Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related characters and settings belong to J. K. Rowling. The Lord of the Rings and related mythology belong to the heirs of J. R. R. Tolkien.
A/N Sindarin title. 'Dagor' is of course Sindarin for 'battle'. 'Cadhor' is 'castle'. The title of this chapter is 'Battle for the castle'.
Chapter 21: Dagor en Cadhor
The first attack came as soon as the sun had completely set. The Orcs had the trolls load the catapults which they fired upon the castle during the first few minutes of twilight.
Of course, Hogwarts was the most well protected building in all of Magical Britain and no catapult attack was certainly going to penetrate those defenses. The boulders all harmlessly bounced off a vast magical shield, an enlarged version of the Shield Charm, the surrounded all the grounds, some of the boulders even crushing the Orcs in the process. Arrows to were released but those were also deflected right back.
"Pathetic. Catapults aren't going to take the castle down," sneered Bellatrix Lestrange whom was leading the attack. "Death Eaters, use your magic to the maximum. If we concentrate enough in certain spots we might be able to punch through enough holes to get the troops inside."
And so the Death Eaters concentrated their magic on attempting to carve holes into the shield. Meanwhile, goblins and centaurs had lined up just within the shield around the perimeter of the grounds. The shield allowed projectiles out though didn't let any in so goblin and centaur archers were taking the opportunity to shoot down as many Orcs as they could. Unfortunately, the numbers of Orcs were so vast that no matter how many the goblins and centaurs shot down, there still overwhelmingly so many more.
A few crafty goblins wizened up and targeted the Death Eaters instead of the Orcs as they were the more immediate threat, taking down the shield. Though a few Death Eaters fell, most of them were far too well protected by the rolls whom could shrug off the arrows like nothing. To further complicate matters, the Nazgul were circling around the grounds upon their Fell Beasts surrounded by Dementors. Though they could not penetrate the shield they could sap the morale from the side of the light sending a feeling of depression and dread amongst them.
Finally, some of the Death Eaters managed to blast holes into the shield big enough to allow small troops of Orcs inside. Orcs started swarming through these holes quickly overwhelming the goblins and centaurs who defended those areas and making their way toward the castle.
Those Orcs that managed to hack their way through the goblins and centaurs faced the next line of defense on the Hogwarts grounds: Dwarves. About 400 of Angnathron's kin, led by the DADA professor himself were in charge of the defense of the main Hogwarts grounds from the Quidditch Pitch to the Forbidden Forrest. "Up my brother Dwarrows! Up Dwarves! For the Orcs are upon us once again. Brothers, unleash the fury of Durin's folk!" shouted Angnathron, waving a large war hammer and battle axe. Cries of the Dwarvish Warcry, "Khazâd ai-mênu!" (The Dwarves are upon you) sounded as the Dwarves unleashed their hammers and axes upon the Orcs. Within minutes, black Orc blood was spilled upon the Quidditch Pitch where the Dwarves were mainly concentrated. Yet, the Dwarves were too few and the Orcs too many; a sizable portion of the Orcs made it passed the Dwarves and were making their way to the castle. The Whomping Willow also got into the act, crushing many Orcs that tried to brave the wild tree. However, as the willow was stationed in a single spot, the Orcs quickly wizened up and made their way around the tree.
Some of the Orcs were trying a different tactic: create makeshift rafts to ferry them across the lake into the castle. However, the lake was defended by none other than the Giant Squid who sunk many of the rafts and pulled the Orcs to their deaths in the deep. The Merpeople too sprung submerged attacks from the water, sinking the rafts and engaging the Orcs in combat. Unfortunately, the lake was so vast that many rafts made it to the castle with the Squid and Merpeople being unable to intervene.
So although the numbers were few compared to the army of Orcs outside the shield, a few hundred Orcs made it to Hogwarts Castle. The Castle however was a self defending magical fortress. Everywhere the Orcs managed to get into the Magical Halls of learning walls would shut closed crushing Orcs in between them. Or on other occasions, the suits of armor on decoration would come to life themselves and commence in fighting the Orcs. The stairways would move rapidly, leading the Orcs straight into pit-holes that suddenly appeared in the floor. Swords and spears on display would suddenly fly through the air and start hacking and slashing at the Orcs. Tapestries would jump and start strangling wayward Orcs. And of course, there was the last line of defense within the castle itself: the Order of the Phoenix.
Orcs that had made it to the Main Hall were treated by a full barrage of automatic curses and hexes put in place courtesy of Nymphadora Tonks. "those won't hold them there for too long," observed Tonks as the various curses blasted Orc after Orc back. She looked toward her partner and noticed that he looked to be in pain. "Remus? Are you OK?" she asked, concerned.
"The wolf," Lupin managed to grit out. "The wolf is trying to... take hold again. I don't... know... TONKS LOOK OUT!"
Two of the Orcs had managed to get past Tonks's defenses and were now upon her. With beast like agility, Lupin leapt forth with a roar, shoved Tonks out of the way and ripped the Orcs to shred.
"Remus!" shouted Tonks as Lupin collapsed to the floor, wheezing. She tried to comfort him as best as she could as the defenses continued to keep Orcs at bay.
"I don't know how long those defenses are going to hold," said Tonks, desperately.
Lupin managed a grin. "Well... if this is going to be the end... I wouldn't know anyone else I would like to spend my last moments with." Tonks smiled back at him. Meanwhile, the defenses were starting to waver as Orcs continued charging at them.
Down in the dungeons, Severus Snape looked up as Orcs came streaming into his classroom. He snarled and said, "There is no way I am going to allow myself be killed in my own dungeons!" With a flick of his wand, hundreds of vials of potions of various colors flew through the air smashing into the Orcs they charged into the room. Though Orcs were known for their high tolerance of pain, they started screaming as the toxic potions started eating away at their flesh, eventually leaving nothing more than a rotting hunk of flesh. More and more Orcs charged in and Snape let loose more and more of his toxic potions upon them.
The House Elves too were fighting against the Orcs, zooming back and forth through the castle using their powerful magics to keep the Orcs at bay. Fearlessly they tackled the superior number of enemies though many of them fell in the process. The casualties amongst the House Elves were high yet they continued fighting valiantly and heroicly, protecting the residents of the castle.
Amidst all this, upper class students were helping evacuate lower class students toward the interiors of the castle where it was still relatively safe. "Don't panic. Don't panic," said Ginny as she led a small group of frightened first years through the corridors. "Everything will be OK," she said though she sincerely doubted her own words.
"Ginny! Look out!" shouted the voice of Neville Longbottom from a bit of a distance behind her. Ginny looked up to see that two Orcs were charging them from the front.
"RUN!" shouted Ginny. The first years took of running in the direction away from Orcs. Ginny herself however ended up tripping on a piece of rug and falling to the floor, the Orcs right at her heels.
"GINNY!" shouted Neville. "Don't touch her!" Desperately, Neville leaped forward. In a flash, something very long was suddenly in his hands and with it, Neville hacked at the Orcs. The Orcs hadn't even realized what had slashed them as they collapsed dead. Ginny however had a few questions to ask.
"Neville, where did you get that spear?" she asked.
Catching his breath Neville exclaimed, "Spear?" It was only then that Neville had realized that he had just killed two Orcs with a nine foot long spear that was now in his hands. "I-I didn't even realize I had a spear," he stammered.
"Neville, I'm very thankful that you just saved my life but how did a spear suddenly just appear in your hands?" said Ginny as she stood up.
"I-I don't know," said Neville. He studied the spear in his hands more closely. It was a highly decorated spear of gold and silver arranged in patterns of leaves. The blade of the spear was curved rather like a glave and was built of an incredible sheen metal that glimmered like the stars in the pale moonlight. Neville gently ran his hand over the spear. "Aiglos," he said a faraway look in his eyes.
"What? I just missed that," said Ginny.
Snapping back to reality, Neville said, "Huh? Did I just say something?"
"You just said something weird," said Ginny.
"I can't remember what I said," replied Neville. "Look, lets deal with this later, we've got to get the first years to safety."
"Right you are," said Ginny.
* * *
"Faster Buckbeak! Faster!" cried Harry desperately. Buckbeak was giving his all as they flew North through the air. He was highly exhausted however and his flight was rather rocky as it was. From behind Harry, Hermione looked toward the East and saw that the first signs of dawn were approaching.
"There's no way we can make it to Hogwarts before the sun rises," said Hermione.
"We have to get to the castle as fast as we can!" said Harry. "I don't dare think about what would happen if we were late."
"So do I," said Hermione. However, in truth she was still apprehensive. As much help they could provide to Hogwarts with Anduril and Sting, they were still merely two extra bodies against an army of thousands. The situation was bleak and Hermione knew this too well. She also knew that was also on Harry's mind though he said nothing.
Muggle military forces would be useless: their weapons would all be neutralized by the magic of the Death Eaters leaving the soldiers nothing more then helpless prey to the merciless Orcs. It was best that they remain apart from the Magical World, just so they could remain blissfully unaware and alive a day longer.
Sighing wearily, Hermione placed her forehead on Harry's back and closed her eyes. 'I just wish we had more help,' she thought.
* * *
The night had passed and all though Orcs were streaming through the many holes now punctured through the shield, the bulk of the army remained unable to attack Hogwarts because of the shield. It was nearly dawn as the Death Eaters continued their barrage on the shield.
"More power! More power!" shouted Bellatrix. "The shield is nearly down. Push a little more and the castle will be ours!"
Finally, with a flicker and a zapping sound, the shield, the primary defense of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry disappeared.
"Yes! Yes! YES!" cackled Bellatrix deliriously. "Hogwarts is ours! Move into the castle. Take the Mudbloods prisoners: we will be needing slaves after all. Destroy everything else."
Another Death Eater, Jugson came up to her and said, "It's nice that you called in another army to help us wiping down the last bastion of resistance."
Bellatrix frowned. "Another Army? What other army? There's no other army here other than the one I'm commanding."
"Oh really?" said Jugson. "Then what are those foot soldiers coming out of the forest to the West?"
"What?" exclaimed Bellatrix, looking toward the West.
Sure enough, coming out of the forest from the West, illuminated by the rising sun in the East was an army of foot soldiers emerging, every bit as large as their army. They wore golden armor, in various designs of nature. They carried with them graceful looking swords, spears, bows and arrows. And most significant of all, they looked nearly identical to humans except for the lightness of their steps and the shining of their eyes like the stars.
Bellatrix was filled with a sickening feeling of dread for deep within her gut she knew what that idiot Jugson didn't. This army was not here to join them. Nor was this army comprised of humans. Bellatrix knew precisely what they were though she had always dismissed their existence as ancient legend, until now.
Elves.
To be continued...
A/N I'll be honest here. I found "Half Blood Prince" to be a colossal disappointment. Furthermore, I was so depressed by it that for a brief while, I seriously considered abandoning this fic, losing the motivation to write. However, I have since thought things through and ultimately come to one final decision. It doesn't matter how canon is going to turn out for I will continue writing the way I wish to write. And never forget: I am, was, and always shall be a Harry/Hermione shipper.