Chapter 10
Regroup
Absolute chaos overwhelmed Harry and his companions as they entered the Great Hall. Students were crying as professors cast spells to set up a triage area for the overflow from the infirmary. Most of the students had minor curse damage or bruising. Surprisingly, Draco Malfoy was sitting in the corner with bandages on his arms and a large ugly scratch across his face.
"Malfoy Senior will be fuming about his little death eater son being all scratched up!" Ron whispered pointing at the Slytherin prefect who was officiously ordering his house mates to bring him things.
Harry snorted at that comment and nodded at Headmaster Dumbledore before leading his friends out the door and up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower. Professor McGonagall was standing at the entrance next to the painting of the Fat Lady irately ticking off names on a list with a quill. She looked furious and could be heard muttering scathing comments about `evil little toadies and little lordy volde-prat'.
Ron and Harry could barely keep themselves from snickering out loud but held back as her stare caught them forcing them through the door to hurry into the Gryffindor Common Room. Ron left to immediately corral children who were wailing in shrieking tears as they worked themselves into further whoops of hysteria. Several seventh years helped him herd the younger children upstairs into their dorms and try to get them to calm down.
Harry led Hermione to the corner window seat and checked her for curses or cuts that she might have acquired from the fight. She never said a word. Her eyes were wide and tearless as they stared off aimlessly. Harry was starting to get worried. The only motion that showed Hermioine wasn't comatose was her absently rubbing her left wrist where a burn welt had wrapped around her arm.
"'Mione?"
Harry stared into her eyes and tried to catch her attention.
Suddenly her eyes snapped back to his and they widened even more.
"Bloody Hell!" She screamed at the top of her voice.
Harry was so shocked at this response he nearly fell off the window seat barely keeping him from falling onto the floor.
She sat down hard beside him and pulled her legs up wrapping her arms around them to perch precariously on the wooden seat. Her head fell onto her knees and she muffled a harsh scream with her arms against her mouth.
"I can't believe this! They could have killed all of us! What is the ministry even good for? It took the Aurors a good fifteen minutes to even bother to show up! We were sitting ducks!"
Harry's mouth opened and closed a couple of times and he could only nod his head in agreement since he had no idea what to say. He had expected a nice little cry from the girl that he could hold her close and tell her how he would always defend her. This reaction was not what he had expected. She looked mad enough to take on the whole of Voldemort's army.
"We have to get ready, Harry. We can have only so much luck. This could have been so much worse." She grabbed his hand and gripped it fiercely.
"We didn't do too badly, Hermione. We chased them off!" Harry sputtered defensively.
"Harry! They could have killed all of us! We don't know how to defend against half the spells they threw at us. I was stupid and got shot with a Stunner and left the children open to being attacked! I saw you go down with Lestrange shooting you and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if you were dead or alive." She whimpered and all of her anger fled as she relived the moment she saw Harry fall leaving her crying softly.
Harry grabbed the girl and crushed her into a rough embrace. They sat that way for several moments then leaned back to relax into a softer more comfortable hug. They were filthy and covered with sweat and soot from the fire. Hermione's hair had unwoven from the plaits that had been so carefully braided leaving her wild-haired and disheveled. Harry couldn't care less how she looked. He had never been prouder of her than when he saw her fiercely fighting three death eaters at once over the bodies of the fallen students in the street.
Ron tiredly trudged down the stairs and sat heavily down next to the couple.
"Most of the first years had to be charmed to sleep, but at least they're out of our hair." Ron ran his hands through his red hair that looked like it had been dipped in soot. Soft clouds of ash fell around him as he ignored Harry's snort.
"I might need a bath." He said with pursed lips before breaking out into a tired grin.
"Or possibly a throw in the lake." Hermione giggled with a sniff.
Ron stuck his nose into the air and looked down at her in pretend disdain.
"You can't be implying that I smell?!" He huffled dramatically before shaking his soot-filled head all over his two friends causing them to jump up with a cry to try to brush the dirt off themselves.
Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes at the three friends as she herded the last of children on the list up the stairs. Casting a quick cleaning spell, the three felt the wind rush past them in a furious whirlwind leaving them spotless.
"You still need a shower, but maybe now you won't track filth all over the common room. Go clean up and report back to me in half an hour. We need to discuss what happened and if you recognized anyone. Those ministry Aurors have most of the professors held up in the Headmaster's office asking all of us questions about what happened. If anything ever happened without you, Potter, being in the middle of it, I would probably have a stroke."
The three teens looked at the ferocious teacher and scrambled off the window seat. Hermione paused before she reached the stair leading to her dorms and pulled a stunned Harry into a quick kiss before rushing out of sight.
He rocked back onto his heels in surprise at the unexpected kiss. It had been so fast he almost missed it. Ron snorted at his friend's wide-eyed expression and slapped him on the back as he pulled his dumbfounded mate up the stairs.
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Harry rushed through the shower and was surprised to already see his new clothes lying on the bed in nice fluffy piles. He had never had such beautiful clothes before. It was delightful to pull on such soft fabrics and not have to put on something that had been previously stained or torn. Ron looked surprised to see Harry's new look and couldn't help but rib Harry a little for dressing like a Malfoy. After sufficient time in a headlock for that comment, Harry let Ron go and the bounded down the stairs to meet with Hermione and Ginny who were grinning at Harry's new appearance as well.
Harry slipped his hand into Hermione's and they laughed as the fireworks reappeared lightly above their heads. It still said "First Date" but it was barely visible and the cupids looked wan and tired as they gave up shooting arrows through the barely floating hearts.
They approached the Headmaster's entrance and were waved in by Mad-Eyed Moody who glared fiercely at each of them. They could hear Fred and George yelling at someone about the fire and how were they to know that no one was still inside. They had apparently been burned when they had burst into the flame-filled building to make sure no one was trapped. Ron and Ginny were wide-eyed to hear the normally jovial twins angered and yelling.
The group of friends slid into the room to see several of the Professors and many other adults they didn't know. Cho Chang was there next to Professor Flitwick and Neville looked decidedly nervous as he stood beside a glaring Professor Snape.
Headmaster Dumbledore saw the teens enter the room and nodded to show he saw them. Harry gulped. Until this moment he had forgotten about telling the headmaster about the Dursley situation. Actually, Harry hadn't even read the letter Fawkes had given him the day of the fight. He mentally kicked himself for being so stupid sometimes. He hoped he could fake his way through all of this without making a complete fool of himself.
Hermione looked around at the faces of all the adults until she saw the Minister of Magic, Mr. Fudge. With a huff her eyes narrowed and she left the surprised boys and Ginny and walked purposely up to the officious man.
"Fudge! What do you have to say about this! Children could have been killed! No one has been terribly hurt, have they, headmaster?"
She had turned to Dumbledore to receive confirmation. Seeing him shake his head with a smile, she nodded and turned her angry body back to face the surprised Minister.
"How can this happen? I believe we need to call for your removal! I can't believe…"
She sputtered as Harry and Professor Snape took each of her arms and pulled her away from the startled politician. They gently pushed her into a chair conjured by the Charms professor and left her fuming with her arms crossed in front of her. Harry looked anywhere but at her and actually found himself hiding from her behind her chair as she looked hard left and right to give him a piece of her mind for interrupting her diatribe.
"Afraid of your girlfriend, Harry?" Ron snickered low to his best mate.
"As much as you are, Ron." Harry grinned back.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and twinkled brightly at the angry girl. Fudge was looking around wildly as if expecting more crazed students to attack him.
"We'd like the impressions of the attack by anyone who would like to give them. Harry, you and your, ahem…Defense Association, were quite in the middle of the fight. Could you give us your thoughts?"
Fudge winced at the mention of the Defense Association and his eyes narrowed when Harry Potter approached the cluttered desk. He harrumphed at the boy and looked away giving the impression that anything Harry said was suspect.
Harry glared at the Minister of Magic and shook his head to gather his thoughts. Dumbledore offered him a lemon drop with a smile making Harry grin and accept his favourite candy.
"Everything happened so fast." Harry began.
I recognized Bellatrix Lestrange especially when she crucio'd me." The smattering of gasps made him look around and restart.
"Several of the D.A. were pinned next to the Book Store. They were defending the younger children and were trying to get them out of the streets and out of spell shot." Several of the Professors were nodding at the intelligence of that move.
"We had discussed it at one of our meetings to make the bookstore our base of collection for all the students who couldn't defend themselves in such a situation as today. I guess we all remembered and it worked pretty well." He paused thinking back and trying to remember.
"I can't tell you much, but I don't know if they accomplished what they were trying to do or not. Were they just trying to scare us? Did they want to capture me or possibly someone else? No one has turned up missing and no one was killed. I'd like to think we had a hand in keeping them at bay, but a friend pointed out to me today that we were woefully unprepared."
Harry looked sharply back at the Minister. "Why did it take so long for your Aurors to show up?"
Moody entered the door and made everyone jump as he slammed the
door shut.
"He wouldn't let us go because Dumbledore asked for help." Moody growled as he pointed his hand at Fudge.
Fudge bristled at the accusation and puffed up in defense.
"I had to make sure that everything was real and not a ruse to take all my Aurors away from the Ministry. We could have been attacked while all our defense was running around the countryside!" Fudge sputtered in anger.
Harry shook his head angrily knowing it was just an excuse. Fudge had always been a useless minister and always would be. It didn't matter. Things had to change. Harry realized that they couldn't ever depend on Aurors for help. It was up to them and the D.A. to be the real defense for Hogwarts. But why did Voldemort attack this time? It had to be more than wanting to kill Harry or even Dumbledore. It was sloppy and poorly done by the Death Eaters. From Harry's previous visions he had with Voldemort he knew for a fact there were Death Eaters being punished right now.
Snape whispered something to Dumbledore and then disappeared out the door. The headmaster looked worriedly at the Potion Master, and then focused his attention on the young man in front of him.
"Thank you, Harry. That was very helpful. It is time for dinner, and my students must be looked after. If you would all excuse us?" The eccentric old wizard waved at the young people in the room who stood quickly and followed him out the door.
Fudge was still sputtering and Harry, Ron and Hermione could hear the Weasley twins consoling the angry minister with, "It's okay, Fudgy. You'll get them next time."
Harry and Ron laughed out loud and even got the angry Hermione to crack a smile.
Harry was laughing when his head started to ache. The pain shot from his scar pushing him to his knees. The pain was intense and Harry's eyes were watering as he clenched he teeth with a grinding noise. With Harry's cry, Dumbledore spun around and had the boy in his arms holding him close as if holding him could stop the pain. Hermione, Ron and Ginny stopped and dropped down to help their friend though they felt helpless as Harry whimpered with the pain.
Dumbledore cast a lightening charm and picked Harry up in his arms as if he were weightless, which he probably was. Hermione grabbed for Harry's hands which were clenched into fists. There was nothing they could do but rush him to the infirmary and hope the pain would subside with a potion or the gentle nurse's skills.
Madam Pomfrey was overwhelmed with crying children with burns and cuts and bruises. A few students had been cursed with more dire spells, but they had been dealt with first leaving the more normal childhood injuries to finish with.
The headmaster rushed through the doorway carrying a grumbling Harry Potter in his arms. Harry's scar pain had fled just as quickly as it had come. The old Wizard wouldn't hear of Harry not going to the school hospital to be at least checked out. The old man, gently dropped the younger man off onto an empty cot, and then sat down heavily himself. The old Professor looked winded and his face had lost all its color. Madam Pomfrey took one look at the elderly gentleman and rushed a bottle of pepper-up potion into his hands. After downing the liquid, and releasing the steam from his ears, he looked considerably better.
"You frightened me, my boy!" The professor's eyes were twinkling again much to the relief of all who surrounded him.
Harry felt a little ill-used and was irritably trying to get Ron to charm him back to his previous weight as he was bouncing lightly up and down on the cot. He rubbed his lightning bolt scar as the feeling of weightlessness faded and he settled onto the bed. Dumbledore handed Harry the rest of his potion and the boy swallowed the Pepper-up in one pull. The smoke cleared from his ears and Harry leaned back feeling a little better.
"Did you have another vision, Harry?" Ron was shaking a little to have seen his friend react so harshly to his scar burning.
"No. I didn't. But I could tell he was happy about something. Why was he happy? They didn't get me or hurt anyone really. I just don't understand."
Dumbledore sighed.
"There's no understanding such evil. I do believe you must continue your, um..remedial potions class as soon as possible." The Wizard smiled knowing at least Ron and Hermione knew he meant the Occulomency training he had with Professor Snape.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head in confusion. What did potions have to do with his scar? No matter, she had several others to deal with and she left the children in the Headmaster's care.
"Thank you, Poppy!" Professor Dumbledore called after the retreating nurse who waved before bustling off to deal with cuts and burns.
Neville and Cho rounded the corner and burst in on the group as they were getting ready to go back to their dorms.
"Harry, are you okay?" Cho asked breathlessly.
Neville bent over and leaned his hand on his knees to catch his breath and nodded with a wave to indicate he wanted to ask the same question.
Harry smiled grimly. "I'm fine."
Cho looked at the Headmaster who shook his head to say "no more questions."
She shrugged and threw her hands up. She had things to do. Her whole Ravenclaw House was a disaster right now with sniveling First years driving all the older students crazy. She needed to be there instead of chasing after Harry. Hermione's flashing eyes also told Cho that she wasn't really that appreciated either. Cho frowned at the younger girl's territorial manner as Hermione reached over and took Harry's hand in hers. It looked like Harry finally figured out what the rest of the school had known for ages. He and Hermione had liked each other but never really knew it. It still rankled that he had never really understood what she needed when they were dating. He was always rushing about to see what `she' wanted. He ran at her beck and call. Whatever. She had a much better and older boyfriend now. She flounced out the door with a sniff and her head in the air.
The Headmaster shooed the group back to their dorms and left them to attend to his duties. They had missed dinner, and they were all very, very tired as they trooped up the seemingly endless stairs to the Gryffindor Tower and their beds.
Harry walked into his room with Ron and Neville. Harry's bed was still covered with all the bags and purchases that had been delivered earlier. He was too tired to deal with it. He just pushed them over to one side and quickly pulled on his pajamas. Sighing with pleasure, the bed was delightfully warm and he groaned with relief. His whole body ached from the fight and the curses he'd endured that day. He'd been crucio'd, his scar had blazed in pain, he had fought numerous Death Eaters and he had his first date with Hermione Granger. That last thought made him smile and chuckle to himself as he remembered Fred and George's firework prank.
Too bad the day had to go to complete crap, he thought.
"Well," he thought, "I did get a kiss. That kinda made everything else, okay." With that grin, he rolled over and fell instantly to sleep.
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