******
Harry was currently restraining Dean Thomas with one arm, pointing his wand at a furious Ron Weasley with his other arm, and using one leg to make sure Michael Corner did not do anything particularly rash. Unfortunately, his one spare limb was being used to keep himself slightly upright, else Harry would probably have used it to prevent a war from erupting within the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Neville and Nott were standing toe to toe to Harry's left. Nott was explaining several things he would do to Neville's non-existent girlfriend while Neville explained that the substance inside Nott's cranium would most definitely lose a battle of wits against a garden gnome. Padma and Parvati were nose to nose to Harry's right; both twins took turns explaining how one held a quality the other did not possess. Seamus seemed to be egging them on while gesticulating to Hermione that he did not care if she thought he was sexist. Other little skirmishes were erupting inside the classroom as Neville and Harry's armies engaged in a battle of words that would have turned to more had Professor Sheppard not intervened.
"ENOUGH!"
***********
Ten Minutes Earlier…
Harry rushed down the moving staircase, leaping across a small gap as he tried not to be late to Defense. A late morning and another encounter with Luna Lovegood left Harry with only a minute to reach the Defense classroom from the seventh floor. Running through two turtle-paced First Years, Harry finally yanked the door open and stumbled into the room. A bemused Hermione looked up at him as he tried to catch his breath. Harry gave her a thumbs up as he noticed that Professor Sheppard was mysteriously absent.
Taking his seat next to Seamus (the class was still divided down the middle), Harry took out the necessary materials needed to take notes before he noticed no one had their quills and parchments out. It seemed as if the entire classroom had finally noticed something at the front of the room. Harry squinted his eyes and adjusted his glasses as he tried to read the scrawl near 'Potter's Army.'
Death Eater Army
Someone had scratched out Potter and replaced it with a rather insidious set of words. Harry's hands turned into fists as he turned to glare accusingly at the other side of the classroom. Thankfully, Hermione seemed appalled at the words etched onto the board. The rest of the group, however, shifted uncomfortably as they exchanged slight glances. Harry's eyes darted back and forth between the mixed expressions as he struggled to maintain his cool.
"What the fuck?" Seamus spit as he stood up.
"I'm not no damn Death Eater," Dean's dreadlocks flew wildly as he vigorously shook his head.
"Can't say the same for everyone though," Ernie MacMillan replied mockingly.
"Fuck you, MacMillan. Why don't you go back to shoving your head up your own arse?"
"Enough," Neville spoke out and gave Ernie a stern glare.
"You would defend him, wouldn't you, Longbottom?" Nott rhetorically asked.
"Neville had nothing to do with this," Hermione interrupted as she stood up as well.
"Oh shut up and stop defending your boyfriend, you stupid mudblood," Pansy snarled.
"Everyone just stop it!" Harry took a step to the middle of the classroom to place himself directly in the line of fire.
"I thought you were our General, Potter? What? Standing up for those stupid Gryffindors again?" Nott pointed an accusing finger at him.
"I'm not standing up for anyone," Harry glared at Nott before turning to Neville, "Neville, can we speak in private?"
"Private?" Dean cried, "We all want to know who did this, Harry! It obviously wasn't us!"
"Watch what you're saying, Thomas," Neville growled.
"Oh it's Thomas now is it? Do you forget we've been mates since we were eleven?"
"Wouldn't know by which side you chose," Ron rose to defend his best friend.
"There are no sides -"
"Ginny always said you were a right jerk," Michael interrupted Hermione's tirade with his own.
"Leave my sister out of this," Ron took a step to the Ravenclaw boy as he brandished his wand.
As soon as Ron took out his wand, everyone else took this motion as a signal to draw their wands as well. In a matter of seconds, wands were being pointed at each other as various people tried in vain to yell over each other. Harry was doing his best to restrain his side of the classroom as they begun taunting and egging each other on. It seemed as if the previous battle brought the previously tame rivalry to a new level. While there were traditional battles occurring, such as Gryffindors versus Slytherins, other inter and intrahouse fights were occurring all over the classroom. Harry was indeed upset by whoever scrawled the words onto the board, but he needed to keep the situation private for everyone's sake. Fortunately for Harry, a deep voice bellowed over the various yells of the students.
"ENOUGH!"
Professor Sheppard conjured bright red sparks into the air as he captured the attention of the angry herd. His thin, bony body did not look its part as he towered over his charges. His jaw was set in a hard line as he made sure to give each student his best disappointed stare.
"Everyone, sit," he barely whispered.
The students immediately complied, resuming their former sedentary positions. Though tensions still ran high amongst the two armies, neither would show it in front of the former Auror. Sheppard took one look at the board and immediately erased the word 'Death Eater.'
"Detention for next Hogsmeade weekend. All of you," he informed them with his back turn.
The groans were only slightly snuffled as Sheppard brought down the punishment. They all knew the consequences of infighting outside of the regular skirmishes though Harry did note that since they were in class, they were technically free to fight. He did not dare voice the fallacy aloud. Sheppard still had his back to the class as he collected himself for an arduously long lecture.
"I have to admit that I knew this was a possibility when I assigned this project," Sheppard started as he turned to face his students.
"For as long as I have known, the House rivalries have always run incredibly deep in Hogwarts. I, myself, as a Hufflepuff, am embarrassed to admit I competed heavily in winning the House cup. I sought to break down these barriers. Mr. Potter, you made things quite easier by appointing yourself as leader and decisively alienating yourself from your peers. It would have been quite easy for you to join Mr. Longbottom," Sheppard looked at Harry appraisingly.
"Mr. Potter presented me the opportunity to observe different houses fighting as one. Disappointedly enough, there was a not single Hufflepuff to join Mr. Potter's army," Sheppard paced over to the other side of the classroom to give the Hufflepuffs a disappointed glance.
"Hufflepuffs are loyal to a fault. But sometimes this loyalty is too evident. I expected most of you to join Mr. Longbottom. How could you not? This war has drove deep divisions amongst wizards and witches. But not one of you joined Mr. Potter. Unity and loyalty are honorable traits. It is also this same trait that Voldemort has used to wrap the Death Eaters in his hands," Harry and other students flinched as Sheppard spoke his name. The Hufflepuffs immediately looked shocked at such an accusation.
"Besides the obvious, what I had hoped for all of you to learn is that your Houses will mean nothing if you can't band together and fight as one. Mr. Potter, who would you say is your right hand man on the battlefield?" Sheppard singled the boy out.
"Um - uh," Harry stuttered as his eyes bounced through his army. He found himself moving through his group as he struggled to find the right answer. Much to Harry's chagrin, he found himself staring at Malfoy. Though he had not consciously acknowledged it, Harry always ordered Malfoy to follow him through the previous two battles. Surprisingly enough, even to Harry, Malfoy had performed admirably throughout the process with little resistance.
"It is Mr. Malfoy, is it not? Who would have imagined Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy storming through battle when this class started? Certainly not you, Mr. Potter?" Harry shook his head slowly as eyed the Slytherin boy. Malfoy did not even acknowledge he had heard the Professor. Harry recalled that Malfoy did not even stand up to defend himself in the previous ruckus before the Professor arrived.
"Yet all of you look down upon this arrangement," Sheppard turned to face Neville's contingent, "Am I safe to assume that someone from this group wrote that on my board?"
The group stirred nervously, neither one wanting to rat out the other. Neville hesitantly raised his hand and said, "Sir, I don't think anyone from this group did it."
"As admirable as that is, Mr. Longbottom, it's complete illogical for someone in Harry's army to scrawl that on the board. Do not worry, I will not ask for whoever wrote it to reveal themselves. I am only saying this to point out the fact that the prejudices run too deep in Hogwarts. Mr. Potter is working with the Slytherins to fight against you and as a result, someone has cast him among the preconceived notions that all Slytherins are Death Eaters," Sheppard now turned to face the Slytherins.
"To be fair, none of you did anything to dispel this notion. None of you joined Mr. Longbottom, none of you made any effort to mask your displeasure when you realized that Mr. Potter would be the other leader, and none of you stood up to take the mantle of leadership. I believe in all of you. I believe that you will not follow the footsteps of previous Slytherins. Are you not supposed to be the most cunning? The most ambitious? Do not make the same mistake as your elders. You can all be great and none of you should fear the wrath of a maniac hell bent on terrorizing the world," Sheppard warned them solemnly. The Slytherins looked uncertain on how to react as the Professor simultaneously insulted and praised them. Nott settled on a generally angry stance, his fists furiously clenching and unclenching.
"Professor?" Hermione raised her hand hesitantly, "You ask for us to unite together yet point out that unity is the same thing Voldemort uses to intimidate us all. How can we be expected to follow your advice?"
"You are as perceptive as your peers think you are, Ms. Granger. The marked difference between all of you and Voldemort is you are fighting for different things. If all of you unite to fight against Voldemort, you will be doing it for that singular cause. There will still be divisions among you. There will still be infighting. But you will realize that you can overcome these differences to rid the world of a terror," Sheppard pointed out.
"Why do the Death Eaters and all their creatures fight for Voldemort? For a blood cause? The wizarding world is a decaying breed," Sheppard slammed his fist down on the table, "There are less and less Purebloods every year. We can not expect to live without Muggle influence forever. Make no mistake, even Purebloods such as yourself, Mr. Weasley, are guilty of this error."
Ron protested indignantly but Sheppard cut him off, "Do you not scorn Muggles? Do you not look down on their ways? Do you not make fun of them as you pass them by on the streets? The prejudices run deep throughout all of the wizarding world."
"So do the Death Eaters fight for a blood cause?" Sheppard continued, "No. They fight because Voldemort tells them too. They run and chase because Voldemort orders it. They kill in the name of Voldemort and they will die in his name as well. This is the difference between yourselves and the Death Eaters."
"You fight for one another. They fight for one person. Human kind has made this mistake repeatedly. Wars have been raised all for the sake of one person, one leader. Do not be so foolish to make this same mistake."
The bell rung, abruptly breaking the hold that Professor Sheppard had placed upon the students. As the class shook out of it's stupor, Sheppard did well to remind them, "Remember. Detention for all of you this upcoming weekend."
******
Luna Lovegood paced in front of a rather large cabinet. It was not in her nature to pace. It was not even in her nature to show any sort of nervousness. Yet, Luna continued to pace nervously as her eyes remained glued to the cabinet. There was a small sound from within the cabinet, causing Luna to freeze on the spot. Slowly, she reached one pale hand to wrench the door open. Inside, a white songbird fluttered about, looking quite unharmed. Luna's eyes widened as she gently picked up the bird, making sure not to harm it in any way. The bird hooted softly as it took in its surroundings.
"Please hold on, Father," Luna whispered as she let the bird free.
Luna exited the room, making sure no one could see her as she left. For one reason or another, Harry Potter always seemed to be wandering this particular corridor. Luckily for Luna, there was no one outside of the room. Hurriedly making her way to the owlery, she found the particular owl she had been using to communicate with the others. Pulling out a piece of parchment, she quickly scrawled a few words with a spare quill. Tying the letter to the bird, Luna forced it into the sky.
It is ready.
********
Harry took his time to make his way back to the Gryffindor common room. He was too busy mulling over Professor Sheppard's speech. He had never known the older Auror to be particularly passionate about anything. Sheppard almost always stuck to his job as a teacher with strict authority. He taught the class and prepared them for the duel ahead and was not one to hand out life advice. His words, however, had a profound effect on Harry.
Was it wrong for him to think poorly of the Slytherins even though he had fought with them? Was it wrong for Harry to think poorly of the Hufflepuffs? Harry always dismissed them as a passive, dimwitted bunch. Yet, it was Professor Sheppard who had delivered this impassioned speech. It was Cedric Diggory who the Goblet had originally selected to be the Hogwarts champion. Harry still had to consider his own Gryffindors. Though they were loyal, they were also brave and fierce in their convictions. Harry knew as well as anyone how quickly they could turn on even their own if the group felt threatened. Then there were the Ravenclaws; the coldly calculating breed of all of Hogwarts. Had they selected Neville's army because they believed they had the best chance of winning with him? What would stop them from joining You-Know-Who if they determined he had a better chance of winning this war?
All of these questions ran through Harry's head as he distractedly arrived at his room. Flopping tiredly on his bed, Harry ran his hands through his hair as he tried to clear his head of the myriad of questions. The sun was setting in the distance, casting half of Harry in its shadow as the boy shielded his eyes. Taking off his glasses, Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly as he stared at the orange ceiling of his room. All of a sudden, there was a muffled voice from Harry's bedside. Rolling over, Harry looked over the side of his bed to find his just his bag. Scratching his head confusedly, Harry continued to listen for any sounds.
"….HARRY POTTER!"
The yell was still muffled as Harry finally put the pieces of the puzzle together. Underneath his bag was the mirror he had given to Ginny. Picking it up, Harry was elated to see Ginny's angry face in the reflection.
"Ginny! You're using it!"
"No thanks to you. You almost didn't answer!" she grumbled but with a smile.
"How are you? Are you okay? What are you doing?" Harry rushed out all of his questions as he took in her appearance.
For fighting a war, she looked relatively kempt. There were dirt marks around her cheeks and a slight cut above her left eye, but all in all, it was not any worse than the aftermath of a particularly brutal Quidditch match.
"I'm alright. They mostly have me doing healer stuff and taking care of the other soldiers. Fudge is still a bastard who deserves -" Ginny went on to explain several ways to dismember the Minister of Magic.
"Ginny," Harry interrupted, "Please stop."
"Sorry," she laughed, "But it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would."
"That's good."
"Mostly because they keep me away from the battles. Almost all of it's underground, did you know that?"
"Underground?"
"I reckon they think it's easier to hide from the Muggles that way. Occasionally we'll have something happen up above, but it's rare. Even the Death Eaters don't like going up there. They're like vampires, not that we've fought any here," Ginny shrugged.
"No vampires then? That's good," Harry nodded.
"No vampires but almost everything else. Giants, trolls, werewolves, even some evil garden gnomes," Ginny shook her head, "We'd outnumber them if it was just Death Eaters but all the Death Eaters do is direct those blasted things around."
"That sounds awful," Harry replied sympathetically.
"Thanks. Enough of me though. How is everyone?" Ginny asked eagerly.
Harry spent the next couple of minutes explaining the situation since Ginny left for the War. Ginny responded appropriately to all of his stories but frowned when he explained his cooperation with the Slytherins.
"Really, Harry? I know Malfoy's been through a lot but it's getting to be too much," Ginny admonished him.
"It's not that bad," Harry remembered Sheppard's monologue, "Maybe it's for the better."
Ginny looked at him in surprise but decided to let the topic drop, "Anyways, thanks for answering. I wasn't sure this was going to work. It's been a quiet day around here, for some reason all the Death Eaters seemed to have pulled back a bit. Not that I'm complaining too much."
"Think they're up to something?" Harry wondered.
"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they're just tired. It's tiresome down here, I'm getting so pale," Ginny frowned.
"You would be worried about that," Harry replied dryly.
"You have to hold on to the little things, Harry. Else you'll go mad like Wonky Willy," Ginny nodded solemnly.
"Who's Wonky Willy?"
"You don't want to know."
"Weasley! Banco needs help reapplying the defenses," Harry heard a voice but did not see a face pop into frame.
"Yes, sir! Sorry, Harry, I need to go. Tell everyone I said hello. Owl my parents and tell the how much I love them, we can't owl much down here. Please take care and don't go flirting with Malfoy anymore!" Ginny rushed out as she vanished from sight.
"Bye, Ginny," Harry chuckled as he stowed the mirror into his bag.
Leaping up from the bed and onto his desk, Harry pulled out several pieces of parchment as he delegated himself to writing a couple of letters. Harry dipped his quill in the bottle of ink and started scratching out a letter to his mother.
Mother,
I'm sorry I didn't write to you before the first skirmish. I thought it'd be more helpful to write to Dad first since he's been doing this sort of thing. At least I think he has? What does he do anyways? Never mind, it's not like you're going to tell me. I hope you're enjoying the earrings I got you, they cost me a fortune! Of your own money! The blasted things. My first skirmish went very well. Second one. Not so much.
Anyways, enough of the boring stuff. Did you know Professor Sheppard during your time at Hogwarts? I know he might be older than you (shocker for your age!) but he talked about some things that got me thinking. Were House rivalries always really bad? I'm kind of starting to rethink it. We're not all too different when we think about it. Sure we have some more prominent qualities, but we were all the same students when we got here.
It's just…he was talking about overcoming differences and I know how you and Dad have fought in the past and I know it isn't any of my business, but I love you both. I hate seeing you two fight and it makes me happy when we're all together. I know me saying this can't change anything between you, but I just hoped that I could somehow guilt you into maybe thinking about it. For me? I'll cook? I'll help us find our new house? Write back, Mum. I miss you and I love you.
Your dashingly handsome son,
Harry
Harry smiled as he rolled the parchment into a letter. He took out a couple more pieces of parchment and started writing to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
Ron should thank me for all the work I do for his sister.
*********
Harry made his way down to the Great Hall where the Fifth years would all be serving detention. Some poor Second Year had filled the Defense room with an unidentified obnoxious gas, so Sheppard took pity for his Fifth year class and allowed them to have detention in the Great Hall. The rest of the upper classmen were in Hogsmeade while all the First and Second years were at the Quidditch pitch, participating in a rather amusing pick-up game. The Fifth years were the only students in the Hogwarts castle for now. As he passed by a classroom, he noticed the door was slightly ajar and that there were noises coming from within. Prying the door open slightly, Harry could see Hermione practicing various spells.
"Shorten your movements, you'll be able to take out more of the targets that way," Harry spoke up as Hermione attempted to stun several target dummies in a short amount of time.
"Harry!" she gasped before chuckling, "You surprised me. I just thought I'd get in some work before detention."
"You would," Harry said as he took off his robes and rolled up his sleeves, "Come on, I'll show you. My Dad taught me."
"You don't need to go through all the wand waving for the Stunner. As long as you focus on the effects of the spell and channel your magic, you can do it quickly. Watch."
Harry snapped his wrist three times and hit three target dummies with astonishing pace and accuracy.
"Incredible," Hermione exhaled, much to Harry's delight.
"So, for now, just focus on disarming me. Don't go through all the steps, just focus on it," Harry raised his arms sideways to indicate she should hex him.
"This doesn't sound very elementary."
"Can't trust everything they teach here. Increase your knowledge, Granger," Harry said with a wink.
"Here goes nothing. Expelliarmus!" Hermione's movement was certainly shorter on her first try. Harry's wand was pulled out of his hand but stopped in mid-air. Harry smiled as he plucked the Unicorn string. He had started to habitually wear the wand holster ever since the project was assigned to them.
"I knew that's how you were avoiding them," Hermione clapped a hand to her forehead, "I told them to stop using Expelliarmus on you but the idiots wouldn't listen."
"I must say, this has come rather handy."
"Quiet, you."
Harry laughed as he urged her to disarm him again. The movement became shorter again, but she was still trying too hard to go through the fundamental steps. Hermione's strict learning was stumping her from increasing her power.
"Here," Harry stood next to her and took her wrist in his hand, "You don't need to go through the loop or the overhand. Just give it a tiny flick of your wrist."
Harry suddenly took a deep breathe as he realized he was practically holding Hermione in his arms. He had taken his right arm and placed it on her right shoulder to keep her shoulder down during the spell. His left hand was showing her how to flick the wrist. Although he intended to just show her how to decrease her movement, he found himself frozen as he incidentally wrapped Hermione in a bear hug.
"Harry?" she turned to look at him with big, questioning eyes.
"Um," Harry took a step back and sheepishly shook his head, "Yeah, don't you think we should go? We're going to be late to detention."
"We have five minutes. Let me try one more time."
"Alright, fine," Harry was still flustered at how close he had been to Hermione, "One time."
Hermione performed the charm marvelously this last time, barely flicking her wrist as she disarmed Harry. She gave a very un-Hermione whoop as she crossed the distance between them and hugged Harry tightly.
"I've been trying to do that forever. Thank you so much, Harry!" she was obviously excited that she learned this new tactic so quickly.
"Right then. Detention we go," Harry said with an amused grin.
"Detention," Hermione said brightly, well aware the class wide punishment did not particularly effect her grades.
As they arrived in the Great Hall, Harry was pleased to see there was no divide amongst the two armies. It seemed as if Professor Sheppard's speech had done some good after all. Though the class still sat in groups that clumped towards their respective house, the divide was much less clear.
"Guys," Harry nodded as he sat between Neville and Seamus.
"Harry," Neville said benignly. Harry looked questioning at Seamus, who simply shrugged in return. It was another fight swept under the rug for the Gryffindor boys.
"Welcome class," Sheppard announced, "Since all the teachers are either at the pitch or in Hogsmeade, I've been left in charge of Hogwarts."
Dumbledore had left after the story about the break-in at the Ministry. Harry assumed that the powerful wizard needed to address some urgent topics which required him to leave the school.
"And since I'm in charge, it looks like we'll all be cleaning the Great Hall," he paused for dramatic effect, "The Muggle way."
Every student groaned as Sheppard waved his wand and summoned buckets, mops, and other assorted cleaning material. Picking up a rag, Harry muttered to Hermione, "Race you to the end of the table."
Though they were forced to clean the tables the Muggle way, the students seemed to enjoy the process since they were forced to all do it together. Harry jokingly splashed Hermione with some water. The girl looked at Harry with surprised eyes before throwing a rag cloth at him.
"Mr. Potter. Ms. Granger. Keep it to yourselves," Sheppard droned as he watched them from the reconstructed High Table. They both had the decency to blush as they reapplied themselves to cleaning the tables.
Unknown to everyone, on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, Luna Lovegood opened the door to the Room of Requirement.
*******
Luna closed the door behind her and made her way to the Vanishing Cabinet. Almost hyperventilating, Luna tentatively reached a hand out and opened the cabinet door. Shrieking in surprise, she stumbled back as a tall, pale creature emerged from the cabinet. Gruesomely grotesque, the black robed figure inhaled deeply as he inspected the Room of Requirement. Behind him, dozens and dozens of Death Eaters poured out of the closet. It was a never-ending stream of bodies as more dark-robed Death Eaters arrived within the walls of Hogwarts.
"Bella, remind me to thank Borgin for modifying the closet. We need everyone here for this," Voldemort hissed.
"What of the girl?" Lucius Malfoy asked.
"Collect her later. We need to establish the perimeter and I need to change the runes for the castle to make sure Dumbledore doesn't get back in. Move," Voldemort ordered. Luna fainted as Voldemort and the other Death Eaters exited the Room of Requirement.
*******
Harry hummed "Weasley is Our King" with the other Gryffindor students as he mopped a particularly troublesome spot near the corner of the Great Hall. He was content in trying to squeeze out this dirty spot when a slight wave of magical power passed over him. The hairs on the back of his neck were raised as Harry suddenly snapped his head up. He saw Neville do the same and look at him concernedly.
"What was that?" Neville asked.
"What was what?" Ron asked, still humming "Weasley is Our King."
"Professor Sheppard?" Harry called out. The Professor was standing alertly, his wand clutched in his hand.
"Everyone," Sheppard's voice rang through the Great Hall, "Stop what you're doing and gather on me."
The students looked at each other in confusion as they dropped their mops and rag cloths. Harry pulled out his wand, Sheppard's own nervousness compounding his own. As Harry pulled out his wand, Seamus pulled out his wand as well and made a hand motion to Dean. One by one, Harry's army brandished their wands in a quick game of follow the leader. Neville's army followed suit quickly thereafter.
"Something's happened," Sheppard said grimly, his eyes darting about, "We need to get out of the castle."
Neville immediately started power walking to the double doors of the Entrance Hall. As he was about to round the corner, a red light flashed in front of him and stopped him in his tracks. Neville stopped, immediately turned around and bellowed, "DEATH EATERS!"
The students immediately started firing at the double doors of the Great Hall even though none of the Death Eaters had even turned the corner.
"No," Sheppard whispered as he used a powerful charm to wedge all of the tables in front of the doors, "We can't fight them, they're too powerful. We have to get out of here."
"We can't," Hermione said in a panicked voice, "They're blocking the Main Entrance."
"We go around," Harry explained, "Take the other courtyard up the stairs and come from behind them to leave."
"Good, Mr. Potter. Everyone, move NOW!"
Neville lead the group through the back door of the Great Hall. They were going to take the back set of stairs that intersected the Second Floor. Once at the Second Floor, they would hopefully circle behind the Death Eaters and attempt their escape.
"Go, Potter. I'll catch up to you," Sheppard continued his warding of the entrance to the Great Hall as Harry lingered behind. Harry needed no other word as he sprinted towards the rest of the group.
"Where is everyone?" Padma gasped as they ran through the courtyard.
"Everyone's at Hogsmeade or at the Pitch. We're the only ones here," Hermione said worriedly.
The group of forty students stumbled through the hall and scattered up the staircase to the Second floor. Neville lead the group as they were about to turn the pivotal corner into the main corridor of the Second floor. Neville signaled for everyone to stop and hush as he peeked around the corner. After a moment, Neville gave a thumbs up and the students quickly turned the corner, silent as they could possibly be. The Death Eaters would no doubt hear the steady drumming of the footsteps but not until they were very close. As they arrived at the staircase, however, Neville suddenly stopped.
"Neville," Ron hissed, anxious to keep moving.
Neville stopped and shook his head as if to clear his mind. Harry caught up with the front of the group to see what stopped Neville. A group of almost thirty Death Eaters were amassed in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. Slowly, one of the robed figures turned around and Harry caught his first glimpse of You-Know-Who's torturous red eyes.
"Neville Longbottom," hissed Voldemort.
The other Death Eaters turned just as Professor Sheppard arrived. There was a brief freeze in time as Harry finally met the cause of the War. You-Know-Who was smiling at Neville, the Boy-Who-Lived, with a nearly demonic glee. Neville was paralyzed by the stare as the other students looked on in horror. Harry cold see that You-Know-Who resembled a snake more than he resembled a human. Two red slits were perched above a very flat nose and thin lips. His skin took the color of a sickly grey, leathery and decaying as if it were the sole of an old shoe. However, it was still the gleaming red eyes that kept Harry's attention. It was only Professor Sheppard who could snap them out of their stupor.
"UP! GO UP!" Sheppard yelled as he conjured a powerful shield to stop the incoming curses.
The students immediately scrambled up the staircase as a fight ensued between Professor Sheppard and almost half a century of Death Eaters. Amazingly, he managed to hold off the curses so none of his students were hit with any spells. Once the last student was up the stairs, Sheppard quickly followed them, deflecting spells all the while.
"We're trapped up here," Ron calculated.
"No," Hermione gasped as she kept running up the stairs, "The Room of Requirement!"
"Room of Requirement?" Harry asked as he worriedly looked back for Professor Sheppard.
"Brilliant," Ron gasped as he tore up the stairs with renewed energy.
The rest of the students followed Ron as they themselves had no other place to go. Ron arrived at the seventh floor corridor and started pacing in front of a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet.
"Hey…" Harry muttered, recognizing the locale.
"No!" Hermione yelled as she pushed Ron out of the way, "Let me do it!"
"Now's not the time for this!" Ron yelled from his spot on the ground.
Hermione ignored him and paced furiously in front of the tapestry. Harry watched with amazement as a door suddenly appeared across the tapestry. Hermione started ushering the students in as she explained her outburst to Ron, "I had to make sure we wished the Room of Requirement couldn't be found by the Death Eaters."
"Good point," Ron admitted as he ambled through the doorway. One by one, the student filed inside their safe haven, leaving only Hermione, Neville, and Harry outside.
"How long do we wait for the Professor?" Neville asked.
"As long as we can," Harry could not leave the Professor behind in good conscience.
Sheppard hurdled around the corner, moving faster than Harry thought his old body could handle. A splash of sickly colored spells hit the wall behind him as Sheppard struggled to keep his footing. The old Auror's body was rusty with neglect and it was starting to lose steam from the extended climb and arduous fighting.
"Come on Professor!" Harry waved his arm and started firing spells at the Death Eaters appearing around the corner.
"Go!" Sheppard shoved Neville and Hermione inside. Harry did not budge and refused to go inside without the Professor.
Harry watched as the Professor threw an absurd number of spells and jinxes at the Death Eaters. There were no incantations or any predictable wand movements as the Auror pulled every trick out of his bag to hold the Death Eaters at bay. Harry did his best to help him as they slowly backed into the doorway.
They were almost completely within the room as Harry tugged on his Professor's sleeve. Just before they closed the door, a yellow spell hit Sheppard's arm and severed the appendage from his body. Sheppard yelled as he continued to fire aimlessly. Harry tugged the fallen teacher's body into the room as Neville shut the door behind him.
"He's bleeding," Harry gasped.
"He's not bleeding, he's lost a fucking arm!" Ron yelled.
"I don't know, I don't know," Hermione muttered as she inspected the damage, "I don't recognize this spell. I don't know what to do!"
"Neville, what do we do?" Harry looked up and asked the other boy.
Neville could only stare at them blankly, devoid of any solutions.