Harry was just enjoying another game of chess against Ron Weasley, where Ron was whipping him for the fifth time that night.
"Why do I play with you?" he grumbled good naturedly, as Ron's knight forced Harry's king into a checkmate. The king threw his stone crown down at the feet of the knight, who neighed triumphantly.
"Because if you weren't hanging out with me you'd be obsessing over the battle plans for the millionth time." came the response. Harry was glad for his friendship with the red headed boy. He loved his siblings dearly, but Rose was of the fairer sex, and Jack was a bit hyperactive at times; every time the boy had convinced Harry to go up flying with him, Harry had nearly had a heart attack. Not only that, the boy was eleven and still made a face whenever Daphne was around.
At least Rose seemed to be okay with the relationship; when he had written to James and Lily regarding the news Lily had been ecstatic, while James cautioned him to be careful. Rose was much more akin to Lily than James when he had finally made it official, only responding to the news with an eye roll and a "finally, God, do you have any clue how annoying it is to see the two of you make googly eyes at one another only to then immediately turn around and claim it was nothing?"
"Another game?" Ron asked, as the pieces moved back to their original places.
He was just about to respond when Dean Thomas pulled up a chair backwards and slung his leg over the chair, straddling it, his arms resting comfortably on the back of the chair.
"Come on Weasley, the two of you have played, what is it six games tonight alone? Don't you think you ought to give Harry here a break?" he pulled out a deck of exploding snap cards from his back pocket "Yo, Longbottom, Finnegan, you guys in?" he asked the other two gryffindor sixth year boys who were both working on homework; shaking the deck of cards, shrugging both boys left their respective assignments and pulled up a couple of chairs around the much fuller table than even a few moments ago.
Dean was just finishing dealing the cards when a large explosion rocked the castle as dust and rock chips fell on the students just returning from the Great hall. Harry glanced out of the window from where he was sitting. Spotting a lumbering mech marching down the pathway that led to the castle, other smaller unarmored Death eaters scurried around the mech, looking like Jack's toy soldiers.
"Ah fuck" He swore, "Ron you were right" he said with an air of resignation, gesturing out the window to where the mech was still making its way up the hill, moving like an inexorable force, one ponderous step after another, working its way towards the castle, shrugging off spells flung from the few other students who were unlucky enough to see what was coming. The other death eaters in question returned fire, neither side doing much more than scratching the paint.
He watched in horror as a spell from a death eater's wand connected, yanking the boy through the empty window, where the boy fell to the ground where he stilled, unmoving.
The boys all crowded around, desperate to see what Harry was talking about. A gasp arose from one of the second years who was crowded around another window looking wide eyed at the approaching behemoth.
Ron looked crestfallen, his head cupped in his hands, as he began to laugh maniacally; any trace of levity gone from the sound. It sounded more like the cries of the damned, than an actual laugh.
"Hahaha,- Why can't I be wrong about shit like this?" He asked rhetorically, mania settling into his eyes, "Fuck me, Fuck me, straight to hell." he said, chuckling humorlessly. Sitting stock still in shock that Hogwarts was being attacked, and by mechs no less.
"It's all your fault, you know that right?" Ron said as he pointed an accusing finger at Harry had you not bought that damned mech with you, we wouldn't be in this mess"
Harry couldn't begrudge his friend his anger for a couple of reasons, the first of which was he was technically correct, and the second was that his friend was in shock.
"Come on, Ron. There's no time to bemoan correct predictions no matter how we might wish otherwise" he said, pulling him up to a standing position. Rom began making his way towards the portrait hole almost mindlessly, still obviously in shock. Harry understood all too well, remembering the first time a strategic point he had been certain was unassailable was assaulted. He had acted almost exactly like Ron, walking around in a daze, not believing it was actually happening. It wasn't until his commanding officer slapped the shit out of him that he began acting anything even remotely approaching normal.
He began making his way out of the portrait hole when Jack ran up behind him and wrapped his arms around his middle. Turning around he saw tears well begin to well up in his eyes.
"You have to go fight them don't you?" he asked, his voice quivering ever so slightly, tears welling up in his eyes.
"I do buddy, I do" He said, looking down at the boy, feeling a twinge of sadness as his chest constricted just the tiniest amount.
Suddenly Dumbledore's voice boomed throughout the castle, shaking the window frames even harder than previously telling the castle at large to return to their respective common rooms. Jack just gripped Harry tighter, not letting go.
"Don't go, please don't go" the younger boy was saying, his sobs muffled by the fabric of Harry's robe. He felt a twinge of sadness in his heart as he looked down at the boy. Stealing his resolve he tried to move towards the exit. Unable to move, he let out a breath of frustration.
Reaching behind his back he disentangled the boy's interlocked fingers. Kneeling down so he was eye level with his brother. Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, he gently lifted his chin until he was forced to look the older boy in the eye.
"You are one of the few who know why I need to fight them." He said, gesturing outside the window where Hagrid was taking on three separate death eaters single-handedly. They both winced as the mech shot a bolt of plasma that slammed into the castle, sending another shudder through the castle. Harry watched as a periwinkle spell splashed harmlessly against the armoured torso of the mech. Harry saw Jack wince as another ball of plasma slammed into Professor Sinistra, dropping her almost immediately. Teachers were spread out across the lawn trying to protect the castle and the students within.
"Ok fine, " he relented, clearly not happy, but understanding the necessity, "then I'm coming with you" he said as he made his way towards the exit. Harry was just able to grab him by the wrist moments before he slipped away.
"No, No you're not" he said, stopping the young boy cold. He looked deeply into the young boy's eyes, seeing resolve there. Harry had to smile at the look, having recognized the same look he knew he got often enough.
Spotting Pavarti Patil, the Gryffindor sixth year prefect, he walked over towards her, pulling Jack behind him, still obstinate trying to escape Harry's grasp. She wrapped Jack into a hug, trying to help Harry keep him contained.
"Keep an eye on him," he entreated, turning back to fight the incoming stream of students streaming into the common room. Their eyes all alight with fear. One by one they all made their way towards the window where the mech was marching inexorably towards the castle as other death eaters pounded away at the wards keeping the doors to Hogwarts sealed.
"What even is that thing?" she gestured towards the mech as it got closer and closer to the castle just now passing by Hagrid's hut which it lit up with a flamethrower, causing the wooden structure to burst into flames. Hagrid Bellowed, seeing his home burning down unceremoniously
Harry took a deep breath wondering how best to answer the question. Deciding that honesty was the best policy,or at least as honest as he could be given the situation.
"There's a man inside of the torso there, controlling the thing, called a mech. Mechs are essentially giant humanoid robots meant to augment and protect the wearer." Parvati just looked weak, the blood rushing from her face.
"H- How can we even hope to win?" she asked, as another spell slid harmlessly off the shell, only for the offending spellcaster to be hit with another ball of plasma. Harry could see the barest flinch from her, as it became obvious, one more voice would be forever silenced. Tears began flowing silently down her face, as she slumped down below the window sill, pulling Jack down with her, holding onto his wrist with a death grip. Deciding he was needed elsewhere he turned away from the window.
Harry quickly left the room and made his way down the stairways, never once having to stop as the moving staircases seemed eager to help Harry get to his destination as quickly as possible. He found his way to the smithy in record time.
"Its good to see you again old friend" he muttered quietly as he he pulled on his meld helmet. This being the first time he had been inside his mech since the term started. The machine quietly hummed to life, his surroundings illuminated by the blue glow of his power supply, a spider who had taken roost skittered away as the light passed over its web. He made his way out of the smithy and towards the Entrance hall, the eyes of his mech glowing dangerously,
Upon reaching the entrance hall he was met by a cadre of suits of Armour all seemingly ready to attack at a moment's notice, all led by the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher John Dawlish, they all faced inwards as if it were their job to prevent anyone from leaving.
"What do you think you're doing?" John Dawlish asked, placing himself between the front door and Harry, blocking his exit. "No one is allowed in or out in the event of a siege, per Standing Hogwarts rule 16 A subsection IV " the older man said, his jaw straining trying to keep his teeth from knocking together. The suits of Armor all made aggressive movements towards Harry, as they all lowered their polarms towards the mech.
Harry let out a quick laugh, "It's funny to me that you think you could stop me, even with your little helpers" his voice echoing through the enchanted speaker, allowing him to speak through the helmet. He did not particularly enjoy playing the villain, John Dawlish eas a decent enough Fellow, if not a bit of a governmental yes man. Aside from their little tete-a-tete on the first day they had come to an easy truce. Dawlish leaned back slightly, clearly on edge. But he stood firm, not allowing Harry through the door.
"Sir, unless you are a teacher, it is imperative that you return to your common room." he looked at the crowd of students following him, "the same goes for all of you," he said, his voice much stronger when not facing down an eight foot tall robot. No one moved as another blast rocked the castle causing a crack to form on the ceiling, threatening to break apart.
"I will fight the thing," Harry said, "whether you want me to do it here in the entrance hall or out there, it's totally your choice." Dawlish's Adam's apple bobbed as he stared at the door. Finally he stepped aside, allowing him free reign of the door.
"Good choice," he said as he strode past the man. A phalanx of halberds and spears jutted out of the front door, their tips brandishing menacingly, as spell after spell splashed harmless against the enchanted metal of the armour.
The death eaters were stymied, unable to advance, Dawlish and the suits doing an admirable job of holding the attackers at bay. They turned their spells on Harry as a deluge of spells hit his mech from point blank range, all for little to no effect. With almost contemptuous ease he was able to decaptiate the one closest to him, splattering the Death Eater behind him with his friend's blood. He didn't hesitate, seeing only red, as he rammed his sword through the second Death Eater's heart. He allowed his training to take over, slaughtering all of the remaining death eaters who were assaulting the walls. He heard a ragged cheer go up behind him, as the defenders quit casting spells.
the enemy mech zeroed in on Harry, adjusted his course ever so slightly. The thing was even uglier up close, the steel kludged together, nicks and scrapes gracing the appendages, the body a squat rounded, bulbous ball covered by glass acting as a windshield for the pilot inside. Harry had very little doubt that the cockpit was enchanted out the wazoo to be nearly indestructible. He couldn't help but grin, Having missed the feeling of mech on mech combat.
While he was still hundreds of metres out he let out a short burst from his chain gun, and as expected the bullets bounced off the chassis only denting the armour a bit. Harry could almost see the anger in the other pilot's face as a ball of plasma flew directly at his mech. He used his superior manoeuvrability to sidestep the incoming projectile. He winced as the ball impacted the door to the entrance hall.
He shot another short burst at the advancing mech, not expecting much. Growing over confident, he tried to aim a blast of magic at the offending mech, something that he had only seen Queen Saris do it once in an exhibition match against his friend and mentor Gwinn Safner, raw magic played havoc with mechs. The reason it was so rare was the absolute power required to even shoot a small blast of magic towards an enemy, most mech pilots decided that the effort required wasn't worth it.
Suddenly the pilot jerked to one side, dodging the weak pulse of magic Harry tried to use to trap the pilot. Suddenly much quicker and nimble, Harry internally cursed, they were trying to drag him out, and he was the real target, or at least a great target of opportunity.
"Fuuuck" he swore internally as he took off towards the mech pilot. The man was much better than he had initially given him credit for. Even the smoke coming off the enemy mech seemed like a diversion trying to sell a ruse than actual substantive damage.
Harry took careful aim at the retreating mech and let go a sustained burst with his chaingun, dangerously depleting his internal ammunition count. After the smoke cleared all he saw was a mangled mech, the legs little more than scrap metal at this point. His plasma thrower looked more like swiss cheese then actual metal while his flamethrower tank, hung on the outside for some reason or another was empty, either from burning down Hagrid's hut or the innumerable bullet holes he wasn't sure of.
Harry stalked up to the downed pilot who sat inside his glass cockpit , a gash running from his temple to his jaw. His pelvis and legs mushed to a bloody pulp, shards of glass embedded in his arms, blood slowly leaking out of his body. Harry recognized the man from his most wanted poster that he forced himself to memorise, it had all of the most wanted Death Eaters on it.
"Tarn Travers" he said standing over the dying man, "So you're the one who had the great honour of piloting the beta mech?" Harry asked mockingly, "I'll admit, I was impressed, If you were about ten." the dying man tried to spit, only to have his saliva land ignominiously back on his face. He glared at Harry, hatred etched into every line on his face as the life slowly lest his eyes. Soon enough emply soulless black eyes stared back at Harry, the last moment of hatred etched forever on his face his long black hair sitting in an ever growing puddle of blood, viscous and slimy to the touch.
Out of the trees of the forbidden forest streamed dozens of death eaters, he thought he recognised a few of the inner circle from the manor he had 'liberated' from them. They looked like they were ready for battle, he could see the weird distortions that shields made in front of their wielders,while others had what Harry could only assume was some potent piercing curse all but ready to cast at a moment's notice. One of the ones at the front, Bellatrix Lestrange, he thought her name was, took careful aim before letting a golden rod fly towards him. Trying to jump out of the way he realised at the last second that his boot sunk into the spongy ground, laden with travers' blood, leaving him unable to completely dodge the oncoming spell.
The spell nicked this stomach, almost completely bypassing the armour of his mech. It felt like being shot in the stomach. Harry hissed as his mech used the internal trauma care kit to help staunch the bleeding. Internally he prayed that he wouldn't get sepsis, as he put this newest wound out of his mind for the time being as he focused on the job in front of him. The line of death eaters getting closer and closer. Walking carefully, no doubt worried that he was trying to lull them into a false sense of security. He tried to steady his chaingun on the slowly advancing line, but the pain was just too much to bear, as the morphine hadn't kicked in yet. The line grew closer and closer, some of the shield bearer's swapping to the piercing curse.
Harry was running out of time, looking at his ammo count flashing yellow in the bottom corner of his HUD, not good, not good at all. He only had a belt and a haf of ammunition, good enough for less than half a second burst. He knew if he ran he would be condemning the castle and the few remaining defenders.
Oh well he thought to himself, as good a place to die as any, internally he shrugged, he knew it was his destiny to die on a battlefield, this was as good as any. He was broken out of his melancholic reverie by a rod of solid steel as it slammed into the lead death eater, turning the woman into nothing more than human paste, followed by a sonic boom.
Harry looked up in surprise as he saw Daphne hovering up near Ravenclaw tower. She sent him a quick wave with her off hand which Harry gratefully returned, giving her a salute with his sword. Spells were quickly redirected up towards this new threat. Many of them falling short and simply fizzling out, the few that made it high enough were easily dodged.
Harry quickly tuned his radio to the general chat, where he heard Daphne's musical voice coming through.
"Need any help Captain?" she asked as she dropped three more rods down at the ground at terminal velocity, squashing another three death eaters, all of them inner circle members.
"What took you so long, Greengrass?" He asked, a smile in his voice.
"Sorry boss, John Dawlish III esq. Was being a right pain in the arse" This time it was Ron's voice coming through the comms as his bright red mech appeared at the front door, ready to fight. Sounding much more self assured than ten minutes ago.
"Too true, too true" Rose this time, "Sorry Harry, seriously it was a right pain trying to get these things out with Dawlish on the prowl, but we're here now, although I'm not sure why or how, looks like you've got this all under control.-"
"Uh Guys" Hermiome's voice this time, "as great as this reunion is, can we get back to the problem at hand? The Death Eaters are regrouping"
"Right, right" Harry said mentally slapping himself, "Guys, I've been hurt, not to mention the fact that I'm running low on ammunition, So it's up to you guys to finish it off. Daphne do you see that cluster of around ten death eaters, Located at 12 o'clock?" he asked, suddenly serious.
"Aye Cap" she said equally seriously.
"On my mark drop a pylon in the middle of them, Rose the second the projectile lands, I want you picking off the survivors, got it?"
"Yessir" she said, no hesitation whatsoever.
"What about me? Ron asked over the comms.
"That's where you'll excel, as a defensive bulwark" He saw Ron make minute adjustments planting his feet in a more defensive posture. "Keep them away from the castle at all costs." while he and John Dawlish weren't antagonistic towards each other anymore, He was a piss poor Defense teacher, and if he was a representative sample of what they were all like, then he cringed at how poor the education was.
A series of explosions starting from within the forbidden forest moving towards the entrance, making sure that there weren't any more death eaters hiding within the forbidden forest as it began its inexorable march towards the entrance way. Once a projectile hit the back knot Rose was there, cutting down the few survivors as they ran away any which way, just trying to survive the onslaught. Harry sent a quick prayer to whichever deities night be watching from on high, begging for his sister's soul. The death and destruction she doled out would be heavy on anyone's soul. Intellectually he understood that they were guilty, but this wholesale slaughter was hard for anyone who wasn't used to it.
He had long ago resigned himself to hell, or whatever the equivalent was. He knew he was long gone, and there was no hope for his soul, but he pleaded that his sister would be spared his fate.
He watched as the surviving Death eaters ran away from his friends, trying to escape the explosions coming from Daphne's railgun. Soon enough the remaining Death Eaters had all disappeared, escaping down their rabbit hole of interconnected hideaways and safewords, away from Hogwarts.
"How are you doing?" Harry asked his sister a little while later, sitting alone in the Room of Requirement, having already been checked out by Madame Pomphrey and been cleared to leave.
"You heard what Madame Pomphrey said, nary even a scratch on me" she replied shrugging her shoulders, trying to sound nonchalant.
"That's not what I mean and you know it" he admonished gently, pulling her shoulders in closely.
"I'm fine really, really, truly I'm fine" she said, trying half-heartedly to pull away.
" The lady doth protest too much, Methinks" Harry said, a sad smile on his face. "It's a lot, believe me I know, whenever I close my eyes, I still see them, their bodies, strewn across the battlefield."
"Does it ever go away?" she asked in a small voice, her eyes downcast.
"I don't know," he admitted, "I've been at this long enough that they all seem to blend together, every horror merging into the next, I've just learned to live with myself" He let out a humourless chuckle. "I'm sorry I've dragged you into this"
"Stop it." she demanded, forcefully. "You didn't drag me into anything. If anyone drugged me anywhere it was Voldemort the night he attacked our home. I made my choice, and I'd make the same one as many times as it takes."
"But what about your desire to not fight?" He asked, remembering the late night discussion they had over the christmas hols, "I got you the mech as a mere defensive tool."
"The dreams of a naive little girl, I was so scared watching them attack the walls and then to see the absolute ferocity with which they tried to kill you-" she gently touched the new scar on Harry's stomach where the curse hit him '-I knew I had to do something, I knew I had to make this our fight, not just yours, not just Mum and Dad's but ours." she said.
A/N My deepest Apologies for making you wait, The truth of the matter was I was burnt out on this story, and began trying to write Original Fiction. No gauruntees anymore but I would like to finish the book.