"He's starting to panic," Professor Longbottom said. "He's checking the places he stashed his horcruxes and he's starting to realize that they are all gone."
The fact that the professor was willing to speak about horcruxes as they walked through the halls told Harry more than Frank Longbottom probably meant to. He wouldn't be talking about them at all unless all of them were gone.
"He's hoping that at least some of them still exist; he's going to want to kidnap you and trade you for them."
"Can't he just make more?" Harry asked. He was getting a little out of breath from the pace the larger man was setting.
"He's already split his soul too many times," Professor Longbottom said. "One more time and there won't be enough of him left to cause problems for anyone."
Harry nodded. "So Steven was trying to get him to make a mistake...attack before he is ready."
"The Dark Lord's forces are only getting stronger by the day," Longbottom said. "Attacking now when his forces are only beginning to get stronger would be beyond foolish."
Harry's steps faltered and he looked at Frank Longbottom carefully. "Where did you say you were taking me?"
"To meet with the others," Longbottom said impatiently.
Frank Longbottom was an auror; he and his wife had been tortured by death eaters. Would he really call Voldemort the Dark Lord?
Harry hated being so paranoid, but he'd spent much of the term with assassins out to kill him. The fact that he was in Hogwarts and supposedly safe wasn't any excuse to become complacent. After all, he'd had attempts on his life within the walls of Hogwarts every year.
Worse, although they'd worked out ways to identify each other in case someone came polyjuiced, he hadn't worked anything at all out with Frank Longbottom. It was possible that this wasn't him at all or that he was being controlled with magic.
"Where are you taking me?" Harry asked, stopping.
"I'm taking you to a safe place," he said. He glanced back at Harry and then he too stopped.
"Oh," he said. "I forgot."
He glanced around at the paintings on the wall, and then he pulled his wand.
Harry stiffened, his hand on his own wand, although he kept it by his side. He couldn't be seen threatening a teacher, even if he was just going to be at school temporarily. However, he wasn't going to let the older man stun him or worse either.
Frank Longbottom waved his wand and cast a quick spell designed to muffle what they were saying so it couldn't be heard from very far away. Fortunately, none of the portraits were likely to know how to read lips, although there was a portrait of a deaf wizard on the fifth floor who probably could.
"Sapphire said this might happen," Professor Longbottom said. "I'm sorry I forgot to tell you. Since I don't have my own code word, Sirus volunteered to let me borrow his. He says it's about time you switched it up anyway."
Harry was already relaxing. If Frank Longbottom knew about Sapphire, then he already knew the Order's greatest secret. He was himself at least, although he could have been impiriused.
"The code phrase is 'Mischief managed,'" Professor Longbottom said. "I'm not sure what it means, but they reassured me that it would mean something to you."
"Where are we going then?" Harry asked.
"To the astronomy tower," Professor Longbottom said. "We'll be able to see the battle from there. More importantly, they'll be able to see you, and that will cause them to focus most of their attacks in one area."
Harry nodded. They presumably wanted to minimize casualties.
He found himself wishing that they'd waited another year or two. Dumbledore's army wasn't close to ready. Another couple of years would have gotten everyone closer to being able to fight full grown wizards.
Of course, in two more years Voldemort's army would have swelled immeasurably. They'd be facing overwhelming force. Sapphire apparently thought their best chances were now, so who was he to argue?
Frank Longbottom waved his wand, ending the spell.
They began racing up the corridor again, when they saw Snape and Professor McGonegall coming down the hallway, their expressions grim.
"How close are they?" Professor Longbottom asked Snape.
A voice boomed throughout the castle. "BRING ME HARRY POTTER AND BRING ME THE ABOMINATION AND YOU SHALL BE SPARED. DO NOT, AND I WILL RAZE THIS SCHOOL AND ALL WITHIN IT TO THE GROUND. YOU HAVE THIRTY MINUTES."
"So we've got twenty minutes," Harry said. Voldermort seemed like the kind who would cheat on time just to see them squirm.
"I'll gather the students into the Great Hall," Professor McGonegall said.
"I fear my time as Headmaster has to visibly end," Snape said. "Or my use as a spy."
"Dumbledore is waiting for you in the courtyard," Professor Longbottom said. "He's more than ready to accommodate you."
Snape nodded, turning with his robes billowing to head down the stairs.
Professor McGonegall hesitated. "Are you going to be all right Harry?"
Harry shrugged. "It wouldn't be Hogwarts if Voldemort wasn't trying to kill me."
With that, Professor Longbottom grabbed his arm and a moment later they were making their way up the hallway, headed for the astronomy tower.
Before they stepped outside, Professor Longbottom had Harry slip his Invisibility cloak on. There was no reason to begin the battle early because he was spotted coming outside.
The stairs to the tower seemed longer than they usually did during astronomy class, maybe because Harry wasn't all that anxious to get to the top. Facing death was easier in the abstract and becoming bait was the last thing he really wanted to do.
He reached the top of the stairs out of breath, bit he was there in time to see a massive explosion down below. Snape's cloak looked like a black bat's as he flew out of the courtyard and toward the gathered army below.
Harry's heart sank as he saw the army that Voldemort had somehow amassed in a short time. There had to be hundreds of wizards outside. Worse, they had dozens of trolls, a half dozen three headed dogs and hundreds of Runespoor, three headed snakes from Africa.
"They couldn't get any giants," Professor Longbottom said, grim satisfaction in his voice. "So they had to improvise."
The trolls were going to be dumber and harder to control than the giants, but there were more of them.
"He's got to be really desperate," Professor Longbottom murmered. "Or he'd have waited until tonight, when the werewolves would be more useful, and the vampires."
Harry nodded, then realized the other man wouldn't see his gesture. "How did he get so many so soon?"
"The Ministry made it easy," Professor Longbottom said, staring over the battlement at the gathered army. "People starting flocking to Voldemort to protect them from their own government. Half these people don;t really want to be here, but they're afraid not to be."
"Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater," Harry said. He hesitated. "Are we just going to sit here? Or is there something else we should be doing to get ready?"
"When things get hot this is going to be the place everyone will be trying to go," Professor Longbottom said.
There was a shimmering in the air and a moment later Steven stepped into view, with one hand in Winky's. Dobby appeared also, with Hermione, and flying in on some kind of glider thing was Peridot.
There was a roar from the crowd below; they'd caught sight of Steven.
"We're ready to get started," Steven said, unnecessarily.
Hogwart's wards were holding, but spells from hundreds of wands were impacting it visibly. Harry could tell that it was only going to be a matter of time before the wards broke, and then there would be wizards apparating inside everywhere.
Peridot was watching the battle and muttering to herself.
Professor Longbottom was busily inscribing anti-apparition runes on the stones of the battlements. He was working quietly and quickly. Hermione was helping him, and for the first time Harry found himself wishing he'd taken Ancient Runes as an elective.
Once the wards over Hogwarts went down, there would be hundreds of wizards trying to apparate to the top of the tower. Undoubtedly there would be wizards flying on brooms.
At least with the anti-apparition runes, they'd have a better tactical situation.
Steven looked at him, with an oddly guilty expression on his face. "I'm sorry all this is happening to you."
"It was going to happen sometime," Harry said grimly. "I just wish it was in a couple of decades maybe."
Part of him wished exactly that, but another part of him was almost looking forward to the battle. If he won, it would finally be over. The death threats, the constant attempts on his life...he'd been living on borrowed time since the moment Voldemort had heard about the prophecy.
The idea of a time after Voldemort seemed too remote to even comprehend.
"We're finished," Hermione said finally. She stepped back and hugged Steven. "Why didn't you get in touch with me? You could have owled."
"Sapphire said it wasn't safe," Steven said. He looked away. "And the last thing I wanted was to put either of you into even more danger."
Harry shook his head, about to say something, but then his expression tightened as he looked past Steven.
"The wards are down," he said grimly.
A moment later they all felt it, the change.
The army down below surged forward heading for the bridge. Wizards disappeared only to reappear in the same place, splinched. Apparently Hermione and Professor Longbottom's wards were holding.
Peridot was watching intently as the first of the wizards reached the bridge. They cautiously stepped onto it, obviously waiting for a trap. When nothing happened, and seeing no one waiting for them they began to move forward followed by a swarm of others.
They almost seemed to fight each other to crowd onto the bridge, running as quickly as they could to reach the other side so they could start murdering as many people as possible. Harry hoped that McGonagall had everyone ready.
Harry could see the wizards in the lead stop suddenly, only to be plowed into by the wizards behind him. The whole bridge shuddered as more and more wizards piled on.
A moment later, the bridge collapsed, falling into the deep crevasse, and taking a hundred wizards with it.
Peridot grinned and held up what Harry assumed was some kind of cutting torch. "I finally got technology to work here!"
The battle was already turning vicious. Harry's heart dropped as he realized it was going to get a lot worse before it got better.