Title: Of Eagle and Lion
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: None.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: In an act of desperation, a young Harry Potter's magic goes wild and gives him something that will change everything.
The Halloween Feast was well in progress. Harry sat celebrating with Hermione, Katie, Alicia, Angelina and the Weasley Twins. To everyone else the Halloween Feast was the celebration of the defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but to Harry it was the yearly honouring of the life of his parents. Until the feast was interrupted by Professor Quirrell running into the Great Hall.
"Trolls. Trolls in the dungeon." The DADA professor announced and then 'collapsed' forwards.
"Quiet." Dumbledore yelled, stilling the screaming from most of the students. "Teachers will follow me to the dungeons; Prefects will escort the students back to the Dormitories."
"Belay that order." Harry announced.
"Mister Potter!" Professor McGonagall said in shock.
"The Slytherin and Hufflepuff dorms are in the dungeons." Harry announced. "Do you want half of the students dead, Professor?"
"What do you suggest?" Dumbledore said.
"Bell, Granger." Harry called. "Watch the door."
"Yes, Sergeant." Katie replied, as she ran for the door with Hermione.
"Headmaster, you lead the Professors in the search. I'm taking command here. Prefects to me." Harry ordered.
Responding to his command voice, the Prefects, Head Boy and Head Girl all congregated around Harry.
"Ok. The Great Hall is a good defensive position with only one entrance. Ok, Fifth Year Prefects from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, I want you to keep your wands trained on Professor Quirrell. Fifth Year Prefects for Hufflepuff and Slytherin, I want you watch over the younger students. Use the Weasley Twins to help keep them entertained."
"Wait." Percy Weasley said. "Why are we holding wands on a Professor, and an unconscious one at that?"
"Because he faked the faint. When the human body looses muscle tension it either falls backwards or sideways, but never forward. Anatomy prevents it." Harry explained. "The rest of you need to organise everyone who can cast a stunner. Break them down into squads and take command of each. I want you to set up a barricade about half a meter inside the doors, in a horseshoe shape to cover the door."
"You want to man the barricade casting stunners?" the Head Girl asked.
"Only as a stopgap measure." Harry replied. "You are to stun anything that approaches the door unless it is the Professors or my team. Once we return, we will be the first line of defence."
"Your team?" the Head Boy asked.
Harry just smiled.
"You have work to do." He said before turning away. "Bell, Granger. On me. We're going for the Armoury."
Harry, Hermione and Katie ran out the door as the Prefects began shouting orders behind them.
Harry entered the Armoury with Katie and Hermione hot on his heels.
"You two take the Flack Armour and the Lasguns. Katie, take the flamer too." He ordered.
They all removed their robes and began donning their armour, Hermione helping Harry with the straps of the Carapace armour once she had her Flack armour on and Katie using the resizing charm to make sure that the armour fit. Harry holstered the Bolt Pistol in a thigh holster and sheathed the Power Sword at his waist. He then hefted the weight of the Meltagun. Harry turned back and saw what looked for a second like two competent Imperial Guard. Hermione was standing with her Lasgun pointed upwards and the strap of hr helmet hanging loose. Katie had the Astarties Flamer secured loosely to her back by a sling so that it can easily be swung around to fire and her Lasgun was held in both hands. Harry led them back out of the Armoury, with his Helmet bouncing from a clip at his waist to leave his head bare.
Harry led the trio along the corridors toward the Great Hall. They were just about to reach the doors to the great hall when the pounding of a heavy body sounded behind them. Looking over his shoulder Harry saw the first Troll round the corner behind them and let out a loud and rumbling bellow. They were still ten feet from the doors, through which they could see a sturdy barricade and a mass of Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Year students behind it. Based on the sound of the charging Troll, Harry realised that it would be on them before they could set up behind the barricade.
"Go for the barricade." Harry ordered, and then he stopped.
Turning, he quickly set his feet and raised the Meltagun. Aiming for the Troll's centre mass, Harry briefly pulled the trigger. Half a second later the Meltagun fired, emitting a high pitched whine as the high energy particle beam literally boiled the air along its path. The particle beam punched a hole three inches wide completely through the Troll's chest, vaporising the flesh caught in the beam and then carried on down the corridor and flash melted the surface layer of the stone wall at the far end. Just as Harry was turning the Second Troll emerged at the end of the corridor. Harry sprinted and vaulted over the barricade where two students were checking over Katie and Hermione, who were slightly winded from running in the armour.
"Stupefy!" came from almost two hundred voices the instant Harry cleared the barricade.
A literal wall of red lights shot down the corridor, with almost forty hitting the second Troll head on. Even with the natural magical resistance of a Troll, it was overwhelmed and dropped to the floor barely alive.
"Nice work." Harry said to the assembled crowd. "Granger, cover the hall to the left. Bell, take the right. Co-ordinate your Lasgun fire so you are hitting the same target. I don't know how many shots it will take to fell a Troll."
"Only took you one." One of the students in a Ravenclaw Uniform said.
"Yeah, but the Meltagun is designed to take out Battle Tanks. A Lasgun is not." Harry replied. "Bell, if they get within fifteen feet, switch to the Flamer. The rest of you, I want twenty here with Wands ready while the others stand down. You will rotate every twenty minutes. Only fire stunners, and only on my command."
Most of the students started to move away from the barricade after selecting the twenty who would stay on watch. Harry took the opportunity put on the enclosed Helmet of his Carapace Armour, which he had left off previously to prevent some of the students panicking and trying to stun him as it completely hid his face, unlike the open faced helmets that Katie and Hermione wore.
"Sarge." Katie said.
A third Troll had shown up and was looking down the corridor.
"Bell, Granger. Lasguns. Fire at will." Harry ordered.
Katie and Hermione had crouched behind the barricade and were lining up the sights just as Harry had shown them on the two occasions he had let them handle the Lasguns. Katie's Lasgun fired and hit the Troll in the right shoulder but Hermione's did not. The Troll started to charge
"It won't fire." Hermione said.
"Latch down one notch with your right thumb." Harry instructed.
Katie's second shot took the Troll in the right side of the chest.
"Got it." Hermione said, and she fired, just grazing the Troll on its left arm.
"Just breathe, Granger." Harry said.
The next round of shots were both fired at the same time, and both were fatal shots. Katie's took the Troll through the Solar Plexus, destroying its diaphragm and its ability to take a breath, while Hermione's shot took it in the neck, severing the Carotid Artery. The Troll fell backwards with the impact of the shots and lay on the floor unable to breathe and bleeding out. It was dead in less than thirty seconds.
The next thirty minutes passed without incident, and the second shift of students was at the barricade when one of the Hufflepuffs spotted movement. This time it was not one Troll. It was four. The lead Troll was in the middle of the corridor, with two on the right side and one on the left.
"Granger, switch to next to Bell and take the far right one. Lasguns fire at will." Harry ordered.
Katie started firing at the far right Troll immediately, joined a second later by Hermione who had switched positions. Harry lined up the Meltagun at the centre Troll and fired. Like the very first Troll, this one had a hole punched through its chest and fell dead, but by this time the Trolls had covered half the distance of the hallway and the Meltagun was recharging. Katie and Hermione were still methodically firing at the far right Troll.
"Stunners. Left hand Troll. Fire." Harry barked.
Twenty stunners shot out at the left hand Troll but only seven hit. The troll stumbled for a second but kept coming. The far right Troll finally fell under the sustained Lasfire. By now the two remaining Trolls were quite close and the Meltagun was still recharging.
"Bell, Flamer." Harry shouted.
Katie dropped her Lasgun and swung the Flamer around on its strap and sprayed the hallway with a burst of pure fire. Both Trolls were caught up in the fire and began to burn. The one that had been hit by the Stunners staggered backwards at this new pain but the other one pushed forwards towards the barricade. Harry dropped the Meltagun and drew the Bolt Pistol and Power Sword. He fired three Bolt rounds at the staggered Troll and the mass reactive Bolts blew great chunks out of the Troll's chest and it collapsed to the ground dead. The final Troll was almost at the Barricade, so Harry stepped up onto the barricade and drove the Power Sword directly into the Troll's throat, and even the tough hide of the Troll was no match to the crackling energy field that surrounded the sword. Harry retrieved the sword and kicked the Troll to ensure it would fall backwards.
"Rotate the Stunners." Harry ordered.
Harry noticed that both Hermione and Katie were sitting with their backs against the barricade with their heads bowed and helmets off. Hermione's hands were shaking. Harry moved over and sat down next to them, removing his helmet and checking that the new stunner team were keeping an eye out as he moved.
"You are doing well." Harry said. "Sorry I put this pressure on you."
Hermione was shaking quite badly, so Harry wrapped her up in a hug to try to settle her nerves. Katie was handling it better but was still pale. He had noticed that during the fire fight both girls had been steady. Now it was the reaction of the high levels of adrenalin pumping through their systems and the fright of the Trolls getting so close. By the time they were interrupted, Hermione had stopped shaking but was sobbing.
"Potter. Movement. It's the Professors." The Slytherin Prefect in charge of the Stunners said.
Harry passed the sobbing Hermione to Katie and stood to face the Professors.
"Mister Potter, what happened?" Dumbledore asked.
"Three waves of attack. Seven Trolls in total, six confirmed dead, the last may still be alive but it took forty stunners. How was your search?" Harry reported.
"We found and dealt with five Trolls in various locations around the Castle. That makes twelve in total. That's a small clan of Trolls." Dumbledore replied.
"I think the students should be sent to bed, if the Castle is secure. It has been quite a trial on them." Harry said.
"Of course." Dumbledore agreed.
The following few weeks would be very subdued at Hogwarts, with many of the students still in shock or fright from the events of Halloween night. It was three weeks before Katie Bell got a full nights sleep and Hermione Granger would have nightmares for months. It was not unusual in the following months for the Gryffindors to wake in the morning and find Hermione curled up on a couch in the common room, squirming and moaning with her head in Harry's lap as he gently stoked her hair and whispered to her that everything would be alright. Truth was that the only person in the entire castle, in the weeks following Halloween, who seemed alright was Harry Potter, and that included the Staff.
TBC…