Luna Lovegood watched the Nargles and Wrackspurts, they always became agitated when crowds of witches and wizards showed strong emotions. Nargles fed off anger and fear, but it was the wrackspurts that worried her.
Looking over at Headmaster Dumbledore, there was a tornado of wrackspurts, as if every wrackspurt in the Hogwarts courtyard was being sucked into Headmaster's head, making his normally saggy cap stand upright, like a wrackspurt antenna, a reverse funnel to channel all the wrackspurts produced by an entire castle full of scared witches and wizards descend onto a single brain, filling it with the sort of fuzzy mindedness normally only seen in senior Ministry of Magic officials, and retired quidditch players who took one too many bludgers to the head, or fell from great heights and landed on their heads.
The Headmaster's eyes blazed and his magic flared, as if embracing all the wrackspurts; no, as if devouring all the wrackspurts to fuel the creation of a super wrackspurt, the sort of creature capable of producing the very worst possible idea. A Blibbering Humdinger!
She saw it rear above the Headmaster, and roar its unheard roar, which sounded a bit like a duck getting a thermometer stuck someplace unrelated to its beak, then sink into his head, as the Headmaster smiled the smile of one who has formed an idea of such pure elemental idiocy, the light of its very unbrilliance blots out all other thoughts and basic survival instincts.
Running to where Harry, Hermione, Milicent, and Neville were discussing the final preparations with the Heads of House who would wield the founders items to balance the ritual, Luna broke the news with the sort of Luna Lovegood directness that others somehow got confused by.
"Oh, I fear Dumbledore has gone all Ministry. He has been overcome by a Blibbering Humdinger, and will come up with the kind of terrible idea that usually requires an entire room full of middle managers trying to impress head office with their creativity to produce." Luna gushed, glancing over her shoulder at an advancing Albus Dumbledore, whose hat stood straight up as if inflated by the power rolling off the Headmaster like body-odour off a troll.
Professor McGonagall smiled and patted Luna on the shoulder. "Rest assured Miss Lovegood, no matter how set Albus Dumbledore is against ritual magic, against any pre-Merlin magic, he is Headmaster of Hogwarts and to reasonable to risk his students in a battle your ritual will not get within leagues of Hogwarts itself."
Hermione watched the way Albus advanced, the way he was thrusting his chest out and flexing his hands argued that he was preparing himself not only for a confrontation, but for some form of dominance game he expected to win.
Speaking softly, and palming her wand, Hermione turned to Professor Sprout and asked. "What happens if the Headmaster decides to be particularly unreasonable, just now?"
Professor Flitwick dropped Ravenclaw's Diadem over his head, and let its power fill him, the half goblin's eyes crackling with power and will beyond even the legendary duelists already potent norm. "Then the Headmaster will find out he may be the strongest wizard in Hogwarts, but he is not stronger than the combined Heads of House of Hogwarts!""
Professor Snape gripped Slytherin's locket, Professor Sprout held the Hufflepuff cup in her non-wand hand, and Professor McGonagall laid her hand on the hilt of Gryffindor's sword in unconcious warning as the Headmaster strode over to them.
Without touching his wand to his throat, he cast a chantless and wandless Sonorus, letting the very stones of Hogwarts echo his words like the voice of some elder god.
"There is no need for this foolish ritual, or any such dark rituals. We have all that we need without resorting to the primitive and blood-soaked superstitions of peoples before the enlightenment of Merlin and the rationality of wands." Dumbledore thundered, and his magical aura flared in a display of strength that caused most of the students and staff to freeze in instinctive fear.
The Heads of House and Harry Potter's elemental circle were less than impressed, and Minerva McGonagall showed why she was named for the Roman goddess of wisdom and war.
"Albus Dumbledore, your objections had been noted, and overruled. There is an army coming towards us as we speak. An army of giants, werewolves, vampires, Death Eaters and foreign recruits eager to become Death Eaters. Voldemort is with them.
Voldemort used less than a quarter of this strength to topple the Ministry Albus, the MINISTRY ITSELF. We have a handful of teachers, and several hundred students, many of whom cannot defend themselves against an angry house pet, let alone a force greater than Voldemort used in any attack of the last two wars, neither of which we won.
We will be using the rituals, and letting the combined magic of the castle, and every one of its teachers and students end the threat before anyone gets within wand or weapon range of our students!"
Albus smiled sadly at his deputy. "That is your final word Minerva, Severus, Filius, Pomona?" He asked.
They all nodded, and Professor McGonagall answered for them all. "Aye Albus, it is." She said proudly.
Albus Dumbledore raised the Elder Wand and spoke "Contractus sanctione!"
All four heads of houses screamed and fell to the ground, writhing in the agony of the ultimate sanction clause of their employment contract. The spell should have killed all four Heads of House as the Headmaster invoked the final defense of his authority over his staff in the event of rebellion, but the four House Tokens extended the protection of their individual founder's protection to their Head of House. The war between ancient protection and later death penalty in magical contracts set a magical clash in each of them little different than the Cruciatus curse.
Assuming Albus had completed his second to last sacrifice for the greater good, he turned his wand upon Harry's friends, all four of whom were already casting desperately.
Neville struck to kill with a shouted "Jera!" and the golden sythe of the reaper formed to cut down the most powerful wizard the light has ever known.
Milicent slashed her wand right to left, hissing "Issa" as she formed a wall of ice thick as her own body between the Headmaster and the four.
Hermione ignited a fireball like a giant flashbang above Dumbledore to daze and disorient the professor, while Harry made a quick Sowello sun/power rune in mid air to strengthen Hermione's flashbang to ten times its power, enough to shatter eardrums on a troll and blind a dragon.
Smiling softly, the defeater of Grindelwald strolled forward, unconcerned. His wand flashed up to raise a wall of earth and stone that Dumbledore shifted with Alchemy to become high carbon steel. The cutting scythe of the reaper cut through five feet of steel, before losing coherence.
Dumbledore's wand caught the overpowered flashbang with the matchless power of the elder wand, and the unrivaled control of the worlds leading transfiguration prodigy. He took the fire and force of the explosion and drove it into the wall of magically reenforced ice and it exploded with the force of a muggle artillery shell.
As they were still in midair, Dumbledore used his left hand to summon three sets of chains which he wiggled his fingers in practiced motions to cause to bind Neville and the girls in enough magical chains to bind trolls, let alone teenagers. Harry had drawn his goblin silver blade in his left hand, and his wand in the right, and it was more through luck than skill that he only cut himself lightly in his wand arm with the goblin siver blade when he hit the ground. Dumbledore did give him a chance to recover.
The Elder Wand stabbed like the finger of death itself as the will of Albus Dumbledore hammered into Harry Potter with last spell any Hogwarts student expected from their Headmaster.
"Imperio!" Dumbledore spoke, and the stones thundered his words to the sky. Harry Potter froze as the will of Albus Dumbledore hammered into him.
Dumbledore smiled, gesturing for Harry to rise.
"I am very sorry Harry. It simply was never your place to fight this war. Everything you have done, no matter how well motivated you may have thought yourself, was just wasted suffering and needless death.
Before you were born, this part was chosen for you. The light gave me a prophesy. It was between you and Neville, you see, which it would be. Voldemort himself chose it to be you, when he struck but failed to kill you with the Killing Curse. Blame him, not me, if you must, for once he marked you as his equal, your fate was sealed."
Dumbledore waved his wand, and an image of Sybill Trelawney appeared and spoke.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..."
Dumbledore let the image fade, then smiled. "You see my boy, you and I will advance to the gates. While I stand, Voldemort's legions cannot breach our defenses. Eventually he will come, and the two of you will kill each other, and I will banish the rest of his scum, securing the ultimate victory of the Light.
Granted, many students may die in the fighting, but all will see that the ultimate victory in this war, and in the last, belongs to the Champion of the Light. No dark rituals were required, no armies, no non human allies. Only Albus Dumbledore, humble champion of the light, and the noble sacrifice of Harry Potter, the boy who lived, until he willingly died for us all."
Dumledore gestured to Harry. "Rise my boy. You cannot face the Dark Lord on your stomach."
Harry rose, wand in one hand, goblin blade in the other. Blood trickled down his wand arm from where his knife had cut it.
Dumbledore tsked, then advanced with his wand to touch the cut, and muttered a quick healing charm. Turning to look at Harry he commanded him softly.
"Tell me you forgive me Harry, tell me you understand." Dumbledore said, because, no matter how necessary Harry's death had always been, like that of his parents, Albus felt a degree of guilt that weighed on him heavily.
"Hmmmmm?" Dumbledore grew distracted as his healing charm failed on Harry's arm. That was impossible. Dumbledore may not be a healer, but light magic, like that of Healing, was his strongest tool. He could not understand how his healing charm failed.
In that second of distraction, Harry's head snapped up, and his left hand flashed. Harry drove the knife of goblin silver into the arm of Albus Dumbledore, Champion of the Light, Defeater of Grindelwald, and the goblin silver's effect of disrupting magic cut not only through Albus magical defenses, but drove chaotic the rush of magic to Dumbledore's wand as he instinctively tried to banish Harry away from him.
The blast of chaotic magic instead tore through Dumbledore's arm, blasting the Elder Wand from his hand like the strongest disarming charm, even as the magic reflected down his mana channels and into his brain in a wave of pain and disorientation.
In blind panic Dumbledore screamed "Ignus!" and an unfocused wall of fire hot enough to vaporize steel lashed out at Harry, too vast to dodge, too hot to survive.
Three sets of instincts turned one instant of combat into something that would be debated for centuries afterwards, and lied about by everyone surviving who actually knew.
Dumbledore called a wall of fire to destroy the wizarding world's only chance of salvation in a moment of blind panic. Harry Potter shifted into his basilisk form because he was too goblin to not drag his enemy down into death with him, and Hermione Granger put her will upon the fire that it should not burn her Harry.
The fire did not burn Harry, but basilisk reflex to defend its vulnerable eyes caused Harry to lower his first set of lids, causing Dumbledore to only be petrified, not killed. Harry's basilisk form was thrown through the air by the force of the explosion, and his own beater reflexes caused him to shape shift back into human as he was torn from the fireball, to land in a somewhat controlled roll.
Out of reflex, Harry rolled to and picked up the wand he saw beside himself, and rolled to his feet, both wands pointing at the downed Headmaster.
The entire courtyard full of witches and wizards saw Dumbledore cast down all four Heads of House with a single spell. They saw Hermione, Neville, and Milicent defeated and bound without any effort.
They saw the strongest wizard of the last century put a school boy under the Imperius curse, one that could only be resisted by a stronger will and wizard, only to see Harry throw it off, disarm, and cast down the Headmaster in a blaze of fire that left him standing, holding the Elder Wand taken from the Headmaster, who lay broken and unmoving at his feet.
Filius Flitwick, in his later years refused to discuss what he saw, because when he watched the duel in a pensive with the other professors trying to make official history after the war, only the half goblin Charms professor noted the unhealed wound in Harry's arm.
Goblin silver wounds cannot be magically healed, for the disruption they make on magic is the goblin's counter to the wizards wand advantage. At any range at all, the goblins are at a disadvantage, but no wizard who allows a goblin within blade's reach will live to learn from their mistake.
Just as Dumbledore could not heal Harry with the goblin silver wound in his arm, so too would even the Imperius curse of the strongest wizard the Light has ever known fail to bite on Harry deeply enough to control a power and will as strong as Hufflepuff's only goblin warrior.
The people need to believe in heroes. Believing that Harry Potter defeated Albus Dumbledore before even writing his OWLS is inspirational. Understanding Harry Potter defeated Albus Dumbledore because he fell on his own knife, and Hermione kept him from being roast snake is much less useful for morale boosting.
The four heads of Hogwarts Houses were released from the magical oath penalties inflicted by the Headmaster with his defeat. They returned to their senses to see Harry Potter, bleeding but victorious, holding the Elder Wand Dumbledore took from Grindelwald at the end of the Great War to become the unquestioned Champion of Light. Harry was looking down on a bleeding and petrified Dumbledore. They watched as Harry walked to the Headmaster, pulled his goblin silver knife from the wand arm of the Headmaster, wipe it clean on his white and gold robes, and call softly.
"Can someone get Madame Pomfrey? I seemed to have broken the Headmaster a little bit." Harry said plaintively.
"You didn't kill the Headmaster, did you Potter?" Professor McGonagall said, getting stiffly to her feet.
"Only petrified, and stabbed a little." Harry answered happily, relieved to deliver good news.
The deputy headmistress sighed heavily. "I will get Severus to brew a restorative after the battle. He will be fine by tomorrow."
Professor Snape dusted off his robes, and wiped the blood coming out of his nose with a silk handkerchief. He sneered his best sneer.
"With regrets, deputy headmistress, it seems the intense pain of the Headmaster's using what amounts to slave punishment clauses concealed in our teaching contracts, I seem to have some memory loss around that particular potion." Severus Snape, Potion master of Hogwarts lied through his Slytherin teeth.
Minerva McGonagall eyed the black robed professor with a gimlet eye, then sighed. "That is regrettable Severus, I will have to get Professor Sprout to brew it then. She is the living expert in all things Mandrake after all."
Pomona Sprout was dusting off the Hufflepuff cup and looking at the Headmaster's petrified form like she was thinking seriously about kicking it. She turned to face the deputy headmistress and shook her head.
"I'm sorry Minerva. I don't think I can brew a restorative for the Headmaster from my mandrakes." Professor Sprout said firmly.
McGonagall looked at the usually smiling figure of the Hufflepuff Head of House and chief Herbologist. "Don't tell me you suddenly forgot how to brew the restoratives after Albus's regrettable lapse of judgement?" She asked in a voice dripping with irony.
Marching firmly to the Headmaster, she gave him a very solid kick to the magic beans, then turned to face the deputy headmistress. "No Minerva, but since he just tried to murder us all, then one of our children just to play hero again, I just don't give a toss if we leave him as a garden gnome for Greenhouse 3"
Filius Flitwick, staggered to his feet, poked a clawed finger into Dumbledores' bleeding forearm, then put it in his mouth to savour the taste. Administering another kick to the headmasters delicate bits, he nodded to Harry Potter.
"Excellent duelling reflexes Mr Potter. Ten points to Hufflepuff." The former European Duelling champion and current head of Ravenclaw said with all the cheer of his normal persona, only the burning gaze of a goblin warrior on the edge of losing control warned the attempt on his life by the Headmaster was neither forgotten, nor forgiven.
Hermione rose once Professor McGonagall and came to stand before Harry with a worried look on her face.
"Relax Hermione, the ritual wasn't affected. Plan A was always that we use the ritual and deal with Voldemort's forces before they ever reach the castle. Dumbledore defending the walls and wards was only ever plan B. We just have to make sure Plan A works now." Harry said.
Hermione poked Harry in the chest. "You had better hope so Harry. May I remind you that not only can you not work or use magic without at least three OWLS passed, you cannot inherit any lordships to which you are entitled."
Harry blinked, not understanding where she was going with this.
"What are you on about Hermione? We are fighting Voldemort and winning a war, not writing end of year exams. That is over a month away." Harry protested.
Milicent started giggling, then laughing, having to lean on Neville not to fall down. The Slytherin girl already understood what Hermione alone of the Hufflepuffs had figured out.
Hermione sighed. "Harry, you just stabbed and petrified the Headmaster. Once he gets unpetrified, the very least he will do is expel you."
Harry laughed. "You are honestly worried about that now?"
Neville swore. "Merlin's wrinkly wand Harry, if we get expelled, the only other place we have to write our OWLS is the Ministry of Education. Milicent took her House by Manifest Right of Conquest, she is already lord, the rest of us are just heirs."
Harry frowned. "But Voldemort took the Ministry already."
Hermione poked Harry again. "That is right, Stabby McStabby goblin boy. Voldemort already took the Ministry, and you just petrified the Headmaster. Either we win the whole war and kill Voldemort in the next battle, or the only spell you will get to cast goes 'would you like fries with that?' "
Harry shuddered. He was a goblin raised wizard, he knew that no goblin would end up working at McDonalds. On the other hand, a goblin who never finished his schooling would never work an account at Gringotts, never stand as a guard, the only duties left were shovelling dragon poop in the dungeons.
"Merlin's saggy ballsack. Okay, now I'm scared." Harry muttered.
Tucking the Elder Wand into his robes, settling blade and wand in their normal sheaths, Harry Potter swung his leg over his broom and sailed over the walls of Hogwarts. Neville and Milicent rode behind to the left and right, leaving Hermione to ride behind Harry directly in a diamond formation as they sailed over the walls, towards the Dark Forest and destiny.
The first battle of Hogwarts had cost the defenders Albus Dumbledore, without a single enemy so much as drawing a wand.
Four students soared towards the woods, and a war none of them thought they were ready for.
In the Hogwarts Owlery, the Carrow twins tied a message for their Dark Lord to an owl, and sent it winging to him where he guided his forces into the depths of the Forbidden Forest for this evening's final assault on Hogwarts. They had watched the duel, and like everyone else, saw only the single bright flash of Harry and Dumbledore trading blows, after which, somehow, Potter was standing holding the Elder Wand, and Dumbledore was broken on the ground. The Dark Lord would need to know this before battle was joined. No one knew what power it was Potter used to fell Dumbledore, but the Dark Lord could at least be warned it was real.