A stronger wind blew in from the woods, blowing away the remaining smoke from the Dawn Breakers' grenades, and the clearing was now fully visible. All five black-clad Dawn Breakers lay unconscious on the grass, their dropped weapons and wands scattered about.
"You can come out now, Scorpius," said Malfoy softly. Scorpius Malfoy stepped out from behind a large tree into the clearing, two Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones in each hand. The boy's thin face looked unusually pale in the moonlight, and he limped slightly with each step.
"Mr. Potter, what happened? The coin got hot and led us here, and there were Dawn Breakers all over the Quidditch pitch. . . "
"So we were looking for a place to land when I saw you being dragged over here," Malfoy added. "Lucky you. How on earth did you end up in the World Cup stadium?"
Harry summarized what he'd heard from Faraday about the suspicious nature of the Wizarding Factory, the attack on the Hogwarts Express and the mass kidnapping. Malfoy listened in silence, but his gray eyes grew narrower and narrower. When Harry finished, Malfoy turned to his son.
"Scorpius, you need to get out of here and call the adults. Use the Patronus Charm when you're far enough away that it won't be noticed."
"But Dad, I want to fight too! If any of my Slytherin friends get kidnapped again. . . "
"Listen to your father, Scorpius," said Harry sternly. "You're in no condition to fight, and I'm sure the Ministry has realized by now that the Express hasn't arrived, so at least Dumbledore's army is ready to fight. All you have to do is call them here with Hermione."
"Tell them to bring the Portkey when they come," said Malfoy thoughtfully. "There's probably an Anti-Disapparation Jinx around the stadium, and I'm sure they've stopped us from making Portkeys here, but there's no spell to stop us from using ready-made ones."
"Good thinking, Malfoy," Harry said, looking back at Scorpius. "Since we don't know when we'll be leaving, I think it's a good idea to have a bunch of Portkeys that will leave this place in five minute intervals starting an hour from now, so if we miss the first one, we can use the next one to escape. Also, in case of an emergency escape, I want them to get us a spare Portkey that triggers when someone touches it. I'm sure Hermione can do that."
Scorpius nodded, listening carefully to Harry's words, and finally spoke.
"All right, sir. I've got it all worked out: I'll send the Patronus to Minister Granger first, and I'll fly to the Ministry myself, just in case."
As Scorpius turned to leave, Malfoy suddenly called to his son and hugged him firmly. Harry and Malfoy watched him for a moment until Scorpius flew low and out of sight on the broomstick, then turned away from the clearing and headed toward the field. Soon the surroundings became brighter and brighter, revealing the Quidditch pitch enclosed by a high golden wall and a vast expanse of open space around it. Harry and Malfoy hid behind a tree on the far side of the pitch and surveyed it. Because of Harry's earlier capture, the grounds were now heavily guarded . . . soldiers with rifles and Dark wizards with wands drawn stood guard around the entrances to the field, while dozens of drones circled above.
"What do we do now?" said Malfoy worriedly. "Any plan in mind, Potter?"
"For now, let's get close to the walls. There's no way in or out of the front door without being spotted, so we'll have to see if we can get through that."
They crouched down as low as they could and ran across the grass until they were up against the gold walls. Harry put his ear close to the wall and could hear people talking behind it.
"Damn, there's someone in here too. . . If we poke a hole in one of them, we'll be spotted right away."
"I see. Do you know any useful scrying spells, Potter, so we can find an unoccupied area and get in?"
"No — if I knew one, I'd have caught you sneaking out of the Room of Requirement in our sixth year."
"Then how did Mad-Eye Moody get his magical eye enchanted? If only I knew the spell that was used on it. . . ."
Harry turned to stare at the forest they had just come out of. Yes — a long time ago, on the day he, Ron and Hermione had stolen Slytherin's locket from Umbridge, they had Disapparated from the Ministry of Magic into a certain forest. . . . There, Harry had found the tallest, sturdiest tree he could find and had made a small grave and buried Mad-Eye Moody's eye underneath it. In addition, Hermione had told him that they were in the forest where the Quidditch World Cup had been held.
"Do you remember anything, Potter?"
"Malfoy, I want you to start reciting the spell as I say it."
Malfoy looked doubtful as he listened to Harry's words, but finally he raised his wand and said, "Accio Magical Eye!"
They huddled close to the wall and waited, with a few spine-chilling moments when a drone flew directly in front of them, but fortunately it never spotted them. After a few minutes, Malfoy, still holding his wand in the air, looked at Harry and raised an eyebrow, but Harry gave him a look that told him to wait a little longer. Then he heard the sound of something small zooming quickly through the air from the forest toward them. Using his instincts from his days as a great Seeker, Harry snatched up the object, which was slightly smaller than a Snitch, and examined it. At first it looked like a glass ball covered with dirt, but when Malfoy flicked a stream of water from his wand to wash it away, it turned into a large, round eye with an electric-blue pupil.
"Nice one, Potter!" Malfoy said in a small voice, unable to hide his excitement. "Very nice, but why on earth was that thing in there?"
"Long story," Harry replied, opening only one eye and placing the magical eye on the front of his glasses. The effect was quite impressive; his field of vision was narrower than before, but the landscape in front of him was no longer what it seemed. The gold walls that had blocked his way was now partially transparent, revealing a dark passageway beyond, and as he strained his eye a little more, he could make out a grandstand, stepped like a staircase, and the shadowy figures of the Dawn Breakers patrolling it in groups of two, glowing blue.
"I can see who's where now. . . . It's not as good as sticking it in your own eye sockets like Moody did, but it still works," Harry muttered, then led Malfoy along the wall. "Come here, there's a staircase here."
When they were almost on the other side of the main entrance, Harry peered through the wall again with the magical eye. At the bottom of the stairs, two of the Dawn Breakers stood with their backs to them, facing the pitch.
"They aren't looking, now we have to break through the wall. . . Do you happen to know any spells that might work, Malfoy?"
"I know, but they're all loud spells. . . . Well, I'd cast a Muffliato Charm first. Muffliato!" shouted Malfoy as he pointed to the ground directly below them. Then he pointed his wand again at the wall in front of them. "Reducto!"
With a loud explosion, the gold wall shattered, leaving a hole large enough for a man to walk through. Harry jumped at the sound, but fortunately, as he could see with his magical eye, the two Dawn Breakers stood still as if they had heard nothing. Through the hole he could see the wooden structure supporting the stands above and the lower part of a staircase with iron posts leading up further ahead. Harry used his magical eye again and soon spotted more patrols along the oval-shaped stadium field. Harry waited until they passed in front of the stairs, then signaled to Malfoy. Malfoy ran straight to the front of the stairs and shouted twice in quick succession, "Imperio! Imperio!"
Through the magical eye, Harry saw the two blue figures, who had pointed their wands at him in surprise, calmly return to their original positions.
"We did it," Malfoy said, turning around. As Harry walked up the stairs, he looked over at the Dawn Breakers who had fallen victim to the Imperius Curse. Two Dark wizards were staring at him with a somewhat dazed look on their faces. Harry ducked into the stands next to the stairs, huddled with Malfoy just behind the backs of the seats, then pressed his magical eye back into his glasses to survey the situation on the pitch. The patrols were still circling the perimeter, and the side of the stands that led to the underground chamber where the children were being held was empty and unguarded.
He and Malfoy crouched as low as they could, almost crawling, and moved along the stands, then down another set of stairs closest to the subterranean passageway. Just as they were about to descend into the basement, Harry stopped Malfoy, feeling something strange in his magical eye. When he removed it and looked with his normal eyes, the passageway was apparently empty, but just inside, the magical eye revealed a single Dawn Breaker standing there, shrouded in invisibility.
"Malfoy, there's an enemy ahead, I need you to take him out." Malfoy braced himself against the side of the corridor, then suddenly leapt forward and fired a flash of red light. The Disillusionment Charm broke and the exposed Dark wizard fell backwards, Stunned.
"Okay, now we've cleared the way to the basement. . . " Harry muttered, looking down with his magical eye. "Dumbledore's Army will be here soon, we need to get them down here."
They walked back up the stairs, guarded by dazed looking guards under the Imperius Curse, and out of the hole they had just made. Malfoy frowned as he looked up at the night sky, where flakes of cloud floated by in the moonlight.
"Do you really think your friends can get here without being spotted?" asked Malfoy.
"Hermione's no fool," said Harry confidently, squinting his eyes and studying the velvety black sky that covered the forest like a blanket.
After about ten minutes, his sharp eyes caught a small movement. A group of about twenty people on brooms were moving in formation, moving from cloud to cloud, getting closer and closer to the stadium, some of them with sacks hanging down that looked like they were filled with something heavy. Harry frantically waved his arms in the air to warn them not to get too close. Fortunately, they seemed to understand the signal and landed quietly in the middle of the forest. After a few more minutes of waiting, a group of people emerged from the darkness of the trees, walking quickly and silently, a sack containing the Portkeys floating in the air.
Hermione, who was leading the way, looked around and when she saw no one, she crossed the grass with the other members of the D.A., who in turn approached the hole in the wall. Past Harry, who was watching from the outside, came Hermione, Ron, Dean, Seamus, Neville and Hannah Longbottom, Luna and Rolf Scamander, George, Lee Jordan, the Patil twins, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Dennis Creevey, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Pletchley, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Connor and Terry Boot. Ginny was the last to arrive, her fiery red hair pulled back in a ponytail. She looked incredibly brave, even with all three of her children taken, and Harry realized why he had loved her so much in the first place.
"Harry, are you sure there are children here?" Hermione blurted out as he followed her inside. Her face was frightened enough to be recognized in the darkness, and there were dried traces of tears at the corners of her eyes. "I was about to lose my mind when Minerva called. The Hogwarts Express didn't arrive and we couldn't find the students anywhere. . . . It was as if they had completely disappeared. That's when I got the message from Scorpius; I left Teddy and a few others behind to try and control the angry parents and then brought everyone else here."
"Yeah, I made him contact you," said Harry. He made eye contact with Ginny, who was with the other D.A. members, but this time he didn't avoid her. Harry calmly gave them the best summary he could of what had happened today and ended with this. "If we don't rescue the kidnapped students tonight, the Dawn Breakers will return with a powerful army made of their blood, and the wizarding world will not hold for long."
"Then let's get down there right away." Ron rolled up his sleeves and pulled out his wand. "It's not long till dawn."
"Wait a minute, Weasley. Don't be so hasty," drawled Malfoy. "We're outnumbered, and if we get caught, they'll take the Hogwarts students somewhere else and we may never see them again." Before Ron could say anything, with George and Lee Jordan standing behind him, Harry stepped forward.
"Malfoy's right. . . . We only get one chance and we have to make the most of it."
"But how?" said Neville, his eyes narrowing. "If we have to go underground, we won't even be able to see the place beforehand . . . "
"Fortunately, we have this." Harry held up the magical eye with the bright blue pupil. The members of the D.A., all of whom remembered Mad-Eye Moody well, gasped or groaned. Harry gave a brief explanation of how he had retrieved it, then led Dumbledore's Army back up the stairs.
They followed the same route Harry and Malfoy had taken earlier, passing two dazed guards under the Imperius Curse, crouching low as they crossed the center of the stands, and reached the entrance to the underground tunnel. They passed the Dark wizard in black robes, who was still lying unconscious on the ground, and then, wands in hand, they entered the Quidditch players' waiting room. Fortunately, no one was there.
"Which way down?" said Dean.
Harry pressed his magical eye to his glasses and surveyed the narrow crypt that opened in front and to the left and right. The passageways on either side showed the presence of the Dawn Breakers, but the tunnel in the middle was deserted. They stomped through the tunnel and came to an illuminated section, and Harry used the magical eye again. On one side of the huge chamber were hundreds of children sitting in a circle, with about thirty soldiers standing guard around them.
"Okay, let's get them all out," said Harry.
"But what if they hurt the children?" said Hermione worriedly.
"They won't," said Ginny calmly. "They want wizard blood, not lives. Still, the sooner we take them down, the better. . . . Right, Harry?"
"Exactly, dear," said Harry. He looked at the area outside with his magical eye, pondered, then spoke. "First, I want you to go in there and take out as many of them as you can. Then, if they try to fight back, I want Ginny and Hermione to move those containers in front of us for cover. Understood?"
The members of the D.A. nodded, looking nervous and determined at the same time. They were just about to move in when one of the sacks rattled and moved of its own accord, causing them all to jump in surprise. Harry quickly scanned ahead with his magical eye, and fortunately none of the Dawn Breakers seemed to have heard the sound. When Harry turned his attention back to the sack, it was already hanging like a deflated balloon, its contents gone.
"That was our first set of Portkeys," said Hermione. "We don't have much time — the other sets leave every five minutes."
"We have to hurry. Move right in!" shouted Harry, and with a whoosh, Dumbledore's Army charged straight at the guards surrounding the children. Twenty flashes of red light tore through the air, taking down about a dozen of the Dawn Breakers.
"Ginny, Hermione! Now!" shouted Harry, and the two witches who had been waiting in the wings magically lifted two large containers to their left and right, respectively, and placed them in front of them. The ground shook with a thud, and the bullets and curses fired by the Dawn Breakers bounced off the metal surfaces. Harry quickly put his magical eye over his glasses and looked ahead. A dozen of the Dawn Breakers were approaching to walk around both sides of the container, weapons and wands pointed at them.
"Five on the left and five on the right," Harry whispered and the D.A. members quickly passed the information on to each other as Malfoy, Neville and Luna, Rolf Scamander and Dean stepped to the left and pointed their wands while Ron, Fred, Lee Jordan, Seamus and Dennis moved to the other side.
"They're almost there. . . . Now!" shouted Harry, and his friends standing at either end of the wall of containers leapt forward in unison, firing Stunning Spells at the approaching Dawn Breakers. Without exception, each of their enemies was struck by a flash of red light and fell to the ground.
"We're almost done, let's get this out of the way and take down the rest!" yelled Harry. In unison, Luna, Katie, Angelina and Alicia, who had gathered around Harry, pushed the container to either side with their wands, clearing the center while the rest of the D.A. fired curses and hexes at the Dawn Breakers as they retreated in panic. After about thirty seconds, the last of them fell. When the deafening gunfire stopped echoing off the concrete walls of the basement, there was a sudden silence. But in an instant, the children who had been watching the battle with bated breath jumped to their feet, cheering and spreading their arms.
"Mum! Dad!" cried James, running up with Albus and Lily and throwing his arms around his parents.
"There was a weird rumor going around earlier, some Ravenclaw kids said they saw Dad on the train and that you were coming to rescue us," said Lily quickly, not even taking a breath. Her hazel eyes were wet with tears that hadn't dried yet, but her mouth was curled into a smile. "Then Zabini and Albus saw him down here too, so we just waited and waited and waited . . . "
"Mr. Malfoy, you did get my signal!" Albus ran to Malfoy, right past Ron, who had his arms outstretched and a look of annoyance on his face at the neglect. "I thought Scorpius could interpret that."
"That's right, Albus. Scorpius saw the coin as soon as it was hot and said we should go to the Quidditch stadium at Dartmoor," said Malfoy. "Good thing we were in a hurry or your father wouldn't be here now. . . . He was taken prisoner by the enemy when we got here."
Ginny and the three children who had been listening turned to Harry at the same time.
"You told us not to do anything dangerous, Dad!" cried James indignantly.
"Well, I don't like dangerous things, I guess it's just that danger likes me." Harry shrugged and the Potters laughed out loud. They looked around and saw other members of the D.A. hugging their rescued children or engaged in heated conversation. Just then, with a shrill siren, all the fluorescent lights in the ceiling went out, replaced by emergency lights that bathed the entire scene in red. Harry whipped out his magical eye and looked back into the caves to see hundreds of Dawn Breakers pouring through the walls.
"They're coming!" shouted Harry.
"Dumbledore's Army — let's block the entrance!" shouted Neville, leading Dean, Seamus, George and the rest of the Gryffindor members to the small passage that led to the ground floor. They swung their wands, and with an earth-shaking explosion, the earthen ceiling of the doorway collapsed. Harry used his magical eye to see the Dawn Breakers being held back by the collapsed passageway, pushed by those who had followed in confusion.
"Looks like we bought some time . . . Hermione, get the Portkeys out!" said Harry, and Hermione pointed her wand at one of the sacks on the floor, which opened and spilled out a mixed assortment of old kettles, bottles, and a broken radio.
"These leave in two minutes," Hermione said, walking over and checking the wristwatch Harry had shown her. "Those who wish to leave must have a body part touching the Portkeys by two minutes from now."
"Can't we all hold hands and link together and then only one person holds the Portkey?"
"Are you a wizard or what, Ron?" said Hermione. "Everyone's hands must be on the Portkey when it leaves! If we do what you say, if just one person misses a hand, they'll be thrown out of the air and onto the ground very fast. . . . That's worse than getting Splinched when you Apparate!"
Harry looked at the three Portkeys, each with a note attached showing the time in two minutes. It didn't look like there were enough for everyone in the room, a thousand of them, to put their hands.
"Let's get the younger students out first," said Harry. "They're Portkeys that go out every five minutes, so I think the rest of them should take turns using the ones that go out next while we buy time."
"Okay, Harry," Neville, who had been listening to him from the side, nodded and then turned back to the frightened students. "Students, I'm Professor Longbottom! First and second years, come forward!"
While Neville and the other members of the D.A. instructed the younger students to huddle around kettles, water bottles and other objects and place their tiny hands on the Portkeys, Harry once again examined the passageway to the basement. To his magical eye, the Dawn Breakers had moved on from the chaos of earlier and were using shovels and wands to scoop up dirt and clear a path. They would have to move elsewhere to buy more time. . . . Desperately, Harry scanned the underground facility with his magical eye and spotted another small rectangular passageway on the other side of the door. It was narrow, but paved with cement and looked solid, and it led to a staircase that led to a deeper underground tunnel.
"All right, the rest of the students — go that way!" Harry shouted, and the older students, led by the prefects of their Houses, began to move in an orderly fashion through the entrance he had pointed out. He looked back and saw about two hundred first and second years huddled together, each with a finger on one of the few Portkeys, under the red glow of the emergency lights.
"Harry, how much time do we have?" asked Hermione, approaching at a brisk pace. Harry checked his watch and saw that he had thirty seconds before the Portkeys left. But when he checked with his magical eye, the passage leading down here was almost free of obstacles and the Dawn Breakers were about to enter.
"Thirty seconds left, we have to hold them off!" shouted Harry as Neville and the other Gryffindors lined up in front of the passage, wands drawn and ready for battle. "Ron, you and Hermione lead the rest with the remaining Portkeys and get down there."
Ron nodded at Harry's words and they did as they were told. A white flash of light erupted from the five passageways as the Dawn Breakers poured out. Bullets rained down and grenades flew, each explosion sending small pieces of stone flying in all directions.
"Protego!" Neville shouted, and small pieces of debris flew out and hit an invisible barrier, sending them tumbling to the ground. The first and second years squealed sharply, their hands still clutching their Portkeys.
"Hang on, kids! We've got fifteen seconds!" said Harry, running toward them. The Dawn Breakers fought back, firing Killing Curses at every sight of the D.A. members, trying to break through their defenses, but George and Lee Jordan kept shooting Stunning Spells at them, dodging deadly curses from the front. Harry crouched down next to them and checked his wristwatch. Ten seconds . . . five . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .
At the appointed time, an unseen force acted on the children's navel regions, lifting their backs slightly. Then a vortex formed around each Portkey, sending them rapidly into the air. Several colorful swirls, mixing the colors of the children's robes and clothing, disappeared through the ceiling, leaving a gust of wind in their wake that ruffled Harry's hair.
"Go down! We're done here!" Harry said, moving to the cement walkway that led deeper underground. George and Lee Jordan, Angelina and Alicia, Katie, Neville, Dean and Seamus rushed into the passageway, cursing and hexing their pursuers. Harry stayed behind until the very end, narrowly avoiding a Killing Curse that whizzed overhead, and ran down the darkened stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was Ron.
"Harry's here!" Ron said. "Now take down the passageway!"
"Confingo!"
"Bombarda!"
Ginny and Luna shouted, pointing their wands as Harry passed and firing spells at the top of the stairs. There was an explosion and the sound of cracking stone. The cement supporting the ceiling shattered, and the entrance on that side collapsed, blocking the way, just as it had moments before. Turning around, Harry saw that at the end of the passage was another empty room, smaller than the previous one, but still quite spacious, with another set of small doors leading out of it. Unlike upstairs, where the walls were covered with white tiles, down here the grayish concrete walls were bare, giving the place a deserted, lonely feel, even though it was bustling with Hogwarts students and the members of the D.A. who supervised them.
"Hurry up, when does the next set of Portkeys leave?" said Harry.
Ron opened the bag, checked the contents and replied, "In three minutes!"
Harry scanned the new room again. The other doors led to small rooms that looked like laboratories or storerooms, but the barred door on the far right led to another set of stairs that led deeper underground.
"Third and fourth years stay here, the rest of you go down that door!" Harry ordered, and the fifth, sixth and seventh years quickly made their way down the stairs, led by their respective prefects. "Dumbledore's Army, hold the passage as long as possible. The Portkeys don't leave for another two minutes."
Harry stared across the corridor at the stairs leading up, completely blocked by crumbled cement and dirt. There was a faint explosion, mingled with the sound of a drill boring through the rubble. . . . "Defodio!" Someone shouted a Gouging Spell from above, and there was a bang and a crash of stone from the blocked passage. There wasn't much time. . . Harry glanced up with his magical eye and saw a woman with a net over her head directing the digging. Robby Leach, enraged, was urging her men to dig with Muggle tools and magic.
Harry nervously checked the time; his watch seemed to have been enchanted to slow the passage of time. With each passing second, the sounds of drilling and explosions from above grew louder. Finally, at the appointed time, the Portkeys spun in a whirlwind and disappeared through the ceiling, taking the third and fourth years with them. Lily's red hair, blending into the crowd of students, flapped like raging flames in a gust of wind. Almost simultaneously, the last of the debris was cleared from the passageway above and the Dawn Breakers burst in.
"Go down, there's no point in delaying now!" yelled Harry. This time he stayed behind, dodging bullets and curses, and watched as Ernie, Justin and Michael Corner ran past him. Finally, Neville, the last to run, tugged at his coat and ran down the stairs with him, stepping into another chamber. Just as quickly, Malfoy, Luna and Rolf Scamander completely destroyed what they had just passed through. This time the Dawn Breakers didn't even pause, but went straight to drilling and explosions.
"Now it's the fifth and sixth years' turn," said Harry. Even as he spoke, he saw that one of the two doors at the end of the corridor led to the lowest floor and sent the seventh years that way. Harry was about to check the time when he heard a bang and the debris blocking the stairs exploded, sending it flying in all directions. An intense laser, glowing red in the dust, sliced through the dark room, followed by a blinding flash of green light.
"Everyone, keep your heads down!" Harry shouted as he fell to the ground. A Killing Curse passed over the heads of the huddled children and crouching D.A. members, leaving blackened scorch marks on the walls.
Harry wiped the dusty glass of his watch and checked the time. Ten seconds until the Portkeys left, five seconds, three seconds, and — Harry suddenly looked up and locked eyes with Albus, who was in the crowd of sixth years. His green eyes, so similar to those of his father and grandmother, told him without words to be careful, to return safely. Harry nodded to his son, and as if in response, the Portkeys whirled once more and disappeared, rising with the students.
"Now get down! Ron and Malfoy — don't forget to bring the rest of the Portkeys with you!" shouted Harry as he scrambled to his feet.
Ron and Malfoy stood up, each carrying two sacks that had fallen to the floor, and made their way down the stairs. Neville and Dean, who had been desperately trying to buy time by casting curses and hexes, fell further and further back until they finally turned onto the stairs Harry followed them down; at the bottom of the stairs he found a much larger room than he had expected. The walls were painted with a green waterproof varnish, similar to an interior parking lot, and rectangular beams supported a high ceiling. A curse flew past Harry's head as he ran down the corridor.
"Not them! Aim for the sack! THE SACK!" Robby Leach shouted right behind him. "Accio Portkey!"
At that moment, Ron's arm, which had just exited the stairwell in front of Harry, snapped back, and the sack he was holding opened, sending an alarm clock, a pair of worn shoes, and a plastic coat hanger flying behind him. Harry reflexively pulled out his wand, but of course his spell was ineffective and he was forced to watch as their precious Portkeys disappeared upward.
"It's too late, blast the path!" shouted Harry. With a thud, the ceiling of the staircase leading upstairs gave way, burying the Portkeys in a shower of debris.
"Draco Malfoy is with them! He's mine!" Leach's frantic voice echoed over the collapsed stairs. "Hurry! They've lost the next set of Portkeys — they're not going anywhere for a while . . . "
"Hermione, when are the next ones leaving?" asked Harry, spinning around. Hermione opened the last of the bags she was holding and examined the contents: a thick book, a deflated football and an empty tin can.
"These depart in ten minutes . . . and there are two more Portkeys I brought." Hermione pulled an empty flower pot from the sack and with a flick of her wand summoned a copper cauldron. "This pot will leave in twenty minutes, and this kettle will activate as soon as you touch it. However, it's impossible for everyone here to touch this pot at the same time, so I think we'll have to keep this as a backup."
"Ten more minutes? We don't need that, let's just make another Portkey," Ron said, pointing his wand at a stone on the ground. "Portus!"
But the stone lay still, unresponsive, unlike the way it usually wobbled when an object became a Portkey. Ginny and Hermione shot him a look, and Ron scratched his head in frustration.
"I know, I know, there's probably a jinx on this place that prevents you from making one . . . I was just trying. Harry, do you reckon we can hold them off for ten minutes?"
"Maybe, but not the way we did before. . . . We're going to have to hold them off longer, and this time we're going to have to get everyone else out, not just the students," Harry said, glancing down the blocked passageway where the sounds of digging and explosions were coming from. "That means someone has to stay here and hold them off while the rest of us go on."
"But Harry, we can just collapse the ceiling like we did before!" Ron urged him. "That'll hold them off for ten minutes or so."
"Not here," said Harry curtly, looking at the solid concrete ceiling. "The narrow passageway before could be sealed by blowing the top off with a few Exploding Charms, but this is one big room. . . . We can't bring this place down with just a couple of spells, and even if we could, the whole bottom floor here could collapse on impact. It's too dangerous."
"Well, Potter, I have a way to buy some time. I've brought something I've been saving." Malfoy reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask containing a black substance. "This is Instant Darkness Powder from Peru. . . . You must know how it works, Weasley — you sell it in your shop. It can block out all light in an area for quite some time."
"That could be useful," said Harry gleefully. "But it's not enough, someone has to attack them in the dark to catch them off guard, it's not just a matter of taking away the light. The conclusion is the same, someone has to stay behind."
Ginny and Hermione opened their mouths to speak, but Harry held up a hand to silence them, then looked at the room they were in. Behind the long room they were in was a tightly barred iron gate. Wordlessly, Harry pushed his way through the other D.A. members and seventh years to the door, pushed it open and stepped into the new room. Bathed in flickering fluorescent light, the place looked like it had been used as a shooting range until recently, with target boards lining the walls, numerous tiny holes drilled in them, and the faint smell of gunpowder hanging in the stale air.
"Okay, the rest of you, get the seventh years in here and hide. I'll try and hold them off out there until the Portkeys leave," said Harry decisively. Ron and Hermione started to protest, but Harry continued, "I'm not done talking. It has to be me, because I'm the only one whose name isn't on their hit list. . . . Eisenbein has had countless chances to kill me and hasn't, and this time will be no different."
"How do you know that, Harry?" Ginny asked, stepping forward to face him, looking more angry than surprised or sad. "What are you suggesting, that we leave you here and go off on our own?"
"It's not that — I'm just leaving a little later than you," said Harry firmly, pulling a pot out of the bag and setting it on the floor. He gestured for her to follow him and Hermione hesitantly placed the copper kettle carefully next to the pot. "Now, it's very simple. You go first while I buy some time, and after you're gone, I'll use the remaining Portkeys to follow you. This kettle in particular only need to be touched to trigger, so there shouldn't be a problem."
Harry looked back at the D.A. members one by one, as if to see if they had any objections, but they just stood there in silence, looking at each other with dark faces as the sound of drilling outside grew louder.
"But there's a problem with this plan," said Harry hesitantly. "It's that I'm not a wizard anymore, so if we're going to stop them properly, there has to be one. It's gonna be a very dangerous mission, especially since everyone in Dumbledore's Army except me have a name on their hit list. . . . Will anyone volunteer?"
"I will," Malfoy said without hesitation. He looked at the members of the D.A., who all looked back at him in surprise. "I know it's not enough — my family has done so many despicable acts over the generations. . . . But I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive us for those sins."
Malfoy's gray eyes lingered for a moment on Ron and George, who stood by his side, and the Weasley brothers exchanged glances. Finally, George stepped forward and held out his hand to Malfoy, his one remaining ear flaming red.
"Thanks for helping us," said George grimly. "I also want to apologize for any bad things I said or did about you."
Malfoy took George's outstretched hand and shook it, looking next to Ron, who shook Malfoy's hand reluctantly, his face turning red.
"Good luck," Ron said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I hope to see you alive."
Malfoy's eyes now turned to Hermione, who was standing next to them. This time he hesitated, not sure what to say, and finally spoke when an unusually loud explosion rang out from behind them.
"I'm really sorry for what I did to you too, Granger. I said a lot of awful things to you that I'll never be able to fully apologize for. . . . If only I could take them all back now — "
"Shut up, Malfoy," said Hermione sharply. She took a step toward Malfoy, ignoring the surprised looks; despite her harsh tone, her eyes were watery. "I'll always remember you badly, no matter what. . . . Now, when I may never see you again — at the last minute! It's no use pretending to be nice now, it's no use . . . "
Hermione came to stand right in front of Malfoy and stopped. She started to say something, but closed her trembling lips. Then she lunged at him, throwing her arms around him and pulling him into a tight embrace. Ron's eyes widened and his mouth fell open, and the others around him exchanged startled glances. But none of them seemed as shocked as Malfoy himself. When Hermione let go of him, Malfoy was completely frozen, as if he was standing in front of a dead person.
"You have to come back, both of you," Hermione said in a trembling voice, looking at Harry and Malfoy in turn. "Take care of yourselves!"
Just then, a thud came from the entrance and a shower of debris rained down, cutting off their conversation.
"Get the students in here!" said Malfoy, leading the way out of the firing range. "Close the door here and leave with the Portkeys when the time comes — don't worry about us."
"Okay, Draco," said Neville. "Good luck. . . . Everyone, come in here!"
"Dad! Get in here, Dad!" James jumped up from the seventh years and tugged on Harry's sleeve.
Just then, Ginny grabbed their son, explained the situation and pulled him through the door. Harry looked back and caught a glimpse of Ginny's red hair through the closing doors as she carried James away. The next moment, the iron gates slammed shut, creaking and locking firmly. Checking his wristwatch, Harry saw that they had five minutes before the Portkeys left, and Harry instinctively knew that these would be the longest five minutes of his life.