Author's note:
Sorry about the upload for chapter 19. Apparently I messed up somewhere, and no one got the alert that it was posted. Well, here's two chapters for the price of one! Chaps 19 and 20. Please read and review…
Disclaimer: I own nothing Harry Potter…
Chapter 20
Traitor…
It had been two weeks and Ron had nearly run a groove in the stone path around the castle in search of the missing students. He had been in every room imaginable and a few he didn't previously know about looking for his two friends. Harry and Hermione had vanished into thin air and shockingly no massive search had been set up to find them. Ron Weasley was going positively insane. Classes continued, tests were given and the days came and went; but without them things were oddly flat and colorless. He missed them terribly.
The boy had tried to catch Headmaster Dumbledore at least four times in the past two days but every time he tried to corner the wizard, Dumbledore would somehow sneak away before Ron could question him about Harry and Hermione's disappearance. After the first night Harry didn't show in the dorm for `light's out', Ron had asked Professor McGonagall about it. He almost decided not ask her at all when he remembered the spiteful things Cho had been spouting. But that wasn't Harry. He wouldn't be sneaking around with Hermione like that. Well, he didn't think so. Harry had too much respect for Hermione to have people talking about her again behind her back. Harry hated it when it happened to him, and he usually was very aware of it for others.
So he decided to seek out his Head of House. Professor McGonagall seemed perturbed, even irritable, but she merely said the Headmaster knew where the two were and not to bother her any more about it. She had been curt and sounded disapproving of the Headmaster's vague explanation, but she had always stood by the crazy old goat even when she didn't understand half of the extreme things he did. Most of the time things Dumbledore did made sense eventually so the Transfiguration Professor merely held interference with the students like Ron and Ginny who kept trying to pester the Headmaster with questions.
Even Hagrid seemed to try to hide when he saw the red headed boy persistently try to capture his attention. Ron was positive the weathered old giant would be on his side. He had always been a friend and compassionate advocate for Harry no matter what mess the boy had ended up in. Apparently Dumbledore had already gotten to the giant before Ron. Every time the boy brought the subject of the two missing students up, the giant tried to force a rocky piece of pastry down Ron's throat and change the topic to Quidditch. The boy had stormed out of the older man's hut in anger leaving a sad but stoic Hagrid standing wearily at the door.
Oddly, Ron had found the caretaker, Filch snoozing noisily in a small storage room under the Quidditch stands. Ron yelled and yelled but nothing would wake the man from his doze. Realizing the old buzzard was under a spell, he cast a quick `finite incantatum' and woke the cranky man up who was blustering about wizards and their stupid pranks. Ron didn't know what he was talking on about and didn't really want to be the one who was on the receiving end of Filch's anger, so he skived out and left the man yelling to himself without catching sight of Ron sneaking away.
He couldn't give up. There was no way Harry or Hermione would stop looking and he wasn't going to either. Tiredly he trudged back up the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower and staggered through the hole. Neville was sitting ramrod straight in front of the fireplace staring off into the distance. He was mumbling to himself and nodding amiably. Ron couldn't even begin to think of what Nev was up to and didn't really have the energy to try. He bonelessly fell onto the ratty sofa and absently scratched Crookshanks behind the ears. The cat had become a mascot of sorts for the whole House and a reminder of who was missing. Everyone took care of the scraggly creature, but oddly Ron was the one the cat chose most often to grace with his companionship. He didn't think too much about it, and he and the cat had developed a sort of truce with the absence of Hermione. It was funny to Ron how much the silly cat's fur and Hermione's hair were so similar in color and bushiness. Sometimes when she was cuddling the cat Crooks would snuggle up under her chin giving the girl a ridiculous impression of super long twitching hair with a tail of her own.
Crookshanks rowled softly and butted his head against Ron's knee and rolled over in expectation of a proper petting. The red-headed boy grinned wanly and did as he was bid. The cat eventually had enough and flounced away leaving the boy alone with his thoughts.
"And then I should disable it. Right." Neville mumbled to himself then stood and wandered off. Ron shrugged. Nobody seemed themselves lately. Neville is always muttering like a mad hermit, Ginny is hexing everybody who dares to talk to her and even Hagrid is talking Quidditch.
He shook himself then forced his body to get up and go upstairs. Tomorrow he'd check the dungeons again. Sometimes people get lost there. Or Malfoy's hexed them. Maybe they've found that funny mirror Harry showed me and are stuck staring at it. Maybe.
Ron was crawling into bed when suddenly the whole castle shook with a thunderous roar. Knick-nacks on dressing tables shattered as they fell to the ground and several bed hangings were knocked loose. Ron found himself thrown to the floor when a second blast knocked his head hard against the wall.
"This doesn't seem good." Ron grabbed his wand and his shoes and flew out the door quickly followed by Seamus dressed only in boxers and Dean who had at least the foresight to grab his pants.
It was chaos in the common room as the dorms streamed upset students who were looking to Ron for answers. Within minutes, Ron had the fifth years in charge of the younger sets to calm them and called all the able sixth and seventh years to him.
Ron incindio'd the fire and floo-called the headmaster's office. The head of Professor Flitwick lurched dizzyingly in the grate. He looked frazzled but glad to see the Gryffindor house under control. Professor McGonagall could be heard in the background shouting orders to secure the front doors and to call for the Ministry. Apparently Hogwarts was under attack.
Hermione usually called the D.A. together, but she had shown him the spell and in moments, he sent the call by the magicked Galleon for all the Army to meet in the Great Hall immediately. Ron instructed those who felt able to fight to grab their wands and follow him. In minutes the stairs were filled with all the D.A. members and several older students who knew something dire was up. The clattering of feet flying down the steps was all that was heard as the students were silent and wand-ready.
Another blast filled the air knocking several students to the ground. Arms were grabbed and everyone made it to the Great Hall quickly. Dumbledore met them in a rush of robes and shouts at the large entry. His presence was crackling with power and his face looked grim.
Professor Adora, the Defense teacher, was standing behind him. They spoke for a moment then the Headmaster turned to face the expectant and frightened faces of his oldest students.
A large booming noise filled the air as another blast rocked the castle walls. Stone chips and dust rained down on them all as they ducked and covered their heads expecting the whole of the castle ceiling to fall down around them.
Headmaster Dumbledore stood in front of the group. "Those that are good at Defense go with Professor Adora. We are going to set up some cross-fire in the battlements and try to chase them off if they try to approach the doors. Those good with Charms go with Professor Flitwick. The wards are being attacked and it will take as much as we've got to get them stabilized and still keep the Attackers out. The D.A. is to come with me."
He stared into Ron's and aGinny's eyes then continued, "We …are going outside."
Ron nodded grimly and waved over Lee, Dean, Seamus, Ginny and Lav who were the closest. "Harry isn't here, but we know what he'd say. Be sure to protect yourselves and help those around you. If you get hexed too badly and can't fight, lay down and try to roll out of the way of the fighting. No one wants to kill a friend by mistake. I don't know what's out there, but no matter what happens, protect Dumbledore and do your best to keep the invaders out of the school. Once they enter the castle, children will die." All their faces looked pale but steady and they nodded their understanding to Ron.
They all ran as a group to the front doors and streamed out sliding around the walls to keep themselves from being easy targets. Apparently the wards hadn't completely fallen, and they glowed oddly green and Ron could just make out a figure casting spells on the Hogwarts side of the barrier that was obviously trying to destroy the wards. Small holes like Swiss cheese dotted around the area revealing the greenly glowing partition that magically separated and hid Hogwarts from the outside world. In seconds the holes were getting bigger and several masked Death Eaters were shooting blasts through them attacking the castle from the other side. The D.A. members fanned out and shot back through the holes and scattered the huddle of attackers. The Dark Wizards quickly reassembled and began throwing nasty hexes at the student Army.
It wasn't very easy to aim through the breaks in the spell wall, so much of the shots were ineffectual on both sides. Ron grimaced and grunted as he rolled out of the way of a rather vicious curse that struck the side of the Quidditch shed knocking a hole the size of a Niffler. That really made Ron mad.
He caught sight of the dark figure setting the spell that would finally take down the barrier and with a grunt he shoved himself off the ground and ran to intercept. The Wizard didn't even have a protection spell on him and the man fell with a simple stunner. Ron watched as the holes quickly reformed and all the partition went transparent again. Apparently without the attacking spells of the wizard on this side, the wall would stay intact. He could hear the roars of anger of the Death Eaters who looked like they were in touching distance, but were stopped steps away from crossing over by the wards. He stared at the furious masked men who promptly disapparated while shaking their fists at him. Ron steadied his wand and reached the fallen Wizard and pulled him roughly onto his back
Ron couldn't believe it. Something was terribly wrong.
It was Neville.
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Lunch the next day was quiet and Ron sat grumpily at his spot at the Gryffindor table with the seats feeling very empty on either side of him. Other students around him were watching his red face and angry mutterings carefully trying to stay out of his way. Seamus had inadvertently crossed forks with him as they both reached for the same pork chop and got the royal Weasley telling off to show for it. Ginny was barely much better. Having a friend locked up in the dungeon having turned traitor and her best friend, Hermione go missing was terrible for Ginny and in grand Weasley tradition she had her own attitude in rare form as well. Students around her watched themselves as Ginny was known for a few rather potent hexes.
Neville was a traitor. Ginny didn't believe it. A couple of people made snide comments about him and were silenced by the flash in her eyes. No one was hurt from the attack save a few students who had bruises from being knocked about by the explosion. They had been very lucky. Ron had been hailed as a hero which surprisingly he shrugged off with disinterest. Apparently he didn't like being known as the boy who brought down Neville Longbottom.
Ginny grimaced at the sight of her brother glowering at everyone around him. These had been especially hard days for him and she felt really badly for him. Not that she'd tell him so and have her nose bitten off by his foul temper. Something had to be done and she'd finally come up with the solution. It was going to cost her, but it was the only way she could think of to finally get things moving again. The Headmaster knew something and he wasn't telling anyone.
The girl glowered at those around her and sat fuming as she tried to catch the eye of Dumbledore or McGonagall who were talking quietly to each other. The red-haired girl however had thought it through much further than her brother this time and she had an ace hidden up her sleeve.
A raucous commotion at the doors to the great hall had captured the attention of all the students and faculty and several students near the front were nearly knocked over when the doors flew open letting in a very strident and extremely livid Mrs. Molly Weasley.
Ginny couldn't help but smirk at the dismay on the faces of Dumbledore and McGonagall and even the widening eyes of Professor Snape as they caught sight of the imposing figure of the Weasley Matriarch. She was wearing her lumpy woolen knitted hat and coat in all their colorful glory and was swinging her oversized handbag in a forceful enough manner that at least three Slytherins in her way fell onto their backsides as they tried to escape out of the path of the angry and blustering female.
Ginny had considered telling her father, but she realized all that would do was bring the whole of the ministry down onto the school's faculty. By telling her mother instead, they had to face dealing with Molly Prewitt Weasley, almost mother to Harry Potter. That had to be sooo much worse. Ginny's smirk drew into an enormous grin and she started shoveling mashed potatoes from her shepherd's pie into her mouth with glee. Finally. Someone will have to tell us what is going on!
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