"To say that today was eventful would be a bit of an understatement..." Roxy muttered as she, Athena, Anahita and Krystal drug themselves back into the seaside hotel that they'd been staying in on Andros with Rainer.
"I daresay that Rainer and her mother would agree..." Krystal flopped into a chair.
"Are sea serpents even supposed to be in this part of Andros?" Athena wondered.
"No, no they are not." Anahita frowned. "I suppose that the only good part of this is that Rainer managed to join the Enchantix club today..."
"Which just leaves me," Roxy sighed. "Joy..."
"I wouldn't be so depressed over it, Roxy. It'll come in time, right?" Athena put an arm around Roxy's shoulder. "Besides, do you really want to go through the shit we had to in order to get it?"
"Like rescuing loved ones from an exploded building?" Anahita queried.
"Or battling carnivorous plants that are trying their best to eat you and your... rescuee?" Krystal piped up.
"Or in Rainer's case, getting her mom out of the clutches of a particularly fierce sea serpent. I get it." Roxy flopped into the chair next to Krystal.
"Knowing you though," Anahita gave Roxy a calculating look that the animal fairy didn't like. "given what's happening back on your and your boyfriend's home planet, I would say that the probability of you gaining your own Enchantix soon is relatively high."
"Just don't go running off into some dangerous fight that you don't know how to manage because of the power of love." Krystal said.
"I don't love-" Roxy started, but she paused.
Did she love him?
"Love or like, don't be going off half-assed into some situation just because he's there. He can handle himself, can't he?" Athena pointed out. "Besides, our pixies would probably want to kill us all over again if we went and died after less than a year of being bonded to them..."
"Yeah..." Roxy chuckled nervously. "I can imagine Zing being just a little ticked off..."
"And so would Cherie, Caramel, Pam and Livy- though they'd show it in their own ways..." Krystal added.
Roxy sunk down into her chair, her nerves not entirely settled, but keeping quiet, so as not to annoy her friends.
Something major was happening for Harry right now.
She was sure of it.
It was chaos throughout the entire Wizarding village as Harry and Hermione made their way through the now perilous streets of Hogsmeade.
People were panicking; screaming as beloved homes and businesses literally fell apart at the hands of the attacking Death Eaters.
"Come on, Harry! We really need to-" Hermione urged him on as they ran.
"I bloody know, Hermione!" Harry cut her off, irritated. "I can tell by everything going on around us!"
He pulled the two of them into a nearby alley as a pair of Death Eaters, wands raised, charged past, chasing after a man carrying a wailing little boy.
Throwing a pair of Spell Spheres held between his fingers after the pursuers, they ended up turning one of them into a sparrow and coating the other in a yellowish-brown substance which hardened upon contact, immediately locking him into place, just in time for a burning piece of stone to come hurtling through the air and crash into him, shattering him into flaming bits.
Hermione shuddered.
If he'd had even the most miniscule shred of sympathy for any of the Death Eaters, Harry might have shuddered as well.
"There's got to be a way that we can do this quicker. Couldn't we just Apparate to the Hogwarts gates?" he asked.
"Sure, if you want to go into it blindly," Hermione pointed out. "Suppose we did that and ended up getting right into the path of a Killing Curse? I don't know about you but I would rather not test my luck in this kind of situation..."
"That's true, but it's a risk we'll just have to take, won't we?" Harry asked. "We stand more chance of getting caught the longer we remain out in the open like this..."
He took Hermione's arm and Disapparated, arriving at the Hogwarts gates just a few seconds later.
The fighting had not yet reached as far up as yet, but they could still smell the acrid smoke and hear the awful sounds as they took in the sight of the destruction being wrought on the little village that they'd had many... interesting times in while at school.
Both of them closed their eyes briefly as they passed through the gates, which had unlocked themselves.
They ignored the feeling of the wash of magic over them as they officially set foot onto Hogwarts grounds, much more focused on getting into the castle itself as the gates re-sealed themselves behind them.
It was bedlam inside Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Owls were flying about madly; people scrambled up and down as they attempted to gather their relatives and friends together; House Elves popping about there and there...
Most of them seemed to be coming from the direction of the Great Hall so that was where Harry and Hermione headed.
When they went in, it was to see McGonagall and Flitwick presiding over several groups of people, calling out instructions.
McGonagall looked up to see Harry and Hermione and stopped in the middle of her own instructions to a group of people around his age.
"Potter? Granger?" she looked at them as if she couldn't quite believe that theye were there.
At her surprised words, everyone who was still in the hall turned in unison to look in their direction.
All made varying screeches of shock and joy.
"Potter! It's him! It's Harry Potter! He's back! Look over there!" Harry vaguely recognised a dark-haired girl who had been about two years below him and a fellow Gryffindor while at school.
"Granger's here too!" Susan Bones exclaimed. "It's true! We're really going to fight back this time!"
"Good to see that you've come to join the fight, Potter!" Flitwick hopped off the table he'd been standing on and made his way over to them quicker than Harry would have ever thought possible.
"Shall today be the day that you finally finish off that foul fiend?" Flitwick queried.
"I bloody well hope so. I've had enough of him for a long, long time..." Harry said to general cheers.
"What can we do now" Hermione asked.
"Some of us are evacuating those of us who cannot or do not want to fight. Others are doing their best to keep him and his ilk out for a little while longer. There's also some of us spreading the word about what's happening; calling for backup and such. Take your pick." Flitwick explained.
Harry and Hermione looked at one another.
"I'll go help with the defences..." Hermione decided.
"Go with that group then," Flitwick nodded his head towards a group that had just moved off.
Hermione nodded, gave Harry a tight hug and ran off to catch up.
Just as that group made it through the doors, the ground shook violently; throwing many off their feet and eliciting screams, some of which came from outside of the Great Hall.
"Looks like the fight may just have arrived here..." Harry observed.
"Get going! The fight has come to us! There's no time to back out now!" Flitwick hurried out as well, just before the ground shook violently again.
Harry could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Voldemort was putting his all into this battle, so there was no cause for him not to do the same.
He went off with the group that Susan Bones was a part of, as well as quite a few other familiar faces and as he did, he made a decision.
He had hoped that he would never have to make it, but they'd never forgive him if he didn't.
They had said that they would take their chances, but still...
He shook his head to clear it.
He had already made the decision. There was no backing out now.
Getting his phone out of his pocket and drawing a few stares which he ignored, he ran with the others as he typed furiously; sending off the same message to multiple recipients.
Darian lounged around on a beach somewhere on melody with some of his friends there.
He'd had a good day; hanging out with some very beautiful ladies, water skiing, swimming a beach barbeque...
He was just discussing with his male friends the various attributes they found attractive in women when his phone started chiming.
When he checked it, his eyebrows raised.
Without much of a word to his friends, he abruptly got up and started packing his things.
Aki sat to dinner with his family laughing and chatting.
His mother and sisters whispered amongst themselves and burst out into a peal of giggles.
He and his father, who he remarkably resembled, shared a look and chuckled.
When his phone started beeping loudly, the laughter stopped as they all turned to stare at him.
"Is it Athena texting you?" his older sister asked.
"No." Aki frowned as he read the message.
"Who is it then?" his younger sister queried.
"You'll all find out when I get back." Aki answered brusquely as he stood up abruptly, grabbing the last bit of pie on his plate and stuffing it into his mouth as he walked out of the room, his father following him soon afterwards.
Lucas had chosen to stay behind at Red Fountain so that he could make full use of its facilities while most of the other students were gone.
His brothers were staying with friends and both of his parents had important projects for their jobs going on at the moment, so it made no sense to go home in his opinion, as there would hardly be anyone there.
As he browsed the library's shelves, he paused and pulled out his phone to check it when he felt it vibrate in his pocket.
When he saw the message that Harry had sent him, all his thoughts of research scattered as he put down the book he had been reading and immediately left the library.
Andrina and Isaac had been enjoying a hike up in one of Tir Nan Og's mountain ranges when both their phones chimed in unison.
When Andrina read the message, her expression fell.
Isaac looked her in the eye.
"We have to go. We have to help." he spoke quietly as he put away his own phone.
"I want to, but we're not fighters, Isaac. I'm a Healer. You're a Doctor. What good would we be in a fight?" Andrina asked. "When those Death Eaters captured me, I could barely fight back. You, Susannah and Aaron nearly died. If we couldn't handle that..."
"We could be of good use fixing up anyone injured in the fighting. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be able to do it alone..."
Andrina closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Let's meet with the other British witches and wizards here and see what they think first. I'm sure that some of them would want to come too..."
"Good idea, Andrina. You're a capable fighter and you can not only fix a lot of what those spells can do to people that the Death Eaters will be using, but you're head of the bloody spell damage department! You got there for a reason and it's because you're competent. You don't have to come if you don't think you can handle it. In fact..." Isaac rambled on, before Andrina took his hands in hers.
"I know." she smiled reassuringly at him. "I know. Now, let's go. We do have an important emergency meeting, after all..."
With that, she hooked her arm around hiss and Disapparated them both.
That message contained only three words, but it was powerful enough to instantly get them moving the moment they saw it.
HOGWARTS UNDER SIEGE.
As Harry ran down a corridor with many who had been in Dumbledore's Army they kept up a conversation somehow.
"Guess it's time to put what you taught us to the ultimate test, eh?" Susan spoke wryly.
"I hope we learned well enough! I don't plan on dying anytime soon!" Seamus exclaimed.
The wall overhead on their right exploded; raining dust and chunks of concrete on them; scattering them.
"There he is!" a trio of Death Eaters ran into the corridor ahead of them. "There's Potter!"
Before Harry could raise his own wand three voices came from behind him; sending a trio of hexes towards them, blasting them through a wall with their force as the hexes took effect.
When he looked around, it was to see Dean, Hannah and Anthony with their wands aloft; covered in dust all over.
"You taught us well, Harry!" Dean gave him a mock salute as the trio jumped through the hole in the wall that the explosion had made.
"They're bloody insane!" Susan shrieked.
"That's my best friend for you!" Seamus grinned.
"DOWN!" Harry shouted, dropping to the floor as a giant fireball crashed through the other side of the wall that had not yet been damaged.
The group eventually reduced in size as they made it out onto the grounds and into the thick of the fight.
Neville nearby waved his wand, causing the grass beneath his feet to grow rapidly and reach for the limbs of some Death Eaters who were attacking Ernie and Justin, tossing them in the direction of the lake.
Closer to the castle's doors, he could see McGonagall, with her hair loose, sending out what looked like an army of the various suits of armour from the school onto the grounds; a woman who he vaguely recognised as the Ancient Runes teacher locked in a fierce battle with two Death Eaters at once; Hagrid picking up one Death Eater and tossing him into another...
He heard roars, snarls and screeches coming from the direction of the Forbidden Forest; the trees shaking rather violently, some falling to the ground with loud thuds and cracks...
Spells shot out from Hogwarts' various towers and windows into the grounds...
He could already see a few bodies scattered around in the grass (in some cases, literally scattered), though from the distance, he could not tell whether they were friends or foes...
People were Apparating in now.
All the protective enchantments around the school must have truly fallen.
Hearing a movement behind him, he drew out one of his butterfly swords, narrowly deflecting a stray curse, though it rattled him upon impact.
The battle was on.