fly towards them but a shadowy barrier prevented the attacks from connecting.
"Foolish wizards," he scoffed, before preparing to bite Ginny.
Outside, the Order were flying across the Scottish moors ready for battle. Tom and Bellatrix were at the head of the beam, while Hermione was with Bill and Fleur. Suddenly she heard a scream in her head, a scream from a friend, and both Fleur and Bill heard it too.
"Ginny's in grave danger," she said to the others, with a worried expression on her face.
"We sensed it too," Bill replied, and readied his wand, as did Fleur. Hermione meanwhile cradled the sword's hilt in her hands.
"Get ready," Tom shouted across the convoy of wizards; "we're about to reach Hogwarts."
As the group crossed the castle grounds, they saw the full scale of the dark army, with many of the party gasping in shock. Thousands of shadowknights were marching towards the castle, with Dementors and Dark Wizards flying in too. "Let's do this!" Bella cried out as they split to land, but Hermione, Bill and Fleur kept going, straight into the castle, bathing the room in a bright golden light.
"STUPIFY!" Hermione screamed, drawing Gryffindor's Sword from her scabbard and slashing it in a vertical arc; the magic curse, now amplified by the sword cannoned towards the unsuspecting vampire, who could only watch as the curse broke his defences and obliterated him into the opposite wall.
"Aaaah!" Ginny screamed as she started to fall, but Bill was quick on his feet, the golden trail still surrounding him, and he sprung forward to grab Ginny in midair, before setting her down on the floor.
"Ginny, are you alright?" Bill asked as he hugged his sister, while Fleur and Hermione stood guarding her.
"I am thanks to you guys," she replied as she hugged her oldest brother back. Her gaze then crossed to the other side of the room, where the Order had just landed. Molly and Arthur had immediately set to work defending a group of students from some shadowknights, while the pack of werewolves led by Greyback had engaged the remaining vampires. "Is that the Order?" she asked Bill, to which he nodded.
Suddenly, another shadowknight drew its sword and swiped at the group, but was met by Hermione's own blade. "Get her to safety Bill!" she shouted, as she counterattacked the knight. "Stupefy!" she charged the sword up again, so when the blades connected, the knight was sent flying.
Just before she began charging another spell, she was hit by a spell from behind, causing her to temporarily lose her balance. As she hit the floor, the sword dropped just out of reach. The second shadowknight charged, only to be blindsided by Ron's Full Body-Bind curse. As it lay motionless, Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and helped her up. "Are you hurt?" he asked as she got to her feet.
"No, I'm fine," she replied picking up the sword from the ground. She surveyed the battle surrounding them, in particular, the vampires clearly outnumbering the werewolves 3 to 1. "We need to somehow even the odds," and she looked up at the dawn sky, noticing the moon was still slightly visible. An idea suddenly hit her...
Pointing the sword vertically, she yelled the incantation: "Luna Lumen!" Suddenly a bright silvery light erupted from the enchanted roof, and a full moon shone through, illuminating the entire castle and its grounds. It had the desired effect, as almost immediately howls were heard as the werewolves transformed; although they had their beastly augmented strength, due to the artificial means they retained their humanity, exactly as Hermione desired. As the werewolves counterattacked the vampires, it appeared that the Order was gaining the upper hand. Snape and Lily were engaging several shadowknights; Tom, Bella and the Malfoys were attacking some dark wizards; Molly and Tonks had begun to combat a vampire who was terrorising some Ravenclaw girls, and the twins were assisting the Marauder's (minus Lupin) in combating the Dementors.
Without warning, a huge explosion came from outside, and a large cloud of dust engulfed the Great Hall. In strode the commander of the dark army, Gellert Grindelwald himself, cloaked in the same shadowy aura as the others. Immediately he began scanning the hall for signs of Harry, but something else caught his eye, Dumbledore.
The silver phoenix flew to the other side of the hall and transformed into his human self, and it seemed that there was an immediate stalemate between the two armies as the wizards faced off against each other. "You should never have come here, Gellert."
As murmurs started encircling the room from several students, Grindelwald strode forwards. "Albus, last time I checked, you had died."
"It ends here old friend. I should have finished you off when I had the chance."
"Then go ahead, Albus; the man who never kills. Fight me!"
Dumbledore conjured his wand and attacked, a red beam of light tearing right towards Grindelwald, but he merely deflected it, before sending a blast of yellow light at Dumbledore. The two aged wizards fought back and forth while the two armies watched in awe. Some of the students started to shout encouragement to their former headmaster. Hermione simply watched as he dodged and deflected so many spells and curses, while at the same time managing to execute his own attacks.
After what seemed like an age, the dust settled, and the two old wizards stood panting with tiredness. "Is... that ... all you've got... Albus?" Grindelwald said as he caught his breath.
"I... expected... more of a... challenge, old friend..." Dumbledore replied, rising and pointing his wand at his tired enemy. "You caused the death of my closest friend, and now you will pay for it." The silvery glow of Dumbledore's patronus body started to darken, until it was a slate grey composition, signifying to Hermione especially the raw power of the Elder Wand currently coursing through Dumbledore. "Avada Kedavra." The signature green bolt of magic struck Grindelwald square in the chest; even if he had the power to deflect it, he could not deny Death's hunger. He slumped to the floor, his wand falling from his hand and disintegrating into black dust. Immediately the remainder of the dark wizards cried out and started to counterattack, in a vain attempt to avenge their fallen leader. As a consequence, the Order began to retaliate, thinning the horde of darkness and protecting the castle.
All of a sudden, one of the remaining vampires gave the order to retreat, leaving the Order and the students to cheer in victory. However, Hermione and Ginny looked on, unsure of what was to come next. As the dawn light shone through the windows, the full scale of the battle could be seen to everyone present; glass shards scattered across the Great Hall, mounds of rubble littered the floor, while the bodies of unfortunate students were being rounded up. One of the bodies was little Colin Creevey, another was a Ravenclaw girl, and a third belonged to a Hufflepuff prefect, his body having been crushed by debris from the ceiling.
"What do you reckon Death will do now, Fred?" George asked as they helped pile the dead into a classroom.
"I dunno, but he shouldn't be coming to..." he started, before he was knocked to the ground from behind. George readied his wand, but it was knocked out of his hand by a vampire hidden in the shadows.
George looked on as he was held by the throat by a vampire, as a shadowknight lurked, sword ready, over his defenceless brother, before bringing the blade down.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The yell pierced the castle grounds, the students stood in shock, and the teachers and Order members desperately searched for the source. As if on cue, the sun was blocked by a black fog, and the castle was completely invaded by the dark forces. "Severus, I don't think I can exist for much longer," Lily said as she fought alongside Snape. He tried to comment back, but was struck aside by a Dementor. "Serverus!" Lily yelled as she stood in front of him to defend him from the Dementor, but it simply started to feed off of her instead. It threw her silver form aside and grabbed Snape, and started to suck his soul away too.
'Lily' he said to himself, before blasting the Dementor with a Killing Curse. The Dementor dropped him, and Snape immediately got to his feet, and continued to fire curse after curse at the Dementor in rage, before being knocked down by a stray stunning spell. As Ron raced to help him, a shadowknight stabbed him in the chest; Ron was helpless as he watched Snape die before his eyes.
The Marauders were busy dealing with multiple dark wizards, each attempting to defeat their opponent, but without much success. "Guys, look out!" Percy yelled to them as they were struck from behind by a vampire, before all of them were hit by the dark wizards' Killing curses.
"Remus!" Tonks shouted as she saw her beloved fall down dead. She charged at the group, blasting curses at them, but as she was about to deliver the killing blow to the group, she was blindsided by another stunning curse from another dark wizard. Arthur and Molly Weasley stood in wandlock as they helplessly watched her die alongside her husband.
Tom, Dumbledore, Bellatrix and the Malfoys were busy fending off some vampires from a group of hurt students. "Tom, behind you!" Dumbledore warned, pushing him out of the way as a Dementor swooped in and devoured Dumbledore on the spot.
"Albus!" Tom yelled, and he stood up and unleashed a barrage of Killing curses at the Dementor and vampires. As the ever increasing army of darkness approached the castle, the survivors regrouped in the centre of the Great Hall. Ginny, Hermione and Ron stood alongside the remainder of the D.A, nervously readying themselves for a final assault, while Tom and Bellatrix stood alongside the remainder of the Order, similarly unsure of the army's next move.
"Is this how it all ends, Tom?" Bellatrix asked.
"I don't know." Tom looked solemn as he viewed the surroundings, bodies scattered across the floor, both friendly and hostile; families in shock as their loved ones lay dead beside them. Even without being there in person, Death was affecting each and every one of them.
Unbeknownst to them all, a certain chosen wizard was preparing to enter the fray himself...