Disclaimer: I do not own any character's objects or anything else that comes from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Warning: This story will contain scenes of violence, bad language, and maybe other themes that some audiences may find unsuitable. You have been advised.

When You Have Nothing Left to Lose

Chapter 6

"Fuck!"

"Sir, calm down! It won't do to have people see you so hotheaded." An aide advised.

"Oh, nobody can hear us! Now, how in the bloody blazes are they organizing such an effort?" Michael Corner asked.

"We do not know, sir. The DMLE is doing their best to find out how they could have avoided our searches for so long and are trying to stop as many attacks as they can, but it seems that they are everywhere and nowhere at the same time." The aide replied.

Corner sighed heavily. "It appears there is only one last alternative then."

"You don't mean…?"

"Yes. Start arranging everything." Michael replied.

"I will get it done, Minister Corner." The aide said before leaving and closing the door behind him.

The Minister of Magic leaned forward towards his desk with his hands covering his face. "I hope our children can find a way to forgive us."

Meanwhile, Harry had just arrived outside the Inner Circle's Meeting Room and was about to open the doors into the room.

The room silenced as soon as the doors cracked, all heads were on him as he entered with him making sure to close the doors behind him.

Harry's eyes scanned the entire room, ensuring to meet everyone's eyes with his steely green ones. Looking around, he noted that the only person missing was his love unsurprisingly. It would not do for any of the council to be late.

As Harry sat down, everyone continued their previous conversations, though much more carefully to not inflict the Shadow Wolf's wrath.

It had been two weeks since the bang, and the Wolf's reputation as well as the number of new recruits had only grown exponentially. The day after Harry had carried the project through, he dispatched the army in small brigades all over the country, striking all at once to quickly divide the aurors into ineffective two-man teams. The targets were small fields in the countryside, Diagon Alley, and other smaller streets, where the Death Eaters easily pushed back the aurors with superior numbers. Since then, their attacks had continued on on an almost daily basis with there sometimes being multiple joint attacks throughout the day.

Harry pondered this as well as the training of their new troops while the others continued to discuss other, social matters until the doors to the room opened once more.

As Daphne entered, Harry and the other members of the Inner Circle stood up out of pure loyalty and respect.

"You may be seated." Daphne said, motioning for all to sit as she started to walk to her chair.

All nodded while lowering themselves down and then pushing their chairs in toward the table.

"Milady." Harry said with a nod as Daphne sat down in her own throne.

"Status reports?"

George stood up and began to speak. "Our numbers have over doubled since project bang was initiated, and due to this, my department was forced to increase its number of posts even more so than we originally planned. It appears we underestimated the impact that the project would have, and we are still operating at full capacity with some having to be told to return later to protect the secrecy of our stations. Overall, however, we are running well, excluding the need for more recruitment posts and stations which are already being deployed at the quickest pace we are able to."

Daphne nodded. "Good. Ensure that any that need to come back do. Take their names and visit their homes later if need be, but we need them."

George sat bowed and sat back down. "I will ensure it, Lady Daphne."

On the meeting went with the other nine reporting that they had received a surge in numbers, were operating at full capacity and peak efficiency, and some even shared new ideas to help their department or the organization as a whole.

Finally, however, it was Harry's turn.

Daphne gave the man a look, and he stood up from his chair.

"As everyone knows, the project was extremely successful but has yet to be called either way. Do I have your permission to have confirm its success on file, Lady Daphne?" Harry asked.

The woman thought a moment and nodded. "You may do so. Anything else?"

"Yes, milady." Harry replied before continuing. "The attacks against the Ministry and other smaller targets have been so far extremely effective. Yet have the aurors learned a way to fend off our advances, and our teams have been almost untouched by them. Casualties so far are very low with almost none."

"Almost? What has happened?" A member interrupted.

Harry's head snapped to the fool, and two emerald glares bored into the man's skull until the fool averted his gaze in shame.

"As I was saying, the only casualties I believe we have gained are small, minor cuts and bruises that come naturally during fighting, but none of our troops have yet to be killed or captured. The only disadvantage I would note is that due to the need for troops so quickly I was forced to shorten some of their training so they could be deployed in these attacks. I believe, though, that with some time we could have an army that would not easily have this problem. Even the troops under my personal command would grow weak during a long, prolonged battle where reinforcements were slim to none." Harry continued once more.

"Hmm. How soon could you fix the problem?" Daphne asked.

Harry thought for a few seconds. "It is hard to estimate as I am not in logistics or anything of the like, but if I needed to guess, I would say three weeks maybe. Like I said previously, though, it is hard to know better numbers without being in logistics."

"Do whatever you can to fix this problem as soon as possible. I don't want our troops losing due to unfinished training." Daphne ordered. "Is there anything else you have for me?"

"Milady, with the unfinished training let me notify you that their training should never stop." Harry said as respectfully and carefully as he could. "They should constantly be trying to improve themselves."

Daphne looked slightly annoyed but clamed herself and spoke. "I will remember that, Mr. Potter. Do you have anything else for me?"

"No, milady." Harry bowed and sat back down.

"Good, now that those are established, do any of you have any new or old issues that you wish to have taken up?" Daphne asked.

And so the meeting continued with the members of the Inner Circle discussing management of departments and other government duties Harry found boring. Only when they discussed the strategy for the war did Harry contribute much but otherwise he mostly remained an observer.

Finally, however, the meeting ended after another hour, and all began to depart after being reminded to meet there once again in two weeks and two days. The intervals of the meetings always changed and were kept by the members of the Inner Circle to prevent anyone knowing when to exactly attack the gathered leaders.

As Harry walked down the corridors of the building towards the floos, his esteemed leader and secret lover intercepted him.

Quickly, she pulled him into an empty room and locked the door. As soon as she did this, she turned around and embraced Harry, kissing him deeply. The kiss only lasted a few seconds and when done, Daphne slapped the Shadow Wolf.

"What did you think you were doing?" She quietly shouted at the man.

Harry's eyebrows furrowed together, and upon seeing his look of confusion Daphne explained, "You cannot degrade my authority in my own council room! The others will either not stand for it or believe something is going on between the both of us. I don't know which would be worse!"

"I apologize, Daphne, but the council needed to be made aware of how part of the system works. It would not be wise for them to think the army is fully prepared for war when all we are receiving is a huge influx of people that need to be trained, and the number of new recruits each day is overwhelming our teachers. I am going to need from you more if the army is to continue its success." Harry replied.

"I will get you your teachers, but please be more aware of the authority I must uphold." Daphne responded.

"Thank you."

Daphne just smiled and went back to snogging her love.

Five minutes later, she walked out of the room slowly, making sure to check for a passerby. Once satisfied, she left and proceeded back the way she had come, and a minute later Harry continued on his journey to the floos.

Five minutes after he had left the room, he appeared back at the base in Scotland and sighed.

"It is good to be home."

The once sparse transport level of the complex was now bustling with constant activity as recruits were being sent in, trained troops were leaving to reinforce other bases, and others were doing so to perform another duty for the organization.

Harry walked to the staircase, the crowd parting for the Shadow Wolf but constantly moving towards their destinations. Once at the top, one of his lieutenants, Joshua, came forward.

"Did you get us some more people to train these recruits, or are we going to need to handle the situation as best as we can for now?" The lieutenant asked with a sigh.

"Our leader will be sending us more, thankfully. Any problems arise while I was away?" Harry asked as they descended the stairs for the training level.

"Besides the ones we had when you left, none. Otherwise, we're still getting bum-fucked by this overflow of recruits and the need to send them out without full basic training." Joshua replied.

"We could have worse problems. There could be no recruits at all." Harry said as they walked out onto the walkway for spectators.

"I know, but it still has got us in a bind."

"I want all troops that return from the field to here to be trained as much as they can be after they recover from the fighting. Push the newer recruits' training sessions to afterwards to accommodate them. They won't be going back out into the field soon; the others will. Also, as soon as a trooper is proficient in a subject whether from combat or instruction, I want them moved to the next part of training." Harry commanded.

"I'll get the orders under way." Joshua said.

"Good. If you encounter James while having this carried out, please send him over to me." Harry replied.

"Am I dismissed, sir?"

"You are, Joshua."

Harry's lieutenant bowed and walked back to the staircase.

Harry, in turn, shook his head at the strict militaristic fashion of his number three and turned around to observe the nearest duel, which happened to be between two of his own battalion.

"Okay, everyone, place your bets right here! Place your bets!" A man advertised.

"Who are most saying is going to win?" Harry asked without taking his eyes off the two men as they prepared themselves for the fight.

"Uh…. We've figured they're pretty even, but it's slightly more in Bartleby's favor than Angus's." The bookie replied.

Harry nodded his head.

"Would you like to…" The bookie drifted off as Harry turned his impervious, steely gaze on him.

Without saying a word, Harry turned back to the arena.

He had already analyzed the cornfield that the magically enlarged arena had been transformed into and now examined the two men.

In their eyes, he noticed pure determination emanating from both of their brown orbs, and backing up their eyes was their body language. Both stood confidently on either side of the field.

Then he remembered the two's styles. Bartleby he knew to be more on the strongly offensive side, using mainly brute force to batter down defenses and strong defensive spells to block what his opponent could manage to send. Angus, on the other hand, was Bartleby's polar opposite, using quick, rapid spells to precisely target weak spots in his opponent's defenses and mainly dodging incoming spells.

If Harry had to choose between either of their styles-

"Sir! Sir!" An aide shouted over to Harry as he came running in from the staircase. Quickly the male teen ran over to the Shadow Wolf, a piece of paper in his right hand. "Sir, urgent news. Joshua says that you need to get over to the command center as quickly as you can." The aide handed over the parchment in his hand.

Harry took the sheet quickly but retained his proud, calm stance while the rest of the immediate area stared at Harry. He held the sheet close to him so no others could read but not at an uncomfortable distance. While he appeared unaffected by the words on the page, Harry was internally worried.

"Thank you. Report back to your previous duty, and do not share what you know with any others unless given permission to do so, understood?"

"Yes, sir." The aide saluted.

"Then you're dismissed." Harry said before he walked past the teen and briskly continued over to the staircase. Once there, though, he disappeared into a cloud of black smoke as he traveled down many floors until he finally exited out to meet two stone knights standing guard outside a wooden door.

The second-in-command of the Death Eaters reappeared out of the smoke and kept walking until he reached the door.

"Identify yourself." The knight on Harry's left spoke in a deep, gravelly voice as he and his companion crossed their swords to block Harry's path.

"Harry James Potter, second-in-command of our forces." Harry growled.

"Accepted." The other knight spoke as the two sheathed their swords, and the door opened on its own despite the fact that a ward prevented anyone from entering if not identified.

Harry walked past the two with the door closing behind him.

Harry stood and absorbed the scene before him and mentally steeled himself further.

This was the debriefing room of the building but it looked more like the hospital level with the amount of doctors and nurses rushing to and from the many hospital beds that had been moved there to accommodate their wounded patients.

"What happened?" Harry asked his third in command as he approached.

"That's what we are just about to find out, sir. We waited for you to debrief them." Joshua replied as he started walking toward a bed towards the far end of the widely open level. Harry walked with a wider stride beside him.

"What's your name, soldier?" Harry asked as the two stopped at a bed. The man in it had a bandaged left arm and ribs but still had his robes on, and they were covered in blood.

"The name is Sprague, sir." The man winced as he tried to salute his commander.

"No need for that. Just tell me what happened, and we can leave you to rest, Sprague." Harry said kindly while holding his hand out to push the injured man back down to his pillow.

"Thank you, sir." Sprague gulped. "They came out along with the aurors. We treated them like any other threat, but they were… different. Stronger. Tougher. They even looked a little different than the other aurors, more professional, less frivolous. They tore us apart."

Harry and Joshua exchanged a grave look.

"What exactly happened after they appeared? How did they act?" Harry pressed.

"Um," Sprague's eyebrows furrowed, "after they appeared they took up pieces of cover and started advancing from one piece of cover to the other with the people advancing being covered by their friends' spells, and the spells weren't ordinary spells either. They acted much like the spells we use, maybe a little weaker."

"Then?" Joshua asked.

"Well, they kept doing that until they were very close to us, and then more of them just emerged out of nowhere from the buildings beside us even though we made sure to have powerful wards blocking any floos. They tore through us like we were butter, and when some of us tried to escape using the floos they were still being blocked by our own wards. Most of us only managed to escape by apparating." Sprague finished.

"Thank you for telling us this… and for your sacrifices to our cause. We'll make sure to put this information to good use. Now… rest easy. Your job is done." Harry replied before starting to turn to leave but was halted by Sprague.

"Thank you, sir."

Harry nodded and turned away before walking toward the center of the makeshift hospital.

"What do you wish for me to do, general?" Joshua asked.

"Debrief all who are capable as soon as they are to see if you can gather anything else, and report it back directly to me. Make sure, though, to keep everything discreet; we cannot have the entire army panicking and leaving us."

"Will do. I'll make sure everyone here upholds their silence."

"Good. In the meantime, halt all other assaults and gather my battalion for a briefing." Harry nodded.

"I'll get it done." Joshua replied.

Harry nodded once more and left for the staircase, ascending down a few floors.

Harry traveled through the corridors of the officers' quarters level until he arrived at his door and silently entered. He made sure to lock the door behind him and went over to his wardrobe to adorn his battle robes as he had taken to calling them. They were much like the ones he was wearing but had wards and charms bestowed upon the cloth. Harry quickly switched the clothing and went into his office, walking straight to a mirror lying on his desk.

"Daphne Greengrass." Harry commanded as if it would bring her image into the mirror quicker.

After a few moments, the woman appeared.

"What is it, Harry?"

"The aurors have gained a new addition to the ranks or something of the like. They completely repelled one of our attacks. Many are under medical supervision; I'm taking my entire battalion with me to strike somewhere important. I just need your permission to do so." Harry said in quick, short sentences.

"Harry, if they were as effective as you said they are, are you sure that it would be a wise idea to assault a target of any importance with that threat present?" Daphne asked, concerned.

"Milady, they hurt us. It is important to prove to our men that we can and will prevail as well as to the Ministry to lessen their moral. We cannot appear weak if we wish to win this war." Harry growled.

Daphne sighed and shook her head. "Very well, if you must. Just… be careful"

"My men are not like any others." Harry replied.

"I know. Good luck."

"Thank you." Harry said before he ended the link and set the mirror back on his desk before getting up and traveling to the staircase and then down a few floors.

Harry stepped out onto a floor that was similar to the debriefing floor with two stone knights guarding a wooden door.

"Harry James Potter, second in command of our forces." Harry said before ever given the demand.

"Accepted." The two swords uncrossed.

Harry just crossed through the doorway and down a dark, undecorated hallway that had several wooden doors on its sides.

After a bit of walking, Harry finally opened and went through a door on his right, making sure to close it behind him.

"Sir!" A Death Eater in robes that differed from most others saluted. Behind him, many in the same robes with differing masks did the same.

"You may be seated." Harry said to his personal battalion of troops. They only obeyed him and Daphne.

Everyone nodded and sat down in a semicircle as Harry crossed to the center of where the circle would have been. A wooden board was set up there.

Harry looked at the board for a moment when he arrived at it but then turned to face his troops.

"Okay, about an hour ago, we dispatched teams again to several areas to rouse some chaos and lower the Ministry's moral even further. About a half hour after that, some differently dressed people arrived on the scene of one of the assaults with aurors. We can easily assume they are Ministry as the aurors assisted these new troops." Harry sighed and explained how the scene unfolded. "I was informed of this directly by one of our own who managed to escape."

The room was silent in respect for their fellow soldiers who had been killed or even injured in the counterattack. The silence lasted half a minute before a man stood.

"Let's kill the bastards!"

A collective roar agreement backed up his statement.

"Do not fret. All of you are here now to avenge your fallen brothers." Harry began, silencing his battalion. He then turned to face the board and began summoning a map onto it. "In response to these new troops, we will attack a target of high importance to negate any effect the Ministry hoped to achieve." Harry then stepped out of the way of the board and turned to face his troops.

"Sir, is that…?"

"Yes, it is exactly what you may think." Harry replied.

"How did you get a map of it?" Another asked.

"I have my ways. Now," Harry began as he turned back to the board and picked up a self-inking quill, "this is how we're going to do it."

At nine thirty that night, Harry led his battalion fully outfitted in their dark robes and silver masks out of a forest and directed some of his men to a small hut not so far away.

The previously selected Death Eaters nodded and hurried silently towards the hut. Each one surrounded the dome and used spells to cut small holes into the material that covered the small structure. They then pointed their wands inside, and a sudden, combined, red light flashed out of each opening in the hut.

They then rejoined their other comrades as they walked by and towards the bridge that led to the rest of Hogwarts castle. As soon as they stepped off the bridge they quickly rushed to the doors of the Entrance Hall, where they assembled quietly before they split into two groups, one heading to the dungeons and the basement and the other heading upstairs to each floor.

With perfect timing, they entered the common rooms of each house and then went over to the dormitories with the women entering the girls' dormitories and the men doing same for the boys' dormitories, yelling and shouting to scare them awake. As each student ran, screaming in terror out of their beds, dormitories, and common rooms, most of the Death Eaters followed them with some of their brethren jumping out from corners until the students were forced into the Great Hall.

While this entire process was unfolding, other Death Eaters were waking and fighting the professors of the school. They easily won against the teachers and forced them into the Great Hall, where the professors gathered at their table.

Only two people in the entire castle, though, were not being led into the Great Hall. Harry had entered one of the Gryffindor boys' dormitories and had scared the children inside of the dorm out until they reached the Grand Staircase, where he turned and proceeded through the halls until he arrived at a gargoyle statue.

"I need to speak to the Headmistress." Harry said in his altered voice.

"I will not allow someone kill the headmistress." The gargoyle replied.

"There's no need for that. He cannot kill me." A woman said as she descended the stairs and started to pass by the gargoyle.

"Headmistress Weasley, we can do this one way or the other but you are going to the Great Hall." Harry threatened, paying no mind to his past with the woman standing in front of him.

Quickly she drew her wand and pointed it at him; Harry's holster ejecting into his hand his wand, which mirrored her position.

"Do you really expect me to think that you won't kill me? You do know that I am the brightest witch of my age, right?"

"I am going to tell you once more to proceed to the Great Hall without a fight. Unless you provoke us, we will not kill you, I give you my word." Harry said forcefully.

Hermione just left her wand pointing at Harry, at the ready.

Harry shrugged while keeping his wand pointed. "Your choice."

Hermione launched a spell at the Shadow Wolf, forcing him to create a magical shield and to back up a bit. Seeing this, she kept up the attack, launching spell after spell at him with Harry remaining defensive on purpose. He allowed Hermione's moral to grow and force him all the way to the Grand Staircase. He did say that she would end up in the Great Hall one way or the other; he didn't say that he was going to drag her there.

As soon as they reached the top of the staircase, though, Harry stood his ground and blocked while his left holster ejected his wand into his other hand, unbeknownst to Hermione. As her spell stopped and his shield came down, Harry swung his left wand around and summoned her past him, causing her to tumble down two flights of stairs. The castle somehow knew of her fall and moved the staircases so that she did not fall down into empty space. Harry had meanwhile turned and started to walk down the stairs before the castle could move them away from his opponent. By the time he reached her, she had already risen to her feet and had her wand pointed back at him.

"Do you wish to continue?" Harry asked. "Or shall we behave civilly?"

Harry was once again answered by a spell coming at him, which was dodged by a simple sidestep. "You know you are very rude." Harry then used both of his wands to send two, silent as always, Expelliarmus spells at Hermione. She quickly responded by throwing up a shield, which was destroyed by the two pieces of magic, causing her to stumble slightly but just enough so she was back on a staircase.

Harry grinned and continued to battle Hermione down the stairs until they were on a staircase between the fourth and fifth floors, using several different ways of attacking as well as spells with both of his wands.

Hermione had been growing worried, as Harry had kept up a relentless assault on her shields, exhausting her magic. 'Whoever this person is,' Hermione had thought, 'he is definitely strong to not have grown weak by now. I need to do something or else I'm done.' Quickly she had scoured her mind for an answer until she remembered a spell that might work.

When Harry had both of his wands pointed away from her due to him just completing a spin where he had quickly transferred from using his right wand to his left by spinning, she swung her wand while casting a spell.

The resulting effect pushed Harry over the railing of the marble staircase and to fall down two floors, but he cast a slight explosive charm below him just before he landed so that he arrived on the staircase unharmed.

Hermione growled in frustration and hurried down the two staircases in her way of the Shadow Wolf.

Soon as she arrived, however, Harry cast up a shield to block her rushed Stupefy while swinging his right wand to his left much like she had just done to him. Surprised by his use of two different spells simultaneously, Hermione tumbled over the railing much like Harry just had but Hogwarts once again helped her by moving the nearest staircase directly below her. She landed in a rough heap but was back on her feet by the time Harry arrived.

Now there was only one staircase until they reached the Entrance Hall, and both of them were standing on it.

Hermione tried futilely to stop Harry from advancing further on her and making her retreat more, but he kept using both wands to attack her shields or using one wand to block her attacks while using the other to attack her open form. She could barely manage to stop Harry's attacks from hitting her.

Finally, however, she was forced to the ground floor and then towards the open doors of the Great Hall, which were being crossed with the exchange of spells.

The students and teachers in the Great Hall ceased their attacks, however, upon seeing their headmistress being forced towards them while in her seemingly endless fight with the Death Eaters' Highest General, and closed and locked the doors, hoping that the higher deities would forgive them for sacrificing one to save themselves.

Harry smirked as he saw Hermione see this act and started to maneuver himself so he was with his fellow Death Eaters while Hermione was forced towards the doors of the Great Hall. He then finally ended the fight by sending two explosive spells in her direction at slightly different times. As Hermione raised her shield, the first one flew above her head and forced the doors open, and the second impacted her time-weakening shield a couple of seconds later propelling her through the widening gap as she had not been prepared for the timing of the second explosion.

Harry and his troops quickly followed in with each of their wands pointed at one, armed target.

The teachers were forced back to their table, and the fighting students surrendered, dropping their wands to the ground.

"Ah, now that everyone is here, I may finally begin." Harry said, his comrades surrounding him but letting his masked face and covered figure show.

"I believe I should start with the reason for my appearance here tonight." Harry said to the school but as if thinking to himself. "You see, the Ministry earlier today sent out some new troops and massacred some of my troops without mercy. Now, the rest of my troops and I have been nothing but honorable, allowing retreating aurors to flee and letting injured opponents escape, but I want all of you to tell them that we will retaliate in kind. If they show no mercy then we will share none as well. We easily got past your defenses, and if the Ministry is not to start doing so, then we will come here again and will permanently occupy this castle until the end of the war."

The crowd burst into a collective murmur of thoughts as Harry paused for a few seconds to let his words sink in.

"We are also here to give you the call to arms against the Ministry of Magic and its corrupt officials! I know you are not supposed to fight, but I have heard of how students of this very school fought against the first and most despicable generation of Death Eaters and won! Children can also make a difference; resist the Ministry's control! Do not let them poison your minds and control your ways! Resist!" Harry yelled, making many roar in agreement. Harry waited for the crowd to calm before he continued but in a calmer voice himself. "I will trust in you young men and women to form your own resistance. When you are confident that you have formed, contact us, and we will happily accept you amongst our organization."

"Of course a Death Eater would barge into our home and then claim to come in peace! You are a wretch!" A Gryffindor in his fifth year yelled.

"I will not dignify that biased remark with a reply, whoever you may be; reason always should prevail over brashness." Harry replied. "Now, forgive us for this."

All of the Death Eaters sent out a wide burst of stunning spells and rapidly stunned any who remained standing.

"Sir, I have received word that aurors are about to leave for here in suspicion in that something has occurred." Joshua told Harry.

"Then we'd better hurry." Harry replied before blasting a large, gaping hole in the middle of the ceiling. "Morsmordre!" Harry cast into the sky, putting up the green symbol of the Death Eaters before pointing one wand to the closest wall while doing the same with his other wand to the other closest wall. He silently cast two spells that marked one wall with the Death Eater symbol and the other with his symbol. As soon as the symbols were fully marked into the stone, Harry turned and did the same for the farther two walls and the opposing corners of the hall, where the floor met the walls or where the walls met the ceiling. While Harry was marking the symbols, his troops were casting lines of magic between each neighboring symbol. After Harry marked the last corner, he stepped away from below the hole in the ceiling and cast his symbol larger than any of the others into the ground where he had previously been standing and then drew a magical line between it and the Dark Mark in the sky. Finally, the Death Eaters drew magical lines to the center of the hall, above his symbol and left the hall.

Harry then exhaled slowly and fully before inhaling sharply, focusing his mind and magic. He raised both of his wands so they were pointed at the point that his brethren had connected the other symbols and pulled back his hands before channeling as much magic as he could into two spells that were launched at the same point by Harry quickly snapping his hands forward.

Outside the castle, Hagrid had recently awoken and stumbled out of his hut, feeling quite groggy. Stretching his back, he gasped as he saw the Dark Mark hanging in the sky over the castle.

If that was not enough to surprise Hagrid, however, a sudden, green pulse rose from out of the Great Hall and into the Dark Mark before leaving it and incinerating an invisible dome that was the Hogwarts wards. Right behind the line of incineration, another pulse resonated out of the Great Hall and formed a dome around Hogwarts, replacing the fallen wards in the same way except that these new wards were a green dome.

Hagrid then saw many billows of dark smoke exit out of the Entrance Hall and into the sky followed by one that left out of the hole in the Great Hall.

The half giant then heard shuffling behind him and turned as quickly as he could, bringing his crossbow to bear.

"Easy there! We're friendly!" An auror said as he and a dozen others emerged out of the forest.

"Sorry about that, but we couldn't get in through the floos. We figured something had gone terribly wrong and decided to come in through the Dark Forest." The same auror explained as they approached.

In the coming hours, the aurors and Hagrid would discover the rest of Hogwarts stunned inside the Great Hall and then awakened with many awakening spells. The aurors would then get statements from everyone present over what happened, and the students and staff would head off to bed with more and more aurors pouring into the Great Hall, scouring over the configuration that the Death Eaters had used to eliminate the legendary wards that supported Hogwarts, even if they were less old than they were ten years ago.

At exactly twelve a.m. the entire hall was void of any life excluding the many aurors who were still examining the array when a couple more of their brethren entered the hall. Without warning, the lines of magic and the symbols marked on the stone as well as the one in the sky grew slightly before the Dark Mark in the sky flew downward and into the Great Hall as a beam of magic. When it arrived at the center of the Great Hall, it exploded outward, blasting fire out of the hole in the roof as well as the doors of the Great Hall and killing every auror inside.

The blast was so large that it awakened the entire castle once more as the previously green dome surrounding the castle fell like its predecessor had.

"Sir, the runic scheme was detonated. The Great Hall was filled with over thirty aurors and no civilians."

"Good. They cannot help but acknowledge our promise." Harry leaned back in his office chair.

AN: Hope that this filled your need for a new chapter and some action (to say the least) and that you are enjoying this. As always, I want everyone to know that reviews are always very appreciated. Occidere Prima Vel Occidi.