Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
The Time Meddlers
Chapter Thirty - The Battle of Hogwarts
"I say we arrest the lot of them," declared Wizengamot member Timothius Caladron. "Umbridge was leaving us alone, but now I'll bet she's going to retaliate!"
"Arrest people for saving lives?!" screamed Augusta Longbottom. "How dare you even suggest that? You heard Madam Pomfrey's report on the conditions of the…"
"…The new muggle-borns we have to take in and feed!" interrupted Bartholomew Headon. "They won't even be able to earn their keep for months! It's hard enough to keep supplies…"
Amelia Bones had had enough. She shouted, "YOU TWO ARE THE MOST VILE, INHUMAN MONSTERS I'VE EVER MET! YOU'RE WORSE THAN UMBRIDGE, AND OBVIOUSLY SYMPATHETIC TO HER CAUSE! YOU BELONG IN AZKABAN, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED! YOU'VE DONE NOTHING BUT STOP US FROM FIGHTING BACK SINCE WE STARTED HAVING THESE MEETINGS!" She took a deep breath and glared at them. "My only question is whether you're on the Shadow's payroll or not, because you most certainly are her most valuable allies."
"How dare you," shouted Caladron. "My family's…"
"…irrelevant!" interrupted Bones. "It seems your goal is to make sure we do nothing while the Shadow gains more power. We need to prepare for…" At that moment, a large blast was heard throughout the whole castle.
"You see!" shouted Headon. "Now we're under attack."
--TM--
At the same time the Wizengamot was meeting, Harry was sitting alone in the Chamber of Secrets, thinking about what had happened the day before. Not only that, but he was also thinking about D.A. meetings from a different timeline that had included Marietta Edgecombe, Michael Corner, and eventually Seamus Finnegan. He heard footsteps approaching his position and turned to see the love of his life. "I never asked Marietta why she waited so long to turn us in if she hated me so much. I mean, if she just wanted to be Umbridge's spy, she'd have turned us in after the first meeting. Why did she wait?"
"I heard that her mother was under a lot of pressure at the Ministry to get her to talk," replied Hermione, immediately understanding that he was talking about their fifth year in the other timeline.
"Maybe they were going to sack her. Imagine given the choice to betray me or have your own mother lose her job?"
Hermione sighed. "I never thought of that."
"Me, neither."
"I guess I should've removed that curse from her."
"I know that year Seamus didn't believe me at first, but he did eventually come around."
"And Michael Corner was always with the D.A., even if it was for his girlfriend," said Hermione.
"Yeah," replied Harry, smiling a bit. "Ginny can be persuasive."
"I know they died younger here than in that lifetime, and can't express how sorry I am about it, but you've got to remember two things. It was not your fault - it was Umbridge's - don't claim responsibility for her - and they died fighting for what they believed in. They're heroes - martyrs - and should be remembered as such. They…"
At that moment, an explosion filled their ears.
"We're under attack!" declared Hermione.
"What took her so long?" asked Harry, sarcastically. "Come on! Let's get suited up and help."
--TM--
On the outskirts of Hogsmeade, where she could safely watch the attack on the castle, the Shadow of Pain was smiling as she sipped her tea. Severus was leading the siege of Hogwarts, a place he'd been forced to live at for far too long. She observed as he, along with twenty Shadow Troopers, shot blasting curses at the castle that had stood for over a thousand years. She giggled before taking another sip as an army of trolls approached another side of the brick building. She'd have preferred giants, as they were more intelligent, but didn't have time to gather them. The huge, disgusting magical creatures bashed the side of Hogwarts with their wooden clubs. She couldn't wait for the opposition to show up, so that she could enjoy the bloodshed.
--TM--
"Flyers, grab your brooms and go!" shouted Cedric Diggory at the D.A, who'd gathered around him once the explosions started. "I'll join you in a minute! And be careful!"
"I'm impressed," said Tox, who'd suddenly appeared with them. "They're ready to go in less than five minutes. You've done a good job with this group."
"I'm glad you're here," replied Cedric. "We can use all the help we can get."
"We'll be trying to take out the leaders," said Sky, who was standing next to her boyfriend.
"I just hope Umbridge is here," hissed Harry/Tox.
"I get dibs on her," said Susan, who would be a ground-fighter. "I owe her."
"I'll let you mutilate what's left of her if I find her first," replied Tox. "I'm not going to let her live if I find her."
"Good luck," said Diggory as he mounted his broom.
"To all of us," added Sky.
The two then rushed out of the room as Cedric's group took orders from him. They ran up several flights of stairs before they were high enough.
"This should be good," commented Sky before turning into an owl.
"You're such an adorable bird," Tox replied. "I should keep you in a cage." The bird in question flapped her wings to get into a position to start pecking his face. "I was just kidding, Hermione." He then pulled out his special wand and disillusioned her. "I wish I had a Firebolt," he commented as he performed the same spell on his Nimbus 2000, "but this should do. Death from above." He then disillusioned himself and climbed out a nearby window, knowing his girlfriend had already left. He jumped out the window and let himself freefall for about five seconds before mounting his invisible broom.
The first thing Harry saw was a troll bashing the wall just below him with its club. Grinning to himself, he whispered, "I wonder if it could work twice," before levitating the club out of the troll's hand. However, before letting it fall on the monster, he performed an enlarging charm on the piece of wood, making it the size of a small cabin. Needless to say, it did more than knock out the troll. He quickly flew away from that spot before sending a Sectumsempra at a different troll's throat. Taking out the rest of the trolls was easy for him as he sped around on his broom invisibly. They literally didn't know what hit them. He then rounded the corner to see Cedric's group in action.
--TM--
The D.A. Flyers were weaving around the air at high speeds as they avoided blasts from the ground, taking whatever shots they could at the attackers below. Cedric managed to send a bone-breaker hex at one of Umbridge's allies' skull, causing him to fall over, dying. Cho Chang shot a cutting curse that hit another one's eye, causing him to drop his wand in pain and panic, which turned out to be a mistake as Roger Davies finished him off with a Reducto on his neck. None of the D.A. would think twice about killing these monsters today. They might have nightmares about this battle for the rest of their lives, but they would definitely do their jobs, avenging their recently fallen comrades. Cedric saw someone who'd apparently disillusioned themselves get blasted away. He hoped whoever it was survived, but he didn't have time to think about that as another of his fighters shouted, "More of them are coming!" He turned to see about fifty more Shadow Troopers appear, just when he'd thought they had the upper hand. About half of them mounted Firebolts and took off after Cedric's group.
--TM--
Hermione's favorite aspect of her Animagus form was its eyes. She could see so much more clearly and further than as a human. As such, it was quite easy for her to spot the lone figure in Hogsmeade wearing a pink cardigan. Although she was much thinner than before, her face was still ugly as Hermione was focusing on catching her. She knew that both Harry and Susan wanted to be the ones who killed the Shadow, but also knew that anyone who could get close to her should do it. Otherwise, they'd be as stupid as Voldemort, whose orders regarding Harry saved his life more than once in their sixth year. In some ways, Tom Riddle had been the greatest ally of his most hated enemy that year. He should've just promised a million galleons to whoever killed Harry. Draco may even have done it on the train when Harry had gotten caught spying on him.
Hermione, still invisible, landed about ten feet behind Umbridge and changed back into a human. She pulled out her wand and fired a Reducto at her back.
The woman who'd caused so much pain fell forward, dropping her cup of tea as her hands reaching frantically into her pockets. If she'd have been in the shape she'd originally been in, she'd have died instantly. However, with her body in perfect health, she had a few vital seconds, seconds she'd planned on in case something like this happened. Delores' left hand grabbed a vial of a red liquid while her right grabbed a small sphere. She tossed the sphere in the direction the Reducto had originated and uncorked the liquid. While the magical grenade was exploding, the Shadow drank some Elixir of Life, which healed her as quickly as phoenix tears would've.
Hermione had seen Umbridge toss something in her direction and Apparated to a different position, about fifteen feet in front of her opponent. She was instantly grateful she had when she realized the blast would've caught her. She watched in horror and disbelief as the wounds she'd given the High Inquisitor of a different timeline healed themselves as the Shadow of Pain stood.
"I heard that pop!" she declared, pointing her wand toward Hermione. "Avada Kedavra!" A green beam of light shot straight at Hermione's position, who quickly moved out of the way, showing a distortion because the disillusionment spell was not nearly as perfect as Harry's cloak. As Sky ran, spell after spell was shot at her, barely missing.
--TM--
Harry smiled to himself as he saw former Professor Severus Snape standing at the head of the group blasting at the gate of Hogwarts. He swooped down in a Wronski Feint, pulled up in front of Snape, aimed his wand and…was hit from the side by a blasting hex. The only reason Harry knew his left shoulder was still attached was because of the incredible pain he was in. He heard one of the Shadow Troopers explain that he'd felt the breeze Harry's fancy flying had caused. He managed to avoid landing on his wounded shoulder, but he rolled over and over until he stopped next to the enlarged club he'd made just a few minutes before.
Harry heard fast footsteps and looked toward them to see Snape running in his direction, a look of hatred in his eyes. He was glad to be disillusioned still, before he realized there was a pool of blood surrounding him.
"I want to see your eyes when I kill you!" shouted Snape before he cast a, "Finite!" at his fallen foe. His eyes went wide and he stepped backward as Harry realized his hood had gone down during his tumble. While he'd made himself taller, he hadn't changed his face, because he always kept it covered as Tox. "You!" muttered Snape. "I should kill you right now, but…" He shot a spell at Harry's bleeding shoulder, which began healing. "Get out of here! That's the last favor I'll…"
Harry watched in horror and confusion as he saw a beam of orange light shoot out from Snape's throat. The potion master fell forward, allowing Harry to see another Shadow Trooper, who'd obviously watched Snape heal him. Without even thinking about it, Harry shot a Reducto at the man's head, bursting it messily. He realized that his shoulder wasn't perfect, but it was usable and not bleeding, as he pulled up his hood. He approached Snape and turned him around to see he was still breathing, barely. His throat was shooting blood out by the gallon and his face looked paler than ever.
"Why?" asked Harry.
"For my first and only friend…" he answered weakly, "Lily." He then went still and Harry realized the man was dead.
Harry's face was filled with rage as he grabbed his broom, which thankfully hadn't been damaged. He felt confused and disgusted, but most of all, he felt like killing someone. He saw a large blast in the direction of Hogsmeade and shot off toward it.
--TM--
Hermione was thankful for all the training she'd been doing as she kept dodging spell after spell that Umbridge was shooting at her, but knew she couldn't last forever. At the same time she was evading lethal curses, she was trying to figure out how the Shadow's wounds had healed so quickly. She'd never seen anything like that before. To Sky's surprise, Delores aimed one of her spells not at her opponent, but at the ground. An arm grew out of the road and grabbed Hermione's leg, causing her to fall forward, her face landing in a puddle of cold tea.
"Now it's time to make you pay for your law infraction," Umbridge said sweetly. "I'm afraid that I'll have to cruci…"
At that moment, the Shadow of Pain was in a world of hurt. She'd just been blasted with a Sectumsempra from a disillusioned broom rider. Knowing she only had seconds to live without treatment, Umbridge Apparated away to her hideout, which contained enough Elixir to last a lifetime.
"Damn!" shouted Harry as he slowed down and blasted the arm holding his love. "Are you alright, Sky?"
"Yeah," she replied while wiping tea off her face.
As he helped his girlfriend up, Harry commented, "You've got a few cuts."
"Probably from her broken teacup. It's no big deal. We need to join the battle at Hogwarts." She climbed onto his broom, stuck herself to it magically so she couldn't fall, and said, "I'll be gunner. You just concentrate on fly…ing." Her last word was interrupted by his taking off as fast as his Nimbus 2000 could take him.
It was less than a minute later when they reached the scene of the battle and Hermione started firing every curse she could think of. By this time, Amelia Bones and Augusta Longbottom had joined the fray, along with several civilians who'd been staying at Hogwarts. There were at least a dozen people on their side fallen, but two dozen Shadow Troopers were scattered on the grounds in pieces. The remaining thirty-or-so enemies were fighting for their lives as now they were facing two-to-one odds. Adding Tox and Sky to the mix, shooting the bad guys in the back, and the battle was over within ten minutes. In the end, twenty people on their side died. Although none of them were close to Harry or Hermione in this timeline or the previous one, they were still saddened.
Augusta Longbottom had taken out five Shadow Troopers on her own before the battle ended, surprising everyone who believed she was a frail old woman. Her grandson Neville, who hadn't done as well as she had, was standing by her side fighting when the last enemy fell.
Amelia Bones surveyed the battlefield, for that was what the outside of Hogwarts had become, and smiled grimly, knowing that this had been a victory, even if it was costly. She'd lost a few aurors that she'd considered friends. Some of the children lost their parents. The Minister of Magic didn't want those deaths to be in vain. She knew she had to take the war to Umbridge, but needed an army. She decided that she'd win this war if she had to be arrested later for ignoring the Wizengamot. "How many people here want to prepare to attack the Ministry of Magic?" she asked, deciding to create a military force. She didn't have time to give them a lot of training, but she'd do her best. "We're going to take back the Ministry in two weeks!"
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