Soul Searching/End Game
EG Chapter 16 - Nagini - The Beginning of the End
By Chem Prof
Nagini – The Beginning of the End
Hermione sat in the Great Hall fuming as the three Hufflepuff girls walked away from her table giggling, two of them teasing the other. The target of their teasing had just asked Harry to the Valentine’s Day dance. This was getting out of hand. Apparently the head students’ strategy of keeping their relationship low key had led to the belief that they weren’t that serious, and that Harry might be available. The seventh year girls weren’t the problem; they knew Harry and Hermione well enough to know better. This was coming from fifth and sixth years. Romilda Vane had been the first, but Harry’s polite rejection of her had done nothing to stop the steady stream of other hopefuls.
“Sonorous.” The others at her table looked up in surprise as the Head Girl stood to make an announcement. “Attention Hogwarts girls. Harry Potter is going to the Valentine’s Day dance with me. He’s taken so back off!” She canceled the charm and sat back down, arms folded across her chest in satisfaction, her eyes daring anyone to challenge her. Harry reached over and squeezed her arm admiringly.
For a moment the Great Hall was silent, then some nervous laughter broke out. That had been so out of character for the normally reserved girl. They only expected her to be that passionate about rules and coursework. Of course, the students who knew her well were aware that she was even more passionate about one Harry Potter. Just then another student rose to her feet and cast the sonorous charm.
“Attention Hogwarts girls,” announced Daphne Greengrass. “Ron Weasley is going to the Valentine’s Day dance with me. He’s not available either.” As she sat down more laughter broke out. That declaration had certainly not been necessary. The gossip network was full of stories about that pair.
Next Ginny stood and publicly claimed Neville, followed by many of the other females in the inner circle of Harry’s friends. Thus started what was to become a Hogwarts custom. Each evening any girl who had persuaded a boy to attend the Valentine’s dance with her rose in the Great Hall at dinner (or breakfast or lunch if she was on the shy side) and declared her success.
-ooOoo-
Alastor Moody, Viktor Krum, and Remus Lupin had joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Hogwarts Headmistress’s office to discuss the latest intelligence on Voldemort’s plans. Dobby’s house elf spy network had confirmed the information that Tracey had passed to Harry, that an attack was planned for the next Hogsmeade weekend. There had been a heated discussion on what to do with the information.
Headmistress McGonagall’s inclination had been to simply not schedule another visit for the rest of the year and she had been horrified to hear that the others would even consider going ahead with one. Her responsibility, after all, was the safety of the students. She had argued long and hard last summer with nervous parents that Hogwarts was the safest place for their children. Surely they didn’t dare risk the lives of the students when they knew there was going to be an attack on them. They just had to keep them in the castle.
She had not been at all happy when Moody had pointed out the problem with that course of action, and was dismayed that Harry, Remus, and Viktor were inclined to agree with him. Simply put, they couldn’t keep the children locked up in the castle forever. Sooner or later, they had to leave, even if it was for the trip home at the end of the school year. In that case, they could be attacked at Hogsmeade Station, on the Hogwart’s Express, or at Platform 9 ¾.
McGonagall was torn. Moody had made a good point, and of course they wanted to do everything they could to help Harry defeat You Know Who, but still – the children – they had to be kept safe.
Moody responded, and Viktor added that his muggle military advisors concurred, that they were better off planning a defense for an attack for which they knew exactly where and when it was going to take place. The problem was that this time there needed to be an actual visit to the village by students. Voldemort’s forces were not likely to be tricked again into attacking an empty town. They would no doubt have spies planted in Hogsmeade to signal the attack to begin only when the students were actually present.
Reluctantly, the headmistress gave her approval to the plan, but only when she was assured that the first priority of the defenders would be the rapid evacuation of the students as soon as the attack began.
But the key part of the plan, from the light side’s point of view, would be to take this opportunity to counterattack Voldemort. If he did not accompany his forces to the attack, this would be their best chance to go after him. If he did show up, they would do their best to isolate him from his allies. Harry exchanged nervous glances with Ron and Hermione. This was it. This was what they had been training for.
The whole thing hinged, of course, on first finding and killing Nagini. As soon as possible after that happened, a Hogsmeade trip would be scheduled.
After that issue was resolved, Remus and Moody revealed that seeing Harry’s pensieve memory of the trip to the cave had inspired them to plant fake horcruxes. Once Nagini had been destroyed, Voldemort might be concerned about his remaining soul pieces. They reasoned that he probably already knew that the diary had been destroyed, and since Dumbledore had worn Slytherin’s ring in public, he probably already knew about that. The hope was that he would assume that Dumbledore’s death had eliminated the threat to his soul fragments.
So, they had retraced Harry and Dumbledore’s steps to the cave and returned the fake locket to the basin. Fortunately, they hadn’t needed to drink any of the poisoned liquid in order to put the locket back. That vile substance was only in place to keep anyone from taking the locket out.
Furthermore, they had made a copy of Hufflepuff’s cup, and had the goblins place it into the Crouch family vault at Gringotts. Their records were altered to show that it had been in the vault continuously ever since Barty Crouch Jr. first hid it there. Any inquiry into the contents of the vault by any representative of the Crouch family interest, which could possibly be made by someone with forged credentials, would elicit only a listing of the items in the vault, which now included the cup.
As the meeting broke up, the tasks before them were clear:
1) Find and kill Nagini.
2) Discover where Voldemort would be during the attack on Hogsmeade.
3) Figure out how to protect the students and fight off the attack.
4) Confront and defeat Voldemort.
It was a very somber trio that left the Headmistress’s office and walked slowly back to their rooms.
-ooOoo-
Harry, Ron, and Hermoine were training harder than ever. It was now clear to everyone that they were the three most powerful students in the school, although in his classes and in the DA meetings Harry kept the true scope of his ability under wraps. All three had practiced several times with the power boost potion and Harry practiced weekly with his ring.
At first he had some issues with control, needing to find the proper balance with his spells. It did no good to blind his teammates with a Lumos, for example. He did enjoy watching the delightful little shudder that went through Hermione every time he donned the ring. For her part, Hermoine was no longer embarrassed at the tingle that swept across her torso from her necklace every time Harry used the ring, so she could just smile and enjoy it. They considerately avoided embarrassing Ron by not revealing that particular effect to him.
While taking the power boost potion one training session, they decided to discuss what other potions might be useful. They decided immediately that restorative potions would be useful to have along at a battle, and Hermione grimly decided that blood replenishing potion was a must. That led Harry to suggest pain relief potion, but they decided against bone mending potions, reasoning that they wouldn’t have the skill to make sure the bones were properly aligned before mending them. Then Ron had a suggestion.
“What about getting some more Felix Felicis?”
Harry thought for a bit. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. The last time I used it the potion seemed to have other ideas about what I should be doing than I did. I mean, it might decide that it would be lucky for us to not battle him at all, and avoid the chance of getting killed.”
Hermione agreed. “You know, that’s basically what happened to me last year. I was ‘lucky’ enough to miss the battle completely. And I have no intention of doing that this time,” she added, preparing to give Harry ‘The Look’ if he even dared to suggest that that would be a good thing. Fortunately, he knew her well enough to keep his mouth shut. Ron reluctantly admitted that they were probably right. Hermione informed them that she would take care of getting the potions they needed and charming some unbreakable vials for them, and they resumed their training.
-ooOoo-
Winky woke suddenly, her eyes wide in alarm. Something was wrong with her masters’ house! Something that shouldn’t be here had just entered. With a crack she flashed to the living room, only to be frozen for an instant in terror. Slithering from the kitchen through the living room toward the stairs was the largest snake she had ever seen. Obeying her magical imperative Protect the house! she attacked without a second thought. Raising her hand, she shouted, “You will leave masters’ house!”
But her spell merely rebounded from the snake and came streaking back at her, hurling her against the wall. However, it had gotten the snakes attention. As she pulled herself to her feet, slightly dazed, the snake, moving more quickly than a snake that large ought to be able to, bit down hard on her leg and whipped around before releasing her, sending her flying once more into the wall. This time she did not get up.
In Grimmauld Place Dobby abruptly became fully alert. Something bad had just happened to Winky! In an instant he vanished, reappearing in the living room of the Burrow next to Winky’s body and finding himself face to face with an enormous snake with glowing red eyes. Dobby only hesitated for a moment. This was the snake that Master Harry Potter was looking for! He must be told! With tears in his eyes at having to leave his best friend to a certain death, but understanding his primary duty, Dobby disappeared with the loudest crack he could make, hoping it would bring others to aid Winky.
Charlie was the next one on the scene. He had been awakened by the noise Winky had made when she first popped to meet the intruder, and sat up in his bed wondering what had happened. Two crashes a few seconds apart from the living room quickly made up his mind that whatever was going on was bad news. He quickly pulled on his trousers and ran from his room just as Dobby’s loud crack awakened the rest of the household.
From the first landing he spotted the massive snake hovering over the body of the loyal house elf, and immediately began hurling spells at it. He was accustomed to dealing with dragons and knew plenty of spells that would control them. This giant snake was a monster, but still puny compared to a dragon.
But to his astonishment and dismay, the snake was magically shielded somehow, and his spells flashed right back at him. Diving the rest of the way down the stairs to avoid them, he rolled to his feet only to discover that the he now had the full attention of the giant creature. He had time for only more hex and tried to blind it, only to have this attempt rebound as well. He fell back sightless just as he felt the fangs of the snake sink into his shoulder. Within seconds he was unconscious and dying.
-ooOoo-
“Master Harry! Master Harry Potter! Wake up!” Harry woke, immediately detecting the complete panic in the voice of his friend and leapt from his bed.
“Dobby! What’s going on? Is headquarters under attack?”
“No, no!” Dobby was frantically pulling him to his dresser. “Is Bad Wizard’s snake. It attacked Winky! It is being at the Wheezy house! You must come now!” Harry had been sleeping in a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt, and struggled for a second to process what Dobby was saying. Now Dobby was handing him his dragonhide vest and he put it on automatically as he finally realized that this was the opportunity they had been waiting for, even while he shuddered at the thought that the Burrow had been attacked and someone he loved might be seriously hurt.
“Harry, what’s going on?” Hermione’s sleepy voice sounded from his bedroom doorway. But there was no time to fill her in. Harry had just finished donning the vest and grabbed his wand as the anxious house elf clasped his hand to prepare to pop away. He only had time for a quick response.
“Nagini’s attacking the Burrow! Tell …” But he was gone before he could finish the sentence.
-ooOoo-
Arthur Weasley was only a few seconds slower than Charlie, arriving just in time to see his final spell rebound on him, and watched the massive serpent’s bite paralyze his son. He cast a severing charm at the snake’s head, but was ready and ducked out of the way as his spell was returned, allowing it to slice through the railing of the landing of the stairs. Jumping through the gap to the living room below, he cautiously backed away from the large creature. As he had intended, he had its full attention now as it turned away from Charlie’s body and pursued him into the kitchen.
Arthur thought quickly. He had to keep the snake away from Charlie and Winky. Someone needed to alert Harry. Someone needed to get immediate medical attention for the injured. And somehow he needed to stay alive while all of this was happening. He knew very well what he was facing. This foul creature had nearly killed him two years ago. According to Harry, it had been possessed by You Know Who (and Harry) when it attacked him then. He wondered if You Know Who was in the snake’s head right now looking at him. Suddenly, Nagini struck at him, and he barely dodged out of the way.
Realizing that this foe was somehow shielded from spells, Arthur tried another tactic. Levitating a kitchen chair, he sent it crashing into the snakes’ head with a banishing charm. That had mixed results. The shield didn’t protect it from this type of attack, but on the other hand it didn’t seem to hurt it much. It also infuriated the serpent. Now, it attacked him repeatedly, determined to kill this annoying wizard. But Arthur continued to block the attacks by levitating whatever furniture was available. The kitchen table itself thwarted several strikes before Nagini’s massive jaws began to dismantle it.
“Arthur!” came Molly’s scream from the ruined stairwell. “What’s going on?” No! He had to keep her away! It was too dangerous!
“Molly!” he cried. “Take Charlie and get out of here! Go! Now!”
“Arthur!” came the anguished cry from the other room. “I can’t leave you here!”
“Molly, take Charlie and go!” Arthur shouted. “It’s Nagini! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off …”
Molly knelt before the unmoving body of her second son. It was her greatest fear. The boggart from Grimmauld Place had become reality. Desperately she looked back and forth between Charlie and Arthur, fighting the horrible serpent in the kitchen. Tears were streaming down her face as she was forced to make the awful choice that no mother should ever have to face – the life of her husband or the life of her son.
“Molly! Go now!” Arthur called in despair, knowing he couldn’t hold out much longer. “You have to tell Harry!”
Nearly blinded by her tears. Molly gathered her son’s body into her arms and activated her portkey.
Just then Arthur’s luck ran out. With the kitchen table now in splinters, and all of the chairs destroyed, he had been reduced to hurling kitchen knives at the steadily advancing serpent. With one final lunge it had him. As the poison spread through his body and darkness slowly overtook him, he prayed that he had delayed the evil creature long enough.
Crack! As Arthur slumped to the kitchen floor, Harry and Dobby appeared in the living room. Dobby raced to Winky and gathered her body into his arms, looking to Harry for permission to take his friend away. Harry quickly waved him away before turning his full concentration to Nagini, who was now slithering back into the living room.
He fired a blasting hex at the beast, then dodged the reflected spell as it blew a hole in the wall of the Burrow. He stepped carefully around the debris with his bare feet, wishing he had taken time to put some boots on. Ideally, he thought, he would have taken more time to prepare for this encounter. Ideally, Hermione and Ron would have been here with him. But none of his encounters with Voldemort had ever taken place under ideal conditions. He would have to adapt, just as he had in the past. He knew what he had to do. This wasn’t just an overgrown snake he was fighting, it was the final horcrux. He sheathed his wand.
“So, Harry Potter,” came a hissing sound from the serpent. “You realize the futility of trying to battle me. Are you now prepared to die?”
“Not a chance, you overstuffed worm,” Harry hissed back in Parseltongue. “I just didn’t want to mess up this nice house any more than you already have. You’re the only thing that’s going to die today.”
“Mock me, do you!” returned the enraged hiss. “For that you will die slowly and painfully.” Even as the last word hissed from its mouth, Nagini struck. Harry sidestepped quickly, reached out to summon the Sword of Gryffindor, and swung for the exposed neck of the snake. But Nagini was too quick and dodged out of the way. Harry couldn’t believe how fast this giant snake was. This was going to be more difficult than he had thought.
Harry drew his wand again, holding it in one hand and the sword in the other. For several minutes he and Nagini engaged in a deadly dance, the giant snake swooping in to strike at him, with Harry dodging away or summoning furniture to block while striking back with the sword, neither of them connecting. Finally one of Harry’s lunges left him off balance and exposed, and Nagini pounced, catching hold briefly of Harry’s left shoulder.
But the venomous fangs were turned aside by the dragonhide armour, and Harry whispered a fervent thanks to Dobby for taking time for him to don the protective garment. His desperate return thrust had sliced off a bit of Nagini’s skin, and the serpent recoiled in anger. Unfortunately, even though the dragonskin had blocked the snake’s fangs, the pressure of the powerful jaws crushed some nerves in Harry’s shoulder and numbed his arm, and he was having trouble holding onto his wand. He needed to end this soon.
A brilliant flash caught the eye of both serpent and wizard, and a warbling sound filled the air, bringing hope to one and despair to the other. The song of a phoenix. Temporarily distracted from its wounded prey, Nagini snapped at the colorful bird as it darted in and out, fearlessly jabbing at the glowing red eyes.
This was the opening Harry needed. When Nagini was fully extended from one of its futile lunges at Fawkes, he brought the Sword of Gryffindor around in a long sweeping stroke, connecting cleanly. The effort brought him stumbling forward off balance, but it was a success, as the severed head of the loathsome beast fell away from its twitching body. There was an eerie silence for an instant, which brought Harry scrambling to his feet in alarm. There should have been a scream!
Lunging toward the giant snake’s head, Harry dropped to his knees, reversed the sword and thrust straight down. The poisoned tip that he and Hermione had been faithfully coating daily with Acromantula venom pierced the skull and pinned it to the floor, just as the glowing red eyes finally winked out. Now a piercing scream filled the air of the Burrow, and Harry leaned back on his heels in satisfaction, thinking that he would never have believed that he would be so glad to hear that awful sound.
-ooOoo-
Ron, Hermione, and Viktor hurried up the path toward the Burrow, torn between the conflicting needs for haste and caution. When Harry disappeared Hermione had hurriedly thrown a jumper and some jeans over her sleeping attire and rushed to Gryffindor tower to wake Ron.
Despairing of the time it was taking, she activated her portkey to Grimmauld Place as soon as she had awakened him (rather rudely he thought, since she had finally resorted to dragging him from the bed and dropping him on the floor), leaving him to dress and join her as soon as he could. She arrived in Grimmauld Place to find it in an uproar. Molly’s appearance with Charlie had roused the strike team members who were permanently on duty there, and two had accompanied her and Charlie to St. Mungo’s. To no one’s surprise, they had found the floo to the Burrow blocked.
Viktor had been summoned and he appeared seconds after Hermione. Combining the fragment of the story that Hermione knew with the bit that they had obtained from the hysterical Molly, they deduced correctly that Nagini had attacked the Burrow, and that Harry, Arthur, and possibly Dobby and Winky were there fighting him. What they didn’t know was if any Death Eaters had accompanied Voldemort’s familiar or if it was a solo attack.
Ron had arrived just as they decided that two teams would apparate to the Burrow. Since the anti-apparation wards were still up they would have to make the final approach on foot. Viktor, Ron, and Hermione would go in first while the backup team would spread out and secure the area. All of them would be disillusioned, but the strike team members had practiced that often and were accustomed to working with invisible team members.
Being most familiar with the layout, Ron led the way into his house, entering through a doorway that Hermione didn’t even know existed. Keeping one hand behind him in contact with his invisible friend, who in turn kept one hand on Viktor, he crept down the hallway from his father’s study to the living room. Suddenly he stopped short, and Hermione and Viktor moved up on either side of him to look out over the wreckage of the Weasley living room and kitchen.
-ooOoo-
As Harry knelt staring at his defeated foe, Fawkes alighted on his shoulder. He absently reached up to stroke the feathers of the beautiful bird, and the phoenix trilled in appreciation.
“Hullo Fawkes. I sure am glad you keep popping up like this,” Harry smiled up at the magnificent creature on his shoulder. “You always know just when I need you the most, don’t you?” Fawkes warbled an acknowledgement, then took flight again toward the kitchen. Harry immediately remembered that Arthur Weasley had fallen there, and as he hurried over he quickly looked around the two rooms to see if there were any other unconscious victims lying about.
As soon as he reached his best mate’s father he knew things were grim. As he carefully cleared the rubble of what had once been one of his favorite places on earth away from Arthur’s body, Fawkes perched on his shoulder again and leaned over the gaping wound, dripping several tears into it. Harry immediately recalled the eerily similar situation from the Chamber of Secrets, and watched eagerly as the pearly phoenix tears soaked into the wound.
Suddenly he snapped his head up. Someone else was in the house. But a smile came to his face as he sensed who it was. Due to his connection with her he could always detect when Hermione was near.
“Hermione!” he called out. “Over here, in the kitchen!” He heard the sound of running feet as three disillusioned shapes came into focus hurrying toward him. Viktor remained standing, alertly scanning the rooms for threats as Ron and Hermione fell to their knees at his side.
“Dad!” Ron cried out in horror. Harry automatically put his arm around his friend’s shoulder in comfort, and Hermione scooted around to his other side to give him a hug. When Fawkes had done all he could, he looked up at Harry, trilled once, and vanished in a flash of flame. A moan from Arthur signaled that he was beginning to regain consciousness.
“Molly! Charlie!” The young wizards and witch worked together to calm Ron’s father down and reassure him that the danger was past. With his additional input they gradually put the pieces of the story of the battle together. When Troy came in to report that the area was clear they decided that Viktor would take Arthur to St. Mungo’s. The three students would return to school and fill Ginny in on what had happened, then Ron and Ginny could come to the wizard hospital when they were officially informed of the attack.
-ooOoo-
When the portkey had deposited the three Gryffindors back in the Heads suite, Ron and Hermione tried to talk Harry into going back to bed while they went to talk to Ginny. Harry however, though he was exhausted, insisted on accompanying them. Even if he was still a bit uncomfortable around Ginny, he felt that he owed it to her to be there to support her during times like this.
While Hermione went up to the sixth year girls’ dorm to get Ginny, Ron and Harry sat in the common room staring into the fireplace. Both knew, without needing to verbalize it, that each realized that the events of that night had started them on the path to the final battle. Likewise, without saying a word each vowed that they would not let the other down.
A short time later Hermione led a softly weeping Ginny down the stairs to join them. Hermione silently informed Harry that she had told Ginny everything they knew, and he returned a mental expression of gratitude.
The four of them stayed there, taking comfort in each other’s unspoken support until McGonagall came through the portrait hole to officially inform the Weasleys that two members of their family were in St. Mungo’s and they would be taken to see them shortly. As they rose to leave Hermione gave first Ginny, then Ron a heartfelt hug. To her pleasant surprise, Ginny also received a hug from Harry. She managed a small grateful smile at him before turning to exit along with her brother and McGonagall.
Once they were alone in the room, Hermione had her first opportunity to take a good look at Harry. Finally noticing his injured arm, she insisted that he go to see Pomfrey, and he took the opportunity to fill her in on the details along the way.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that by yourself,” Hermione consoled him. “I wish Ron and I had been able to come with you.”
“I wish you had been there with me, too,” Harry agreed. “I really could have used your help. But everything happened so fast I was right there in front of him almost before I knew what was happening.”
As Madame Pomfrey checked Harry over and gave him a potion to heal the numbness in his shoulder Hermione vowed to herself that she would not let that happen again. Even if she had to use a sticking charm to glue herself to him, she was going to be there alongside him when he faced Voldemort.
By the time Harry and Hermione had returned to their suite he was dead on his feet, and made no protest when she led him into his room and insisted he get back into bed. Only then did it dawn on him that he was still wearing the same tee shirt and sweatpants he had awakened in a few hours before. A few hours that now seemed like ages. He quickly drifted off, not realizing that Hermione remained sitting by his bed for another half hour with her hand on his shoulder gazing at him and pondering the night’s events.
-ooOoo-
When Harry emerged from his bedroom into the Heads suite common room four hours later he knew at once from the expressions on everyone’s face that things were not good. Before he knew it a sobbing Ginny was in his arms.
“Dad’s OK,” Ron blurted out. “But Charlie …” He couldn’t continue and Harry turned a questioning look toward Hermione, his arms still wrapped around Ginny.
“Charlie might not make it,” her voice sounded in his mind. Even as his shoulders slumped at the news, he nodded to her that he understood.
“I need your help here,” he sent to her and she rose from her seat and joined in his hug with Ginny. Suddenly Ginny realized the position she was in and tried to pull back, beginning an apology for being so presumptive. Harry gently shushed her and bent close to her ear.
“It’s OK, Gin,” he whispered reassuringly. “We need to talk when this is all over, OK?”
Startled, Ginny could only manage a nod and a weak smile before the two older students led her over to the sofa where the three of them settled themselves down.
Soon Remus arrived and began the grisly accounting. Arthur Weasley was recovering and was expected to be released by the end of the day. Molly was heavily sedated and currently occupied a bed in the same room of the hospital as her husband. Charlie was in the wizarding equivalent of intensive care and his prognosis was shaky at best. Apparently Nagini’s venom was now more powerful than it had been two years ago when Arthur had been attacked at the Ministry.
Harry nodded to the older man, and realizing that there was more bad news, indicated that he should continue.
“Winky is dead.” Ginny started sobbing again and Hermione began weeping beside her as Harry stared at his defense professor in horror. Ron, still in shock from the other revelations, just shook his head and muttered something Harry couldn’t hear. Recalling that Dobby had left the critically injured Winky to come and get him, Harry hoped desperately that the delay hadn’t been the fatal difference, but realized that he would never know.
The bad news continued. The Weasley home had not been the only one attacked that night. Two other wizarding households in Ottery St. Catchpole and also been targeted. The Lovegood house had been destroyed, but fortunately Mr. Lovegood had been working through the night at the Quibbler offices. The Diggorys had not been so fortunate. Both Amos and his wife had been killed.
For the sake of the others, Harry tried to stay calm, but his anger boiled up inside him. All three families had supported him in one way or another, and all had paid a terrible price. Harry smashed his fist onto the arm of the sofa, startling his friends with his sudden vehemence.
“We have to end this NOW!”
He was only slightly mollified by the remainder of Remus’s report. The attacks on the Lovegood and Diggory houses had been made by Death Eaters while he had been battling Nagini at the Weasleys. After successfully completing those missions, they had converged on the Burrow, but had been ambushed by the strike team members still on guard at the site. Apparently the Death Eaters were new recruits on their first mission. It was also their last, as they were wiped out by Viktor’s experienced troops.
-ooOoo-
The next evening a council of war assembled in the Hogwarts Headmistress’s office. The first question was obvious. When would the next Hogsmeade visit be?
“Under normal circumstances we would naturally have one on Valentine’s Day, next Saturday,” McGonagall informed them. “But surely we don’t want to have it then. To mar an occasion like that with what is sure to be a horrible battle? Not to mention the dance we have scheduled for that evening.”
“Actually, those very considerations make it the perfect day,” growled Moody. “By the same reasoning, Voldemort would never suspect that it could be a trap.” The other fighters reluctantly agreed with him and the fateful day was set. February 14 would be the day of Voldemort’s demise. That would give them one week to prepare.
With that decided, they moved on to the details. They would announce the visit to the students at dinner on Friday, then shut down all owl post to make it appear that they were trying to maintain security. An added bonus to that would be that while they would have a week to prepare, the enemy would have at most a half a day.
Harry then took over and briefed them on the student’s role in the conflict. The first and second year DA members would remain in the castle and be available to assist in any way possible. They had all mastered levitating charms, and so would be able to fetch or move things as needed. The third through fifth year DA members who would be in Hogsmeade would be tasked with overseeing the evacuation as soon as the fighting began. When that was accomplished, they would be available for castle defense or patrolling the grounds with the professors.
The sixth and seventh year DA members would remain in Hogsmeade, defending several key sites and the evacuation routes. They would be instructed to concentrate on shielding, and were to activate their portkeys if they suffered any kind of injury or if their defenses were breached. Their training for the upcoming week would focus exclusively on strengthening their shields and honing their evasion tactics. Harry announced the audacious goal of having 200 portkeys prepared and stockpiled by the end of the week.
Only the elite DA members who were of age and therefore legally adults, and those who had the express permission of their parents would actually engage the attackers. (The latter group included Ginny, Luna, and Colin.)
McGonagall added that all of the Slytherin students who remained in the castle would be quietly confined to their common room and several nearby classrooms under the supervision of Slughorn and the Slytherin DA members. Non-DA students from other houses would be sent to their own common rooms as soon as word of the attack was received.
Remus informed them that the designated portkey evacuation points from Hogsmeade would be Madame Puddifoot’s, The Three Broomsticks, Dervish and Banges, and Scrivenshaft’s. In addition, strongpoints would be established at Honeydukes (whose cellar housed one of the tunnels to Hogwarts), the Hog’s Head Tavern, and Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes store (the former Zonko’s). These buildings would be heavily shielded and charmed to withstand a troll attack or a direct hit with a Reducto blasting curse.
Viktor announced that the twins had developed a new weapon for use on Inferi. With the advice and assistance of their muggle military advisors, they had created throwable explosive devices. The first, when activated, would burst and coat anything within five feet with a thick, gel like petroleum based substance. The second contained a mixture of white phosphorus and magnesium, which when released would ignite the coating, creating a fire that would stick to its target and resist being extinguished by water.
During the past two weeks, all of the buildings in Hogsmeade had been quietly warded with flame suppression charms. In addition to the elite DA students, all of the combat capable members of the Order of the Phoenix and half of Viktor’s strike team would be present in the town. (The other half of Viktor’s force would be kept in reserve, in case there were multiple attacks like there had been in October.) Every one of these fighters would be proficient in the use of the Weasley weapons by the end of the week. Also, Scrimgeour had promised to have two Auror detachments on site and undercover.
-ooOoo-
The next day Dobby returned to the castle. When he appeared in front of Harry, he immediately hung his head and began apologizing for leaving him during the battle, but Harry was having none of that. Dropping to his knees, he embraced the house elf in a fierce hug, reassuring him and consoling him for the loss of his close friend. Dobby remained subdued for the remainder of the week, and he never did regain the irrepressibly cheerful and happy manner that had so characterized his personality prior to Winky’s death.
-ooOoo-
The deployment strategy of the DA had been decided weeks ago, so there was nothing during that week’s meetings to tip anyone off that the fateful day was approaching. They had long since mastered the flaming lasso spell that they would use against inferi. The only noticeable difference was that the leaders seemed more tense than normal. Seeking to lighten things up a bit, Seamus interrupted a session that was reviewing the most effective spells to use against trolls.
“I seem to remember two first year students defeating a troll, and I’m pretty sure they didn’t know any of these spells,” he joked. “How about reminding us how they managed that amazing feat?”
It was a mark of how much Harry had matured that he didn’t immediately snap Seamus’s head off. That and the fact that Hermione sent him an encouraging mental message. “Go ahead, we could all use a laugh right now.”
Although all of the seventh year Gryffindors were familiar with the tale, many others present were not. At first Harry tried to get by with telling them how Ron had used Wingardium Leviosa to levitate the troll’s club, then released it to crash down on the troll’s head, knocking it out. When everyone had finished oohing and aahing and congratulating a chagrined, but pleased Ron, Ginny piped up in a sweet, innocent voice. “And what did you do Harry?”
Shooting her a glare that he couldn’t keep from changing into a grin at the wide-eyed guileless look on her face, Harry was forced to confess. “Um, well, I jumped on its back and stuck my wand up its nose.” Amid the laughter and exclamations of disgust that greeted that revelation, Zacharias Smith shouted out, “Whatever possessed you to do something as incredibly thick as that?”
The students around Smith backed slowly away, not wanting to be the line of fire of Harry’s retaliation. But Harry just fixed him with a quiet stare that made the other boy squirm. “Just an example of foolish Gryffindor courage, I guess. Or maybe friendship means more to some of us than others.”
“But you hardly knew Hermione then,” Parvati blurted out. “Why would you risk your life for a girl who …” she stopped, realizing that there was no polite way to finish that sentence. Up until that point not everyone present had realized that Hermione was the student being rescued in the tale. As everyone’s eyes turned to her, Hermione moved closer to Harry and took his arm, gazing up at him with a smile born of gratitude, pride, and admiration.
The uncomfortable silence felt by everyone else was quickly broken by Ginny, who quipped, “Must have been that ‘saving people thing’ kicking in again.” Chuckling at the witty redhead, the students broke apart and returned to their spell practice.
-ooOoo-
McGonagall could scarcely believe it. She was finding it difficult to make more than two portkeys a day without tiring herself, but Harry had donned his ring of power and was churning out ten a day without any noticeable strain. Perhaps … perhaps … she thought to herself. He just might be strong enough to pull this off.
-ooOoo-
In a bit of unfortunate timing, the full moon was on Thursday, which meant that Remus would be somewhat weakened for the battle. No one dared suggest, however, that he might consider staying on the sidelines. Everyone who knew him was well aware that he was ready to die for Harry if necessary. Tonks did offer to teach that week’s Defense Against the Dark Arts in Harry’s place, who by necessity would otherwise be forced to fill in for Remus. But Harry declined, telling her that he enjoyed the teaching so much that it was actually a break in the tension for him.
-ooOoo-
On Friday after McGonagall’s announcement the suddenly somber elite DA members gathered to receive their final deployments for the next day. Lavender broke the ice by volunteering that she and Dean would by happy to take Madame Puddifoot’s. This elicited giggles from the girls and sympathetic groans from the guys. The latter were surprised, however, when Dean made no objection to the plan. Seamus was also assigned to the romantic tea shop, and he loudly proclaimed that he would hang around outside, having no wish to witness the antics of the loving couple. When Harry had finished making the rest of the assignments, everyone was aware of a notable omission.
“Where are you going to be, Harry?” Ernie asked as a hush fell over the room. Ron and Hermione moved quietly forward and took up positions on either side of their best friend.
“Wherever Voldemort is.”
-ooOoo-
The night before what they knew would be Harry’s final confrontation with his lifelong nemesis neither he nor Hermione were able to sleep. After a quick exchange of mental queries, they met each other in their common room. Without needing to speak a word, they curled up on their sofa together, holding each other for dear life, and spent what neither wanted to admit was possibly their last night together in each other’s comforting embrace.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Since you might not notice it if I don’t point it out, Arthur’s frantic conversation with Molly mirrors the words of James to Lily when Voldemort attacked them. I wonder how many people have stopped to consider how difficult the decision was for Lily to leave James and flee with Harry. Perhaps that’s why she never made it out of the house — she couldn’t bring herself to abandon the man she loved.