A/N: Ahh finally this is done! Only took 19 pages on Google Docs..
Also, really sorry if the text spacing looks really uneven? This sounds odd, but I wrote the Ministry fight 3 years ago on my iPad Notes app (a lot of the first 5 chapters were written that way as well), and when I copy-pasted it into Docs and then pasted the complete chapter into here, it comes out really close together. I'll try to remedy it!
When Pansy woke up the next morning, she was still in the middle of their cuddle pile, though Tracey was up and moving, peeking her head around the curtains.
"It seems our two other roommates have gone down to the common room, or breakfast." she had said, turning back to them and then flopping back down on the bed.
They couldn't care less about Millicent or Sophie. Their words said last night were entirely unforgivable, so they were just going to ignore their ignorance as much as possible; there was no point trying to get through to them, they were too far gone.
When they eventually decided to get up and go down to the Great Hall, where there would likely be a very quiet and sombre atmosphere due to people being upset, they encountered Theo and Blaise heading down at the same time. Daphne and Tracey went to join them, although Pansy had suddenly become a bit reluctant and came to a stop slightly behind them. Daphne looked over her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile and said she'd explain what happened to them, and assured her they'd understand and forgive. Pansy nodded, and walked with her.
Theo had to do a double take when he realised she was walking with them, which made his comically half-sleepy face go wide awake really fast, and Blaise… well, she couldn't really read Blaise's expression.
True to her word, Daphne Greengrass did explain to them, and the two boys gradually went from stand-offish to a look of almost surprise. "You stood up to Millicent and Sophie?" Blaise asked in wonder.
She nodded.
"Even though you knew they would likely fall out with you and that may leave you friendless?" Theo asked, also in surprise.
"Yes. What they were saying about Patricia and Scarlett and all the others… I couldn't let them get away with it. I watched them die.. They didn't deserve that." She had answered.
"That was brave," Blaise said after letting out a whistle, Theo also nodding, "... and it shows you may just have a bit of Gryffindor in you, Pansy."
She narrowed her eyes at him, though couldn't help but grin. "Blaise Zabini, you are a prick."
They all laughed then, and she couldn't help but pull the two boys into hugs - keeping in mind to be respectful, as Theo was dating Amelia Potter. Now that she was breaking free of her prejudice, she really wanted to get to know both Potter's, as well as Granger, the Weasley's, and Dorea Black. She'd always thought, secretly, how cool Amelia and Dorea seemed. They were so pretty, too, and seemed to be good people as well. Pansy used to feel nothing but jealousy whenever she would look over to Gryffindor table and see tonnes of people hanging around the Potter's and Black, looking at them with genuine love and friendship, half-knowing that none of her own friendships were that genuine and close.
Maybe, at last, I'll get to experience that, she thought, a calmness taking over her.
As expected, the school was pretty sombre the next morning.
At breakfast, there wasn't much chatter going on, the only common sound was people's cutlery touching plates or bowls, as well as some people still comforting their friends. After all, the attack was less than 24 hours ago, there was no way people were going to go back to being fine and dandy when their acquaintances were dead.
Dorea sat with her Gryffindor friends at the table, and a comfortable silence was among them as they sat and ate slowly. When people joined them at the table, she would smile gently and mouth "You okay?" at them. Some had puffier and redder faces than others.
She sighted her dad entering the Hall with Remus, and caught his eye as he sat down. She was aware her face probably still showed signs of crying the night before, and that probably explained Sirius's sad expression as he looked at her. It just then occurred to her that she hadn't gone to him for comfort the day before, and suddenly felt awful. He was probably expecting his own daughter to go to her dad for comfort, she realised, after all, that's what kids normally do; go to their parental figure.
She would definitely go to him today.
She was brought out of her thoughts when Cho Chang entered the Hall, with some of her Ravenclaw friends surrounding her - Marietta no longer among them. Dorea's heart wrenched; sure, Marietta tended to follow the crowd (there had been a brief period where the girl lapped up everything the old Daily Prophet under Skeeter put out), but when she had grown out of that phase she was a really nice girl - meaning that her loss had a big impact on them all. A lot of people were sending sympathetic glances and words towards Cho. The poor girl had lost her boyfriend and best friend in the space of a year. Good thing every single DA member would be there for her this time around.
Marietta hadn't been the only Ravenclaw lost; poor Mandy Brocklehurst and Roger Davies had passed too. Dorea, Amelia, Harry, Hermione and Ron had already gone over to hug Padma, Sue, Lisa and Amanda, who had been either softly crying or reminiscing about Mandy, and went to offer their sympathies to Roger's friends too.
"It's just so awful," Amanda had cried into Dorea's shoulder, "why Mandy?"
That had almost had Dorea bawling tears.
Since this was technically the last full day before the summer holidays (tomorrow was the graduation ceremony, which took a good few hours, and then they would be departing Hogwarts early the next morning after that), there were no classes. It was a blessing, really, as nobody was in the mood to learn. But there was going to be something on today - the Auror investigations. There had been a notice put up in all common rooms about how the Auror department were needing to question people who were at Hogsmeade yesterday, to obviously get an idea of what all happened as well as getting names of Death Eater's who were there that may have evaded capture. Obviously not every student was going to be questioned - that would take days, so instead only those students who wished to be interviewed could come forward.
"I think we should give our testimonies, if we're all up for it." Harry had said. They nodded at that.
The notice had said that one-to-one meetings would be held in Professor McGonagall's office and the Auror's would be there all day. Other locations were also mentioned in case of high turnout of students wanting to give their testimonies.
At what would have been morning interval on a usual school day, Remus and Sirius approached them in the courtyard. After greeting them, they turned to her, "Dorea, love, do you want to speak to the Auror's now?"
Hermione and Ron had given their testimonies earlier that day, and said how it wasn't stressful at all, so she nodded eagerly. "Let's get this over with."
Her father and uncle smiled at her willingness, and walked either side of her as they went. When they had gotten to the floor where McGonagall's office was, they stopped momentarily. "Do you want either of us in the room with you?"
"Is that allowed?" She asked.
Her dad nodded. "It's perfectly fine."
She considered it. "Just in case I start crying or something, can both of you come in?"
The two men smiled softly. "We can, not a bother. And it's completely fine to cry, baby. It's still such a fresh event - nobody will grudge you or hold it against you." Sirius said.
She nodded, and with some fresh determination they stepped inside the room. She felt a bit on edge when she saw it was Rufus Scrimgeour who would be doing her interview - according to Harry he was quite gruff and forward.
"How come I know without even asking that she's your daughter, Sirius?" Scrimgeour said after looking at her for barely a second.
Sirius smirked. "Well, everyone says she's my double, but she does have Marl-"
"-Yes, yes, but we're not here to be sentimental." Scrimgeour cut Sirius off just as he was clearly about to talk about Marlene McKinnon. Mum, Dorea thought, feeling a sudden urge to be brave for her.
Scrimgeour looked at her. "You can sit, you know."
Dorea hoped she didn't scramble to sit. The Head Auror eyed her before briefly glancing down at a sheet of paper. "I have to read you this - do you consent to an audio recorder recording this interview for authentication purposes?"
Dorea nodded quickly. "Yes, I do."
Scrimgeour made a noise, before loudly scribbling something on the parchment and using his wand to turn the audio recorder on. He began speaking again. "Interview in session conducted by Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic, interviewing witness Dorea Andromeda Black, fifth year student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, who was witness to yesterday's events in Hogsmeade Village, Highlands of Scotland." After that bit was done, he looked at her. "Miss Black, where were you when the attack started?"
She could feel her father and uncle's unspoken encouragement even though they were sitting behind her, which gave her brave motivation. "I was at the Three Broomsticks with all my friends, generally just chilling out after a long year and a tough exam period."
He nodded. "That matches up to what your friends, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, said. Now tell me, how did the attack start?"
"We were just all sitting in the pub eating, drinking and talking, when there was a loud bang outside, with a lot of shouting and screaming following that. The place had fallen silent, so we could hear everything happening in the vicinity. Some younger students then started hurrying to get inside the pub, some of them mildly injured." She explained.
"The general consensus is that your godbrother, Mr Potter, took a lot of initiative during the attack and helped to save a lot of people. Would you say that is true?"
She nodded eagerly. "Harry stood up and made decisions on the spot where normal people would have been freaking out. He quickly made it so that the Three Broomsticks was to be a safe place, and we set out almost immediately to actually go out into the village to aid in the fight."
Scrimgeour had a look of… admiration? It was hard to tell with him. Scrimgeour asked a whole other load of questions, and she answered them as honestly as she could. He asked about the Death Eater's she had come across - which led to her telling the story about how her and Harry were set upon by Lucius Malfoy and Rohan Nott. When she got to the part where she described the ropes they had magically bound them in, she was sure that if there wasn't currently an audio recorder in the middle of recording, that her dad and Remus would be going ballistic - as she hadn't told them about that bit. She could hear them restraining themselves from speaking in their chairs.
Scrimgeour seemed impressed that she had managed to regain some strength and blast a curse at Rohan Nott. "He was pretty injured when some of my Aurors found him and took him into Ministry custody."
The questioning didn't take much longer than that. Scrimgeour just wanted to know lastly which Death Eater's she had seen at the village - just in case any had managed to slip away. The trouble was that those she had come across had all been wearing their infamous masks, so she couldn't offer up many extra names. Thankfully Scrimgeour understood, though there was a little bit of disappointment in his look.
"That concludes our questioning, Miss Black. You should feel proud that you managed to put all of your skills into action and doubtlessly helped to save many more injuries as well as lives. You and your friends took charge where many of the Auror recruits would have frozen." The Head Auror said, before turning the audio recorder off.
Dorea did feel that high praise - coming from a man that was very hard to please. Dorea thanked him for his time and words, and he even gave her the smallest smile. She stood up, and heard the chairs of her father and uncle scrape on the floor as they also got up.
"Thank you for that, Rufus," her dad said, placing a hand on her shoulder as he spoke to his old boss. "We hope you catch all those scum that did this."
Scrimgeour inclined his head, and said in a determined tone. "We bloody well hope so too, Sirius, they can't get away with this."
They left the office, Remus telling her how well she did and that it was all done now. For some reason, a wave of emotion came over her - well, it was more like a tsunami of emotions. She felt her eyes well up and become glassy. Yet she couldn't understand why she was suddenly so upset - did reciting it and recalling it all cause the horrors of it all to come over her? Was it because she was still mourning all the lives lost, like everybody else in the school? It was hard to pinpoint. She became so overwhelmed she had to halt herself on a pillar and just start bawling.
"Baby?" her dad said, sounding alarmed.
"Dorea, sweetheart, what's happened?" Remus said.
She sniffled, and when she finally took a second to breathe, to attempt to get some words out, her exhale came out as a sharp gasp. The two figures of her father and uncle were all a blur. "I-I-It's just… urgh, I don't know! I don't know why I'm crying but…" she cried out, frustrated and confused, "I just am."
One of the two men pulled her into a loving embrace - the dark hair she could see soon letting her figure out it was her dad. She threw her arms around his neck and just let him hold her.
She felt a hand patting her head. "Let it out, dear," Remus said gently, "grief can overcome you at any moment, especially when an event like yesterdays is still so fresh."
Sirius hummed in agreement. "You were so brave, baby, truly. Not many people would want to recite those moments as calmly as you did. My brave, darling girl."
Her father's words made her heart warm, though the tears didn't really stop. In fact, it took a good five minutes for her to calm down and stop crying. Dorea was just glad that nobody had walked past and seen her crying like a baby.
When she rejoined her friends, Sirius and Remus then took Amelia and Harry respectively to give their testimonies. Since there were no classes on, she had the whole day free. Since it didn't really matter when people had breaks, as there was no need to keep to the timetable, Dorea decided to just go to the Great Hall and sit in there for a while with whoever amongst her friends was in there.
She wandered in and saw Hannah, Megan, Susan and Daphne sitting at Hufflepuff table with Hermione, Neville and Ron. She walked over to them, and when she went to sit next to Susan, she realised there was another person occupying the seat.
She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her when the person in the seat turned to look up at her, for it was Pansy Parkinson.
"It only took me five years to say this - hello, Dorea Black."
Before she could even question why Pansy Parkinson of all people was sitting with them, Daphne Greengrass stood beside her. "Dorea, Pansy is no longer affiliated with the… stereotypical Slytherin's." Her friend said quietly.
She eyed her. "You're sure?"
Daphne hummed, and nodded. "Last night, she fell out with Millicent Bulstrode and Sophie Roper in the dormitory. Me and Tracey heard it all. Millicent and Sophie were saying the most horrible things about the people that died, and Pansy stood up to them, which they didn't like one bit."
Dorea was surprised. Never would she think that Pansy Parkinson would ever grow a backbone and rebel when it came to her friends; the girl was forever defending them and never telling them off for being horrible. "Did she ever apologise?"
Daphne nodded. "Yes, in fact she was in tears as she did it - I suppose in a moment where you realise what a bad influence your ex-friends were, everything you ever said comes back to you. We were all crying. But now that she has broken free of her prejudice, I'm so glad we have her back."
When she glanced to look at Pansy, the girl was looking at her as well, with a look on her face that was hopeful and expectant. Dorea considered - if Daphne could forgive Pansy, then perhaps she was deserving of a chance? After all, Dorea's own uncle Regulus had been a Death Eater, but had realised his mistake, and she was on a path of bonding with him. There was also Adrien Pucey - the sixth year Slytherin that realised that Harry wasn't this stuck-up pompous prat that Draco Malfoy painted him as. And besides that, there was the case of Blaise and Theo - ex-friends of Draco's that were now both hers and Harry's best friends (and one day he'll even be Harry's brother in-law, she thought, because honestly, not even an earthquake could split Amelia and Theo up).
Dorea kept eye contact with Parkinson, and gently smiled as she stuck a hand out. "Hello, Pansy Parkinson."
Pansy looked from Dorea's eyes, to her outstretched hand, and then back to Dorea as she shook her hand, smiling now, perhaps out of relief that Dorea accepted her. She smiled gently back at her, and then sat down next to her.
Strangely, it was hard to find the exact words to start a conversation. Dorea decided to go with praise. "It's so good that you were able to break free of your prejudice."
Pansy smiled like a Cheshire cat, and it was now that Dorea noticed how pretty she really was. "It does feel good, it's like a breath of fresh air." The girl paused momentarily. "It's just a shame it took me this long to snap the chains of it."
Dorea sympathised in a way. "What matters is that you made a decision, and you're in the now."
Conversations carried on around them, and Dorea wanted Pansy to feel as welcome as possible.
"I'm thinking of joining the DA," Pansy admitted.
She smiled encouragingly. "That's brilliant! A really good step in the new you, actually," Dorea said, but quickly sensed something was up, "what's holding you back?"
Pansy looked down momentarily. "Will the other members like me? I know I'm sitting here right now with you guys, but there's tonnes and tonnes of other students that are members, right? And I was literally a notorious bully; they're not going to like me."
"Some may take more time than others, but trust me, they'll come around eventually." Dorea said, speaking sincerely. "The key is opening up, and getting to know them."
"I spoke to Harry before he went for his interview with the Auror's, and he said it was no problem at all that I wanted to join-"
"-Well, there you have it!" Dorea said, not meaning to cut her off, but because she didn't need to hear anymore (in a good way). "Harry's given you the go-ahead, all you need to do now is take the plunge, regardless of what anyone else says. And if anyone gives you a hard time about it, we'll take them down a few pegs."
Pansy grinned jovially. Dorea grinned with her too. She could feel a genuine friendship brewing here. Who would've guessed this ever happening?
"Well, Potter, both I and the whole Auror department can only thank you endlessly for your outstanding bravery. Truly, not even Aurors deep into the training programme would have taken as much leadership in a situation as dire as yesterdays. You should be very proud of your efforts to defend your classmates." Were the words of Kingsley Shacklebolt once Harry had finished answering the questions.
He quietly let out a sigh, glad that that part was over at least. He didn't feel too out of the ordinary, strangely. He knew that Hermione had gotten a bit emotional during her testimony, which nobody grudged her for. And he did notice that Dorea's face looked a bit wet before he'd left.
After thanking Kingsley for his time and patience, he opened the door to the office. He'd decided to be a bit brave and go in himself to answer the questions, but Sirius was outside the door. Remus had taken Amelia to Flitwick's office to give her testimony, so she was either currently still in there or was already finished up.
"You okay, kiddo?" Sirius asked him the second he crossed the threshold between office and corridor.
He nodded. "Yeah, I think so."
Sirius patted him. "It's okay to get emotional if you need to. Dorea's emotions overcame her out of the blue even after she's given her evidence, even though she was completely fine answering. It's normal."
He felt okay just now, but did keep that in mind. They walked back downstairs, and when they got to the bottom of the staircase, they actually met up with Remus and Amelia. Amelia's eyes looked a bit glassy.
"You alright?" He asked his twin.
"Got a bit breathless during the questioning, and my throat dried up. Scrimgeour said it was okay to feel that way, but gosh, he's not exactly got the most comforting voice or tone." Amelia said.
"Don't feel bad for having emotions, Amelia," Remus quickly added, "nobody your age should have to witness what you saw yesterday, and you were brilliant at answering the questions."
Amelia nodded in acknowledgement, and they made their way to the Great Hall - since it was half past eleven, it seemed like a good time to have lunch, albeit a bit earlier than normal.
Harry was pleased he had his squadron of friends to take his mind off yesterday's events. Even more pleased to see that Pansy Parkinson was sitting next to Dorea, and seemed to be chatting to her. He knew it would take a bit of getting used to - a notorious Slytherin ex-bully completely turning a new leaf, but he had faith in Pansy, even though he'd only had literally one friendly conversation with her after five years of being the butt of her snark. He knew that the Hufflepuff's would be open to getting friendly with her, and once he sat down he was pleased to see that Hannah, Susan and Megan were including her in a chat they were having.
He was just getting started on his mid-morning snack when Pansy gestured to him. "Can we have a chat?"
He nodded, and they stood up. He started leading her to the Entrance Hall - as that was probably the most quiet place in the building. When they got there, he gave her an encouraging smile. "What's up?"
"I think I'm ready to brave it and sign up to the DA." Pansy said, and he noticed she looked a lot more relaxed once she said it, as if a weight had been taken off her shoulders.
He smiled. "I knew it wouldn't take you long. As we're obviously at the end of the school year, it would be the best thing to actually start you when we go back into sixth year."
Pansy agreed. "Oh, yeah, that's cool with me. I'm just a bit concerned I'll be a bit far behind…"
"Not to worry," he reassured her, "I have a feeling you won't be the only new member when we go back next term."
Yesterday's events went unspoken, but Pansy understood.
"In the meantime, I can give you a list of spells that the Senior group learned this year, so you can get some forward reading done on them." He said.
"And here I thought my summer was going to be completely work-free," Pansy said, in a joking tone.
They both laughed at that. He fished a piece of parchment out of his bag and started listing the spells he had taught the DA over the last academic year, and handed it to her. He also gave her the enchanted parchment to sign her name on - which didn't reject her. She really is genuine about turning herself around, he thought. When they were ready, they walked back into the Great Hall. Harry felt multiple eyes looking at them as they walked back to their places, and suddenly wondered how Malfoy and his gang felt seeing Pansy on the opposite side. He couldn't actually see the platinum blonde in the Hall, come to think of it…
Lunch passed in another little solemnity. Though people were talking quietly still, some conversations had turned into talking about happy or funny memories of the people that had passed away yesterday. It was a good thing to hear people laughing again - talking about good memories of folk was the best way to remember and then go on to honour as they lived.
Sirius and Remus passed by them, the two men speaking to him, Amelia and Dorea about how they had to go to the Ministry - there was some planning going on about how to capture those Death Eater's that had escaped yesterday. Minister Bones needed all the help and suggestions she could get, apparently, and had extended her offer of help to the Order of the Phoenix members. They left, but not before saying how they would probably be back before dinner, all depending.
At dinner, Harry was content eating his Sunday roast with the rest of his friends on Gryffindor table, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned, and saw it was Hope Geddes and a few of her posse of fourth year Ravenclaw girl friends. "Can we speak to you?"
He nodded, wondering where this conversation was going, but muttered a "Sure" nonetheless. Like earlier, he led them to the Entrance Hall.
"I don't recognise a few of you - are you here to sign up to the DA?" He asked in a friendly tone.
"That's part of it, but not the whole reason why we are here." A girl spoke up from Hope's right.
He made open gestures. "Fire away, then."
"Why is Pansy Parkinson sitting among you and the seniors?" Hope asked, in a tone that was part astonishment and part anger.
I knew it, he thought, here we go. "It wasn't just DA members affected yesterday, it was the whole school." He started, and intended on speaking further, but another girl interrupted him.
"Do you not know who she is?"
"I do-"
"-Then why is she sitting among you all, happy and smiling?" Came from another girl.
"She's a horrible person - her and her friends gang up on my little sister, you know! Every week they go into the girls bathroom and try to put her head down the toilet!" Came the defiant voice of another.
"It hurts, Harry," Hope said this time, "yesterday's events. It feels so long ago yet so soon at the same time. I saw Mandy be killed by two Death Eater's - people who Pansy supposedly was flying with until today, mysteriously. Now she's suddenly stopped her bullying and prejudice and is on a different path? I'm sorry, but I'm calling bullshit."
Hope's friends backed her up, either verbally or nonverbally.
Harry wondered how to approach this - should he appease them, then explain, or just straight away explain? "I understand," he started in a calm tone, "completely, where you are coming from. You are totally right to initially feel angry that somebody who was previously so horrible is all of a sudden a changed person. But Pansy saw something happen yesterday that would change even the hardest person."
"Like what?" A girl with a Yorkshire accent said in a doubtful tone.
"She witnessed the deaths of Patricia Stimpson and Scarlett Lympsham." Harry said, and noticed the changed expressions on all of the girls' faces - some sympathy, some realisation. One girl even murmured "I didn't know…" In a tone that suggested she felt awful. Even Hope looked like she felt bad. "On top of that, Pansy feels awful because she blames herself for their deaths - when, really, nobody would be able to stop the vile killer; Axel Bulstrode. And then in the dormitory last night, Pansy found herself falling out with Millicent Bulstrode and Sophie Roper, as they were saying some truly awful things - saying that those that died deserved their fates. She stood up to them - her own best friends, because she realised that they were truly awful people with vile opinions."
There was some stunned silence among the Ravenclaw fourth year girls. "I don't expect everyone to totally accept her," he said after a few moments, "but understand that Pansy is a victim here, and she made the decision to try and better herself. You cannot fault someone for trying to get on the right path. She deserves a chance."
The girls looked at each other, and slowly they all nodded individually. Even Hope did, though he knew it would take time for her in particular to get used to Pansy. Now that dispute was settled, they were able to calmly move on. He got the girls that were interested in joining the DA next term to sign up, and gave them a parchment of spells they would be learning. They grimaced about doing some summer reading, like Pansy had done earlier, but they agreed to do it nonetheless. To be honest - Harry didn't even really care if they read up on them or not.
After dessert, everyone was dismissed to their common rooms. Harry couldn't believe it took him this long to notice that Sirius and Remus still weren't back yet; Minister Bones and all of her government must still be in talks. I don't think I could be a politician, he thought with some humour, especially not a politician during an emergency and a crisis.
In the common room, a lot of people were evidently taking it easy. Some were huddled in their friend groups, and had their heads on tables - whether they were actually resting or still upset, nobody could tell. Those that were chattering were keeping it at a respectful volume.
Harry sat with Amelia, Ron, Dorea, Hermione, the twins, and Ginny, with Seamus, Dean and Neville sitting near to them on beanbags. They were chatting quietly, though Hermione had half-taken herself out of the conversation and was instead sorting through her notes. "I'm assessing which ones I can still take forward to NEWT level," she had explained (Ron scoffing and the twins gently rolling their eyes), "a lot of NEWT subjects have the same topics as OWL, they're just more advanced content."
It wasn't long after that that Hermione almost sprang up, causing them to jump slightly. "Anyone fancy stretching their legs? I'm going to return these library books."
Harry, Ron, Amelia and Dorea suddenly remembered that they even had some books they had leased from Madam Pince. "Yeah, we'll come with you, just give us a second to get our books."
Once that was sorted, they went on their way. Madam Pince seemed to look even more pinched. She was all smiles when Hermione returned her books, but seemed to look down her nose at Harry and the others. "Almost forget, did you? You four would have gone overdue if you didn't have someone like Miss Granger."
"How come she loves you, Hermione?" Ron had said quietly as soon as the handover of their books was complete. "At least we bloody gave them back."
When they were only a few steps into their climb of the staircase, something happened.
"Harry!" Someone yelled.
Harry whipped round instantly, as did Ron and Hermione. Susan was running towards them.
What's wrong?!" Hermione asked.
"My aunt sent me a Patronus.. Chaos.. The whole Order of the Phoenix, and Ministry, has been compromised!" Susan explained through desperate gasps.
Harry's whole body turned cold.
"They're all being held at the Ministry.. She didn't say where.. And she said for us to stay where we are, nor do anything stupid.." Susan said more.
"How is that possible?" Amelia said in disbelief and panic. "Most of the Death Eater's were captured yesterday, weren't they? How did they get out of their cells - who broke them out?"
"How does she expect us to stay where we are?!" Harry almost screamed. If the whole Order were being detained at the Ministry.. That meant that Sirius and Remus were being held too.. Unless..
Harry darted off at a sprint towards the Astronomy Tower, his friends and siblings in tow behind him.
"Harry! Where are you going?!" Hermione asked desperately.
"If Sirius and Remus have been captured, then I have to go rescue them." Harry said whilst running.
"But they might not be, what if they got back earlier and are here in the school?" Hermione reasoned as they ran up the stairs.
"Even more reason to check!" Was all he called back. He burst through the door to the living quarters, and searched frantically.
"Dad! Dad, are you here?!" Dorea started calling out. She looked understandably very on-edge and terrified.
"Sirius! Where are you?!" Harry also called out.
Hermione, Ron, Amelia and Susan also began searching the quarters, looking for any clues that might indicate where they had been taken to. Amelia and Susan bolted down the stairs, going to Remus's living quarters to try and do the same likewise.
It was hopeless though, there was no trace.
Harry, almost in tears, ran a stressed hand through his hair. He would never be able to live with himself if the whole Order were being tortured or killed right now, because of him.
Dorea had her wand out, and looked to be muttering something to it, and within a few seconds, her Irish Wolfhound Patronus erupted from the end of it and ran out through the door, as if it was real.
"How did you do that?! And what did you do?!' Harry asked.
"I sent a Patronus to all the Senior DA members, asking them to come here." Dorea said, stowing her wand away again and continued to search.
After a few minutes, they were relieved to see that Professor McGonnagal was standing in the doorway. "What is the meaning of this?!" She asked.
"Professor, my aunt sent me a Patronus, and the whole Order has been compromised by Voldemort, and they're being held hostage at the ministry!" Susan said.
McGonnagal paled considerably. "But, how? I'm a member, and I've not been taken-"
"-Where's Dumbledore?!" Harry demanded.
"Mr Potter, please-
"-WHERE IS HE?" Harry shouted this time, stunning everyone into silence.
"I do not know, Mr Potter, but I will find him this instant. Do NOT move from here, and do NOT try to be heroes this time, this is sinister and serious." McGonnagall said with emphasis, before hurrying off.
Neville, Dean and Luna turned up after a few minutes, looking a bit disgruntled. Angelina, Katie, Fred and George appeared next, Fred instantly going to Dorea, who was almost crying, and asking what was wrong. Soon enough, everyone was assembled. Theo had jogged over to Amelia, who had since returned with Susan empty handed from Remus's quarters, finding nothing.
"Do you all remember me mentioning something called the Order of the Phoenix?!" Harry called out. Most nodded. "Tonight, the Order has been compromised by Voldemort and his Death Eaters." He paused as the summoned members let our shocked gasps. "Among the Order, my godfather Professor Black and honorary uncle Professor Lupin were captured. The Minister for Magic, Amelia Bones, has also been captured, along with countless other witches and wizards."
The Weasley's in particular looked terrified, as it was most likely that Mr and Mrs Weasley were also being held. If the Death Eaters had managed to locate Bill, it was also likely that he had been captured too. It was unlikely that Charlie was captured, as he was somewhere in Romania, but he could have been Apparated away...
"So why are we here?" Michael Corner asked hotly. Everyone gave him a sharp look.
"Because we're going to rescue them, you idiot!" Ron snarled.
Hermione then turned to Harry, "Please don't say we're going-"
"-Hermione, we have to, they'll all die if we don't." Harry whispered back through gritted teeth.
"But Susan's aunt told us to stay where we are, as did Professor McGonnagall, - come on Harry, we could die!" She insisted.
"And? I'm willing to take the risk." Harry just shrugged, his patience running low.
"Wait, how did the Death Eater's get out… I thought a lot of them were captured yesterday?" Tracey Davis voiced.
"That could only mean one thing…" A seventh year student, Niles Hanley, said shakily.
Everyone turned to look at him. "What do you mean?" Dorea gestured for him to continue.
"Nobody actually saw You-Know-Who yesterday, right?" At everyone's nods, Niles continued. "That means he simply just sent all of his Death Eater's to cause chaos on his behalf, keeping him safe somewhere. And nobody saw any sightings of the Lestrange's, and Dolohov, either. That means they were kept behind purposefully; maybe their plan was to get Death Eater's inside the Ministry, however possible, and then have You-Know-Who and the others turn up to the Ministry to break them out and take the Ministry under their control while they're at it?"
Everyone had the same look - that definitely sounded like something they would 100% do.
Some people let out low whistles.
"That means they're possibly in power right now?" Zacharias Smith said nervously. Neville audibly gulped.
"If Death Eater's have taken control of the Ministry…" Hannah Abbott started, but drifted off. Everyone understood the meaning.
Harry took a few seconds to gather himself. "We are possibly the only people who know of this coup - which means we are the only people available to help."
Some people nodded and murmured agreement, whilst some others looked nervous. Hermione was still tugging his sleeve, begging him not to do anything rash.
"Hermione, Harry's right," Amelia said, "we are the only people who can help. The Auror's are compromised in all of this too, they can't help."
"There are other people we can appeal to!" Hermione said, pleading, "Please! Yesterday was bad enough! We can't possibly lose more people to them!"
"Normally I'd agree with you, Hermione," Padma said, "It's so soon after the attack yesterday… but there are people who will die if we don't help. And I know that those that.. Passed… would want us to honour them, to fight this evil."
Padma's words caused the vast majority of people to agree, even though some still looked scared or skeptical.
"Just to let you all know - I am not forcing any of you to come along, at all. If you don't want to come, don't. By going, we'll all be risking our lives, but this is Voldemort we're talking about." Harry paused.
"We've got your back, Harry," Neville called out, and everyone nodded.
"Right, let's get going then." Harry then sauntered over to the fireplace. "Have you all used the Floo Network before?" He noticed that Dean looked a bit confused, - he remembered that the boy lived in a Muggle household, so obviously hadn't used it before. "It's really simple. There's plenty of Floo Powder here to go around. All you do is take about a handful of the stuff, like so, and climb into the fireplace." He paused momentarily. "And you say the name of where you want to go before letting the Floo whisk you away. I'll go first. Meet me in the Ministry of Magic Atrium!" He said, and in a frantic rush, took a deep breath and said the aforementioned location, before letting himself be whisked away.
He stepped out from one of the many fireplaces located in the main lobby of the Ministry of Magic. It was dead empty - even though it was past nine o'clock at night, he thought there'd be at least a security person patrolling around. The lights were still on, however, and the big fountain where there was a charity pool for St Mungo's donations was still running. So eerily quiet, he thought, this can't be good...
A few moments later, Ron appeared through the Floo, and although looked nervous, was confident. "You alright, mate?" He patted Harry on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I think so." He replied.
"Where do you think they are?"
Harry really hadn't thought about that. He tried to listen for any indications of life, but couldn't really hear for the fountain running.
Then, an idea popped into his head, "The Department of Mysteries! That's where that door leads to, the one that doesn't open!" He said out loud.
"That door that appeared for you in a dream?" Ron looked confused.
"Yeah! That one! I've got a really good feeling about it!" Harry said. Don't worry, guys, he thought, as if the Order members or the Ministry workers could hear his thoughts, hang tight, we'll be with you all in no time.
More people started Flooing through. Harry and Ron grimaced to each other when it turned out Michael Corner did end up coming with them. He stood complaining to Zacharias Smith about how he got soot on his shirt. Smith just rolled his eyes and tried to edge closer Ernie and Justin.
"How many more of us are there to come?" Harry asked.
"Daphne volunteered to go last, to make sure any of the bad Slytherin's weren't lurking about." Blaise answered. Daphne appeared through the Floo in no time, saying that nobody was lurking.
"Right, I've got a good feeling about where they might be. At the start of summer I kept having a dream, which I think Voldemort wanted me to see and think about, - it was really odd, it was just a door right here in the Ministry which never opened, but I've got a feeling that they'll be there." Harry explained to them all.
"Where is it?" Ernie MacMillan asked.
"I finally saw it when I had my Ministry Hearing, and it was right next to the stairs which lead down to the courtroom. Follow me, guys, we have to move quickly but quietly. He could have guards stationed." Harry said, turning and leading them past the security desk towards the elevators.
There were four elevators on the main level, and Harry estimated that all of them would fit in them although it would be a tight squeeze.
"Right, Courtroom Ten..." Harry ran his finger on the laminated sign on the wall which indicated what was on each level. He remembered that Mr Weasley's office was on Level 2..
Aha! He finally found it.
"Right everyone, we should all fit in each elevator in one go, although it might be tight. Once you're all in, select Level 9." Harry called out, before getting in the lift. Amelia, Dorea, Hermione and Ron got into his one, as did Blaise, Theo, Dean, Seamus, Neville, Luna and Ginny. Anthony managed to squeeze in at the last moment before the doors closed. From what he could see, nobody would have to wait for an elevator to come back up, as they had all managed to fit in the other 3.
Good, that'll save us some time.
Hermione hit the number 9 button, and the lift went down. However, it was taking its time.
"Come ON!" Theo was urging it.
"Dad always says these things go slow when you're in a hurry," Ron said in an attempt to lighten the mood, but he seemed to remember that his dad was probably one of the Order members captured, so his laugh quickly stopped.
They all stumbled forward then, as the lift bounced to an abrupt stop, and the doors opened.
The other three lifts had also arrived, and Harry lead the way once again
They sped up the corridor that he had been in during the summer - he and Mr Weasley had to practically sprint as they hadn't received the notification that Harry's hearing time had been changed, and were already ten minutes late. Looking back, it was a rather amusing memory, however it didn't seem funny at the moment. To think that Mr Weasley may be getting tortured, maimed, beaten right now - all because of me, Harry thought, He could be dead.. They all could be...
But he didn't want to think about that. Mr Weasley had already scared him (and quite frankly everybody) enough before the Christmas holidays when Voldemort's snake had attacked him and could have killed him.
The door was only twenty metres ahead.
They finally reached it. The steps that lead down into Courtroom Ten were directly to his left, so he knew that he'd come the right way.
"So is this the door, Harry?" Seamus called out. He was in the middle of the pack.
"Yeah, it sure is."
The door opened without objection, and he stepped through. They came into a large, circular room. Everything about it was black - with identical, unmarked and handleless doors set at intervals all around the circumference.
As he stepped further into the room, the more people followed him inside. "Someone shut the door behind him," he called behind him quietly.
He regretted this command as soon as Angelina had obeyed it - the light from the corridor went out, leaving them in the dark until a few people took the initiative to cast Lumos. There was also the issue of the doors - which one was the correct one to go through?
Whenever he used to have visions of this place, his snake-like self had always slid across the room to the door immediately opposite the entrance. Just as he was about to figure out which door to take, the wall started rumbling to life, as if they were about to start moving somehow.
Something came over him. "Somebody mark the door we came through!"
Alicia Spinnet cast an Incendio at close range; which meant there was now a visible burn mark on the door that wasn't on any of the others. Good thing they all don't mimic each other, he thought.
The walls came to life, and started rotating, gradually getting faster. Every Senior DA member grabbed on to each other, as if the floor was going to start doing the same; which it thankfully did not. That still wasn't ideal, though, as it was still going to be a puzzle - a puzzle they simply did not have time to solve. People's lives were at stake here.
After only thirty seconds, the walls stopped moving and clicked back into place.
"What was that about?" Ron asked, bewildered and fearful.
"I think it was to stop us knowing which door we came through," Ginny said, "good thing we marked the door though."
The marked door was in a different place - it had only moved along a few places, but that still complicated things slightly.
"What do we do now?" Theo asked.
"When I kept having these dreams, my dream-self always just took the door directly opposite the door I came in. It opened into a room that kind of… glittered. We should try all of them; I'll know the right one when I see it." He explained.
It was a good thing there were so many people here - all of the doors would be able to be opened within moments. People broke into small groups and just headed towards all of the unmarked doors. When a door was opened, he glanced into each one… none of them so far were correct.
"Harry! This one is glowing!" Stephen Cornfoot called from across the room.
He jogged over instantly, and peered inside.
This was the room. Oh thank Merlin, Harry thought, we're so close now.. "Right guys, this is it," he spoke over his shoulder.
"We're with you, mate," Blaise said, others murmuring in agreement.
"Stay very quiet, he could have Death Eater's stationed at points." He said, and without another word, walked into the room.
The room itself was glittery, which was weird and uneasy considering he couldn't see a light source. As he ventured further in, there was a desk in the middle of the room. A tank was occupying the tabletop; it looked like a huge fish tank he'd once seen in a Muggle pet shop. The weird thing was what was in it.
"Are those brains?" Lavender voiced, with Parvati at her side looking like she was going to vomit.
"Don't go near them," he said instantly, with the Senior DA members complying and walking against the wall practically. There was another door on the opposite side of the room, and Harry twisted the knob.
It opened easily.
He peered his head around, and looked out into a long corridor. It was dark apart from a few lamps illuminating the nearest space and flickering occasionally.
They walked down the huge corridor, taking their time. All the way down this corridor, there were doors placed at intervals. He pressed his ear up against each cold oak, trying to listen out for anything which might indicate there were people inside.
After starting to grow desperate due to trying nine doors without any luck, Harry approached the tenth one. This time, he could hear voices on the other side. "They're in here." Was all Harry said, glad they had located them at last, but wondered just how long it would last. He could hear the horrible taunting tone of Voldemort's, and Bellatrix's laugh, from miles away. He gripped his wand in anger.
"How are we getting in?" Dorea whispered.
"We can't go bursting in, so we have to open the door quietly." Harry reasoned.
"I could do a silencing charm on it," Dean suggested.
"Let's hope it silences the other side of it in the process," Ron said, nervous now.
Dean muttered a silencing charm just as Harry was about to open the door. Everyone braced themselves for the outcome.
It worked.
Harry moved the door back and forth a good few times to make sure that it definitely was working, and then slowly opened it more.
The voices were more pronounced, but in front of them were some steep stairs. The stairs had a gradient, which meant they couldn't actually see what was happening, but it just meant he could peek over the last step if he climbed the stairs at a crawl. "Keep low, and don't say anything, pass it on," Harry whispered to Ron, who whispered to Amelia, and the message was quietly being passed to all the members as Harry listened. His heart was racing now - they were definitely only meters away from those that had been captured.
"I have.. Respect, in a way, for a lot of you here. Thinking that you're all brave enough to take me down, that's ambitious." He could hear Voldemort saying.
"Oh my Lord, look how low and lost they all look without their dear Master, Dumbledore.." Bellatrix Lestrange drew out, causing other Death Eaters to laugh. "Especially my young niece, Nymphadora.."
Harry tensed considerably and almost burst up the stairs when he heard Bellatrix taunting Tonks. She hated being referred to by her proper name, so she wasn't going to let that go.
"Shut up, you backwards, vicious bitch!" Tonks growled, and he could hear some Death Eaters "oo"ing, mocking her.
Harry kept formulating plans in his head. "When I put my index finger up, that's the signal to draw wands and get ready, and when I put my thumb up, that's the signal that we're about to charge. Pass it on." Harry whispered to Dorea, who was on his right, and waited for the message to be passed around.
Harry's stress level suddenly increased when all of a sudden, the room was filled with curse words, which he knew was coming from Moody. He couldn't see anything, being flat on his stomach on the stairs, but it sounded as if he was being dragged forward.
"Ahh, Alastor Moody.. You look well after your, let's say, nine months of imprisonment?" Voldemort taunted, and his Death Eaters started laughing merrily.
"You sick fuck, you scummy-"
"-now now, Alastor, there's no need for that." By the sounds of it, Moody had now been silenced by Voldemort. "You were said to be a clever boy at school, Alastor, do you know what I'm about to perform on you? The Blood-Extraction Torture Curse. Heard of it?" Voldemort asked, sounding normal.
Harry had never even heard of that spell, which could only mean it was probably in a book of illegal spells. That is very bad news.
Not truly knowing if he was quite ready, Harry put his index finger up high enough so that the DA members could see it, and everyone drew their wands, awaiting his next signal.
"Don't you dare!" To Harry's complete surprise, it was Mundungus who was shouting.
"Crucio!" A Death Eater yelled. Harry could hear the Order members panicking. Even though Mundungus Fletcher wasn't exactly everyone's favourite (especially not Mrs Weasley's), he was loyal to Dumbledore in his own quirky way, and heard vital things others didn't.
Mundungus's screams were horrible to listen to. The DA members behind him looked horrified.
With butterflies erupting in his stomach, Harry, with the DA behind him, put his thumb up, and whispered "Now."
He tore up the steps, Ron following close behind, and started fighting.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry screamed, and Bellatrix's wand flew into his other hand.
"Impedimenta!" Ron commanded his wand, and Lucius Malfoy flew back, hitting other Death Eaters in the process.
Harry locked eyes with Voldemort, feeling terror washing over him, but the dark lord just disappeared into thin air.
Countless spells were being muttered by the DA members. He heard Luna cast Levicorpus, Dorea and countless others casting Stupefy, and other Disarming charms. Hermione even Banished a glass flask to smash against a wall where numerous Death Eaters stood underneath, clueless without their master, and screeched in pain when the glass shards rained down on them. If they had been in a Charms exam, Hermione would have gotten an Outstanding.
However, the Death Eaters were fighting back hard.
A very hairy man, who Harry realised was an actual werewolf, was engaged in a fight with Amelia. He was relentless, but Amelia was on the defence. Kingsley, who had summoned his wand back (as had many of those captured), was fighting two Death Eaters at once, one of them being Rookwood. Hestia Jones was duelling Corban Yaxley, and had the upper hand. Emmilene Vance was duelling Travers, but it wasn't looking too good for her - Travers's casting speed was very fast, and she was struggling to strengthen her Protego charm.
Sirius, who he had just noticed, and felt glee that he was alive and well, was duelling Antonin Dolohov, and they were by far the most fierce. You couldn't even keep up with them, as their spells went by in a blur. Remus (he could have collapsed with joy that he was also still alive) was duelling one of the Lestrange brothers - whether it was Rodolphus or Rabastan, Harry couldn't tell.
Minister Bones had also regained her wand, and found herself set upon by two female Death Eater's. Harry was about to charge over and help her, when the woman effortlessly dealt with them.
There was an awful moment where Harry caught eyes with a boy - who barely looked seventeen. There's no way he's a Hogwarts student, he thought, I've never seen him in my life. The boy was tall, with light hair and fair skin. There was a weird look to him - both calm yet unemotional.
"Potter," the boy said in a contemptful tone, before sending out a curse. He threw up a shield, and held it. This boy kept pursuing his fight, now looking a bit fierce. Harry went out on the offensive when he spotted a gap, but this boy was strong. Clearly, he'd been trained for this.
After battling for a few minutes, Harry had had enough. He threw up a Protego, and as soon as the other boy's curse hit it, he took the shield down and sent out two Stupefy's. The blonde dodged one, but the other was sent out that quickly he didn't have time to hop out of its way. It hit the young lad and sent him careening into a pillar.
The fight continued. Just as Harry sent Travers flying, he tripped up over something whilst walking backwards. He saw that it was Daphne Greengrass he'd fallen over.
"Oh God.. Please don't be dead.."
He thankfully found a pulse, - Daphne had probably only been stunned or blasted, so hopefully she'd come back around within a few minutes.
He used the cover provided by a jutting pillar to rest for a minute. The DA were fighting really well, and apart from Daphne, nobody else had been harmed. The Order were fighting well too - Mr Weasley was engaged in a fight with Walden Macnair - Buckbeak's would-be executioner, and Bill, who was standing back-to-back with his father, had just knocked Avery out and bound him with ropes.
He almost screamed with horror as Bellatrix sent Tonks flying through the air. If she was dead, he'd never forgive himself. In the space of a minute, it seemed that the battle was going downhill - Moody had been stunned, and was lying in a heap on the floor, his electric-blue eye had come out its socket and was whirling around everywhere. To his horror, Antonin Dolohov had sent some sort of curse at Hermione, which made him want to be sick. He almost fainted.
All of a sudden, he heard a scream. "GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
It was Sirius, and Harry felt he was truly going to pass out, as Dorea was engaging in a duel with Bellatrix, her own cousin. However, Bellatrix sent out what was probably a Killing Curse, but Dorea had just managed to dodge it, and instead it hit a pillar.
The battle seemed to come to a pause, as the two Black's faced each other. Dorea instantly ran to Fred, who engulfed her.
"Wittle wittle Sirius, the black sheep of the family." Bellatrix taunted in a mock-baby voice. Taking a moment to survey, Harry noticed that Ginny had twisted her ankle, and was being guarded fiercely by her father. Mrs Weasley looked very shaken, but thankfully she was alright apart from that.
Sirius and Bellatrix were about to duel, when a vapour appeared in the middle of the room, right next to the odd veil.
It was Voldemort.
He looked oddly calm, for someone who half of his main followers were either knocked out or bound in ropes.
Harry's heart fell through the floor when Voldemort looked right at him, and smiled maliciously.
However, before Harry had time to think, the Senior DA members had stood in a horizontal formation in front of him, - they were shielding him.
However, Lord Voldemort didn't have time to do anything, as the door in which they had all come through burst open, and countless Ministry employees (well, the ones that had gone home before this coup, obviously) burst into the room, some of them even shrieking at the sight of the Dark Lord.
From another entrance, Albus Dumbledore appeared.
Bellatrix, looking as though she had seen a ghost, suddenly tried to make a run for it, but the Ministry employees that had just turned up started bounding her in ropes, and others including Dolohov, Travers, and the Lestrange brothers were also captured.
"Take these rotten Death Eaters away from here!" A man who Harry instantly knew was Rufus Scrimgeour, the head of the Auror Department, commanded, and the room was suddenly filled with screams and curses from the Death Eaters. Bellatrix wasn't going quietly, and kept screaming about how the Dark Lord would reward and promote her when he would 'take over' and how Mudbloods and filthy half-bloods would be 'put in their place' soon.
Voldemort was still standing in the middle of the room, and was looking giddy - it seemed that nobody was willing to take him on.
"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom. The call for help has been answered." Dumbledore said.
"And they will be dealt with. You shall be dead come midnight." Voldemort had a sheepish grin, and suddenly drew his wand back to cast a spell. Dumbledore, however, was too quick, and had already sent out a spell, and unceremoniously shoved everyone to the side whilst doing so.
The two wizards were now duelling each other, and Harry thought it was the most wonderful but terrifying scene to behold. Their spells met in the middle - what was known as Priori Incantatem - but sparks were flashing. Voldemort was making lots of noises, and even sent parts of his spell to hit the walls above, in an attempt for shards to crash down on the spectators.
"Harry!" All of sudden, Lupin had grabbed a hold of him. "You and the others have to leave, NOW!"
Something orange was now coming from Voldemort's side of the room - it was fire. So he can breathe fire too? That seems very dark.
However, the fire grew bigger, and somehow managed to hiss. It took the form of a huge snake, and he heard Voldemort laughing.
The fiendfyre snake then attempted to lunge downwards at Dumbledore, but the Headmaster managed to cast a water charm, which caused it to flail and weaken. Lord Voldemort didn't seem the least bothered.
"Harry! GET OUT OF HERE!" Lupin shouted unnecessarily loudly, as if Harry had gone deaf. He was then shoved down the steps he had entered the room from, with Ron in front of him, who was supporting Hermione. She had a limp.
When he walked back out into the corridor, he could still hear the battle raging on between Tom Riddle and Albus. His ears were still ringing, but he was okay.
He instantly made his way over to Ginny.
"Oh my gosh Ginny, what happened to your ankle?"
"I managed to stumble when I was duelling someone, but I'm okay, it's just twisted." She insisted, but she hissed in pain when her mother tried to move it.
Neville was holding his nose. However, he was in good spirits, but his wand was broken.
"Gwan iz gowing to kill me," he said, "diz woz my dad's old wand."
At the other end of the corridor, the doors burst open, and all of a sudden cameras started flashing. Many press and journalists had obviously received wind of what had just gone down, and were trying to edge closer, but couldn't as someone had set up an invisible barrier so that they wouldn't be harassed by reporters.
As Harry took in the sight of the weary but mostly okay Senior DA members around him, he was glad that they had survived this. Barely twenty-four hours on from yesterday's catastrophic event, they were fighting Death Eater's again. He honestly didn't expect many people's hearts to be in it - who would want to go to battle again after learning how many losses they had the previous day?
He knew he had honest and loyal people around him, and that they would join him in fighting any coming storm.
A/N: Yeah, I know, really, another battle? It just didn't feel right not writing some sort of Ministry showdown. Obviously Sirius is still alive after this one (thank god, I honestly couldn't bear to write that).
By the way, the light haired boy Harry fought was Ares Lestrange - the son of Rodolphus that he hid even from Rabastan. He was at Hogsmeade too if you go back to the train station section.