The Final Battle

When Things Get Tough

Sometime earlier, outside of the castle.

Valeria Salenin apparated to a spot deep within the Forbidden Forest, that annoying Rat Wormtail and the guard he teamed up with by her side. The remaining guards and their charges would apparate to a spot not that far away, but closer to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Letting the werewolves lose too close to the Death Eaters and Dementors would be a ridiculously bad idea, the starved wolves would either attack the Death Eaters or get scared away by the Dementors. And either way it would be a pity, because the wolves were Valeria's little surprise for the Ministry Aurors that would surely be swarming the castle grounds as soon as Dumbledore noticed the presence of the Dementors.

Next to the Potions mistress, Wormtail was still rambling about his importance in the plan. Obviously he mistook the silence of the guard next to him as interest and now rambled on an on about how much of all this had been his idea. If Valeria still had a place in her heart left to pity somebody, her condolences would have gone out to the guard, but pity wasn't something Valeria Salenin wasted her time with.

She was just about to turn around and make Wormtail feel her growing wrath against him by a little Crucio, when a low popping sound next to her announced the arrival of Walden McNair.

Valeria let her left hand, which had already been grabbing for her wand, sink to her side again and turned around. McNair gave her a short bow as a greeting and acknowledgement of her position as one of Voldemort's closest allies, which she returned with a short nod of her head.

"Mistress Salenin."

"McNair. I guess now that you've arrived here, the Dementors are on their way?"

McNair nodded.

"Yes, they make their way towards the castle as we speak. Of course the wards are still in place, but Dumbledore will surely alert the Ministry as soon as he realizes the presence of the Dementors. And as soon as the Aurors come here, it is time for your little surprise, whatever it might be."

Inwardly, Valeria smiled. It was obvious that the Lord had indeed kept the werewolves a well guarded secret, a secret the man next to her struggled to know.

With a slight cock of her head, Valeria managed something close to a smile and looked intensely at McNair. The Death Eater shuddered and couldn't stand her gaze. He had not met Valeria Salenin very often, but those few encounters had taught him one thing: That woman was dangerous and it was better as well as healthier not to get on her bad side. If that was possible, that is.

"You'd like to know the little secret that the Dark Lord and I prepared, wouldn't you?"

McNair shifted uncomfortably around.

"I guess the Dark Lord has his reasons to keep it secret. I admit that I'd like to know, but if it's not my place to know it, then I will have to accept that."

Valeria nodded slowly. The man in front of her was afraid, she could nearly smell it. Obviously her reputation had spread around, just like she had always wanted it.

"Well, it won't be a secret for much longer, so I don't think any harm will be done if I tell you. As soon as the castle grounds are swarming with Aurors, we'll let a rather large group of werewolves on the lose. That way, the Death Eaters will only have to deal with what remains of the Ministry forces once the wolves have finished them off."

McNair looked thunderstruck. Whatever he had expected, it definitely had not been this.

"Werewolves? But...how?"

Valeria laughed harshly.

"Potions, my dear McNair, is a very resourceful branch of magic if it is done with care and attention. There is the Wolfsbane to ban the danger within the wolf during the full moon, and with some careful research it is possible to invert that process. All I've done was banning the human within the wolf, and I guess that is a move Dumbledore didn't suspect."

McNair nodded thoughtful, not daring to say anything as a reply. Not that he could have thought of something anyway. Valeria again turned her attention towards McNair.

"The Death Eaters are assembled?"

McNair nodded.

"Yes. After my men apparated the Dementors here we met up with the rest of our forces. They're not far away from here, waiting for the signal to strike. The Lord has not arrived yet?"

Valeria shook her head.

"He will come in his own time. He has a plan."

McNair bowed deeply.

"I didn't doubt that."

With this, he withdrew again into the woods to join the forces of Death Eaters that were lingering there. Valeria returned her attention to Wormtail, who was still chatting idly at an unresponsive guard. She shook her head. How the Master could have chosen him for such an important issue was out of her knowledge, but if he was sure about it, she'd comply.

"Wormtail!"

He turned around immediately and stared at Valeria from watery, pale eyes.

"Y-Yes?"

"It's about time. The wards will be down any minute, Dumbledore will surely apparate the students out as soon as possible. You know what you have to do?"

Wormtail nodded weakly.

"Yes, o-of course."

Valeria stared into those watery eyes, eyes that nearly had no colour at all. Maybe they were a light grey, Valeria thought.

"Just don't forget it, or the Lord won't be too pleased with you. That is, if I leave enough of you for him to show his displeasure on."

Wormtail immediately started shaking.

"I remember, o-of course. I stay out of b-battle and hidden, only i-if Sirius or R-Remus show up I'll d-distract them."

Valeria nodded.

"Alright. Just don't forget it. And don't leave your partner's side, nobody is to get into this alone. Understood?"

Wormtail nodded and the guard next to him did the same, obediently. Then the two set off towards the edge of the Forest. Valeria wasn't sure whether Wormtail would be able to remember anything he had been told if he got under pressure.

Sure, all those years ago he might have been the ideal ally for her master, after all he was the one who could hand over one of Voldemort's most feared adversaries. And then he had proven himself helpful in Voldemort's rise to power again. But times had changed.

All that remained was the fact that Wormtail was weak, he could not be trusted with anything in Valeria's eyes. He was the weakest link in their operation and Valeria would not want to see Voldemort's wrath should he once more be the reason for failure. Well, she had taken preparations for that case, she only hoped that there would be no need to use them.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

McNair and the other assembled Death Eaters watched from some distance as the Dementors emerged from the Forbidden Forest onto the castle grounds. Dumbledore must have realized their presence by now, everybody in the castle must have. There was no way that the presence of over two hundred Dementors could not be realized, even if they were hidden in the Forbidden Forest.

McNair stepped from one foot to the other and rubbed his hands in order to get some warmth back into them. It was already a freezing cold night, and with all those Dementors the temperature seemed to have dropped some more. During the last week McNair had tried to find ways to block out the Dementors, but he had had to realize that this was not possible. More than once he had wondered if that was what Azkaban must be like, a place where you never got warm inside but where your deepest fears kept haunting you.

McNair was glad that it would all be over by morning, at least that was what he hoped would happen.

The plan was to set the Dementors loose, wait for Dumbledore to evacuate the castle if he wanted, then take down the Aurors that would arrive soon, get into the castle and get Dumbledore and everybody who had stayed there. If that old fool had decided not to get the students out, then it wasn't McNair's problem.

It will all be over in a few hours, he kept telling himself, it will all be over then.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Minerva McGonagall immediately knew what was happening when the lights in the Great Hall began to flutter and the temperature sank. Dementors. She hated those creatures with a passion, and alone the thought that an army of Dementors was approaching the castle made her hurry towards the next fireplace. Truly, the wards around the castle were strong, but they could only hold off the Dementors for a certain amount of time. And it would be foolish to think that the Dark Lord had nothing else in store for his attack.

McGonagall reached the fireplace in the antechamber, grabbed a pouch with floo powder from her pocket and started a fire. Losing no time, she tossed it into the flames, uttered a password that enabled her to floo from the castle, and stepped into the flames.

"Ministry of Magic, Arthur Weasley's office!"

And with that, she was gone.

McGonagall fell out of a fireplace in front of a very surprised Arthur Weasley. Grasping the situation immediately, Arthur helped her to her feet again and pointed his wand to the fireplace.

"Hermes, I need to speak to you. It's urgent."

McGonagall still straightened her robes when the face of the Minister of Magic appeared in the fireplace.

"Arthur, what is wrong?"

His eyes fell on the Transfiguration Professor.

"Oh, Professor McGonagall. It has started."

A statement, not a question. Nevertheless, McGonagall nodded.

"Yes. Dementors are approaching the castle, and if I am to judge it, the Dark Lord has sent all of them. They disturbed the magic within the castle so heavily, their number has to be large."

Wielding nodded, then turned away and talked to somebody in the background. While he was not looking at them, McGonagall realized that her hands were shaking. One look at Arthur's face showed her that he was at least as scared as she herself.

Wielding turned around again and looked at the two wizards.

"I've just talked to Moody, luckily he's been in my office when you called. We can send six units immediately. Alastor will go and evaluate the situation, and if it really is as bad as you estimate it, then we'll send more reinforcements. In case there are no other attacks, that is.

Albus will evacuate the castle?"

McGonagall nodded.

"The students are already assembling. He's planning to take the wards down for two minutes and the teachers will apparate them to St. Wendelin's Wizard Orphanage in Manchester. They got the capacity to host such a large number of students and Albus doesn't think that Death Eaters would attack there. I think they'll be gone within the next ten minutes."

Again, Wielding nodded.

"Good. The Aurors should have apparated to Hogsmeade by now, they should reach Hogwarts within the next minutes. The wards around the castle are steady?"

"As far as I know, yes. The anti-apparition ward will be down for a short period of time, but the other wards should provide enough protection at least until the students are taken out. Madam Pomfrey has established and emergency hospital for the Aurors in the Great Hall, so we will have to create a hole in the wards to let the wounded get into the castle. But it will be guarded. We can only hope that the wards remain steady for as long as possible."

"Good. Professor McGonagall, thank you for informing us immediately. Tell Albus that we'll be in touch, he can reach me in my office if needed. I'll send you as many reinforcements as can be spared."

"Thank you Hermes."

Wielding's head disappeared and McGonagall let out a breath she had not known she'd been holding. She turned to Arthur once more.

"I'll return now, I might be needed."

Arthur nodded.

"Yes. Minerva, tell me the truth. Ron won't leave the castle if Harry doesn't, will he?"

McGonagall sighed.

"I'm afraid he won't. But don't worry, he won't leave the Great Hall during the attack, and as soon as anybody who should not be there enters the castle, he and Hermione will floo out. But we thought that this was better than having those two hiding in the castle. They'd only get into trouble on their own, but now we keep an eye on them. They are supposed to help Poppy."

Arthur nodded.

"I can't say I like it, but I think this solution really is the better one. Ron is so devoted to Harry, he might do something stupid if Harry is in danger. Especially now, with Charlie missing, he's not quite himself."

"We'll have an eye on him. I'll take my leave now. Good bye Arthur."

"Good bye Minerva. And good luck."

She nodded at Arthur, then McGonagall stepped back into the fireplace, uttered the password once more and left.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Voldemort stood on a small clearing somewhere deep in the Forbidden Forest and smiled.

He didn't need to see what was going on outside of the Forest, he knew that everything went just as they had planned. He would feel it if something went wrong.

Some moments ago, the anti-apparition field had been set back into place. So that muggle loving fool had taken the students out of the castle. Voldemort had guessed as much. He didn't care about the students, not at all. Tonight it was about him and Dumbledore. Oh, and Harry Potter of course.

When dawn would break in some hours, there would be nothing left of the old wizard, The-Boy-Who-Lived and also of the castle that had been a fortress for the 'Light Side' for so many years. After that, it would be easy enough to take over. With Dumbledore gone, the Ministry would be disorganized enough, there would be nobody matching his power and intellect anymore, nobody to foresee Voldemort's plans.

And with the death of Harry Potter, the last hopes of the wizarding world that Voldemort could finally be defeated would die as well.

Yes, Voldemort decided, this was reason enough to smile.

Of course he could have apparated into the castle while the wards were down, but that would have been too much of a risk. Voldemort didn't want to face Dumbledore and Potter within the castle walls, he liked to be the one to dictate time and place of a meeting. And he'd do anything to avoid going into the castle where Dumbledore might have more traps set than he knew about. No, he'd lure them out. First Potter and then the old fool that called himself headmaster.

Voldemort turned and sent a signal to Valeria Salenin to let the werewolves lose. The Aurors had arrived. It was time.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Snape stared at Sirius in open disbelief while Dumbledore seemed to contemplate the impact of what he had just heard. McGonagall just stared wide-eyed. Now that was something unexpected. Well, not for Remus. He knew that it was true.

Snape was the first to break the silence.

"Black don't be daft. There can't be werewolves on the castle grounds, it's not full moon. I thought that especially you knew that."

Sirius just shook his head.

"I know what I saw outside. The Aurors have arrived and they attempted to drive the Dementors back, and from the Forbidden Forest suddenly werewolves emerged. I know what a werewolf looks like, I know that it's true."

Dumbledore turned towards Hagrid.

"Hagrid, how many werewolves live in the forest?"

Hagrid thought for a moment before he answered.

"Ten, maybe twelve."

Sirius shook his head.
"There are more werewolves coming out of the Forest. Many more."

Snape made a sound of disapproval, but Dumbledore interrupted him.

"I would not say that it's impossible Severus. We still don't know what happened to the Romanian werewolves and what Voldemort has possibly done to them. I can't distinguish between Aurors and other beings on the map anymore, but I think we'll have to accept the fact that there are werewolves even if it seems impossible. What is important now is that the wards remain steady."

The rest of the teachers nodded, but Sirius dragged Remus into a corner of the room where they could not be overheard. He watched his friend with concern in his eyes.
"Remus?"

Remus managed a weak smile.

"I know that it's true, Sirius. I can feel it. Moony's running amok right now because he can feel the other wolves. He tries to get out, he wants to run with his kin, but he can't understand why he's not able to."

"Do you think you'll transform?"

Slowly, Remus shook his head.

"No. No, I don't think so. Though the wolf is as strong as it usually only is before a transformation, it feels different. Whatever happened to the werewolves out there, it doesn't affect me as it does affect them."

Sirius put his hands on Remus' shoulders and tried to catch Remus' gaze.

"And what would happen if you were confronted with one of the wolves out there?"

Remus tried to evade Sirius' gaze, but he simply couldn't.

"I don't know Sirius. It's a control issue. As long as I can keep the wolf under control there's nothing wrong."

Sirius didn't quite believe him.

"Can you keep it under control?"

"Yes."

The answer came far too quick for Sirius' liking.

"Remus?"

Remus sighed deeply.
"I don't know Sirius. I wouldn't want to try and find out, to be honest. Normally on a full moon, I allow the wolf to take over because I know that there is no other choice. I've never tried to fight against it when it was so strong. That usually makes things only worse."

Sirius felt that Remus' shoulders sank down under his hands. Remus generally didn't like to admit defeat, and in a situation like this it was even worse for him, Sirius knew that.

"Just promise me one thing Remus. If you realize that it's too much for you, get somewhere safe and try to get yourself under control again. Don't leave the castle unless it's absolutely necessary, okay?"

Slowly, Remus nodded again.

"Remus, look into my eyes."

Remus looked up and met Sirius' gaze.

"I promise, Sirius."

"Okay. Thank you."

Sirius let go off Remus' shoulders and both men turned back towards Dumbledore. By now, all the teachers had arrived back in the Great Hall. Everybody was relieved when they announced that all students had been accounted for and nobody had gotten lost on the way to Manchester. The wards were back in place and nobody had apparated in while the wards had been down.

While Harry, Ron and Hermione were still sitting on the far wall of the room waiting for somebody to tell them what was going on, Dumbledore informed Madam Pomfrey about the werewolves.

Finally, curiosity won and the three teens went over to hear what the headmaster was telling the nurse.

"Sir, what is happening here?"

Dumbledore turned towards Harry and smiled gently, not minding the interruption at all as it seemed.

"Well Harry, as you have realized the attack has begun. All students have been taken out. As far as we know, Dementors are approaching the castle and Ministry Aurors try to fight them back. But I think we've underestimated Voldemort a little, I'm afraid. It seems that he has managed to send a huge amount of werewolves against the castle."

Ron drew in a sharp breath of air while Hermione tried to find the logic in all this.

"But Professor, it's not full moon. It's impossible that there are werewolves outside of the Forbidden Forest in a night like this."

Dumbledore only smiled, slightly sad as it appeared to Harry.

"I'm afraid that those ruled don't apply tonight Miss Granger. I don't have an explanation for it either, but it's a fact we'll have to accept. We can take time to think about an explanation for it when this is over, don't you think? I was just informing Poppy about it, so that she can be prepared for what could be happening tonight.

I don't have to stress again how important it is for the three of you to remain in the castle, do I?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione shook their heads immediately. There was really no need to remind them to stay away from Dementors and werewolves, none at all.

Madam Pomfrey had not really listened to what Dumbledore was telling the teens. She was looking through her supplies, making sure she had anything she might need that night. Now with those werewolves, it could happen that she had to take care of seriously injured wizards, that she had to treat severe blood loss.

"Cruoris Potion! I didn't bring nearly enough with me, I didn't expect the possibility of bleeding wounds to be so big. I need to fetch my entire storage of Cruoris Potion from the infirmary.
But oh my, I still have to set up the beds and check the rest of the supplies, how am I to find the time for it?"

Madam Pomfrey had been talking to herself rather than to anybody else, but Dumbledore, Harry, Ron and Hermione had heard her.

"We could go and fetch it", Hermione volunteered.

Madam Pomfrey didn't look too pleased.

"I don't think that it is such a good idea for you to leave the Great Hall. It's too dangerous."

Just when Ron was about to protest, Dumbledore rose his hand.

"Poppy, I think it's not too risky to send them to the infirmary. The wards around the castle are stable, there's nobody in here that should not be. It would be good for them to have something to do. Hermione, Ron, why don't you to just run up to the infirmary and fetch the potion for Poppy?"

Madam Pomfrey didn't seem to be convinced, but eventually she nodded.

"Okay. It's in the cupboard next to my office window, on the top shelf. There should be about twenty bottles of it, bring all of them down, will you? Thank you."

Hermione and Ron nodded and set off towards the door, Harry at their heels. Dumbledore however, held him back by the sleeve of his robe.

"No Harry, you're not going. Remember that I told you not to leave the side of at least one fully educated wizard? It could be possible that you are needed before the two of them return, so please stay here with Sirius and me."

Harry groaned but obediently stayed and helped Madam Pomfrey setting up the emergency infirmary.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

A man stepped out of the Forbidden Forest, two Death Eaters at his side. He seemed completely oblivious to the battle that was beginning to rage only a few yards away, his eyes were glued to the castle. The Death Eaters would prevent that he got engaged in fighting, and even if somebody noticed the two of them, he still had his means to remain unseen from people whom he didn't want to be seen by.

He knew that he only had to wait, then his chance would come to set Voldemort's plans for tonight in motion. Once the opponents would leave the castle, they would be on hostile territory. And then they would be lost.

So he kept on staring at the castle, checking every window for signs of movement. He only needed somebody to see him, somebody who was separated from the others in the Great Hall.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Hermione and Ron made their way through the castle as fast as they could. Truth be told, both didn't like to be alone in the otherwise empty castle at all and wanted to return to the others as soon as possible. So they hardly talked on their way to the hospital and saved their breath for running.

Only when they arrived and made their way towards Madam Pomfrey's office, Ron broke the silence.

"Do you think it will really be that bad?"

Hermione sighed.

"I don't know Ron, I really don't know. I think that in case the wards go down there's still the possibility to apparate out, but that's not what worries me. Harry and Dumbledore will go and seek out You-Know-Who, that's what really worries me. I don't even want to think about what could happen to them."

Ron slowly nodded, then opened up the cupboard. Just as Madam Pomfrey had said, there were about twenty bottles of Cruoris Potion on the top shelf. He wanted to grab them and put them on a tray to levitate them into the Great Hall, but then a thought crossed his mind and he stopped in mid-movement. Hermione gave him a puzzled look.

"Ron, what's wrong? I want to get back to the Great Hall."

Ron nodded.

"I know. But there is something I want to tell you. I...I already wanted to tell you on Thursday, but I didn't have the guts."

Ron blushed crimson, a fact that made Hermione's hands sweat and her pulse beat faster. What was Ron talking about?

"I don't know what you mean."

Ron exhaled deeply, as if to summon all the courage he could manage.

"Hermione. Just in case that things go wrong tonight, I don't want to regret not having done this and I know that I would regret it if I didn't do it because there might not be the chance to do it when this is over or it might be different or not the right time, and it has never been the right time to do it and so I decided that now is as right as any time and..."

Hermione shook her head and put a hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Ron, what's wrong? You're babbling, I don't understand what you want."

But instead of answering, Ron grabbed Hermione by the waist, pulled her towards himself and pressed his lips onto hers. It was an awkward kiss, because he had to bent down to bring his head on the same level as hers.

Hermione stiffened.

What was Ron doing? Well, he was kissing her, that was quite obvious.

But why was Ron kissing her? A couple of explanations popped up in her head, each confusing her even more. It took some moments until Hermione decided that logic might not be the right way to approach everything, and that it didn't really matter why Ron was kissing her because all that was important was that he was actually kissing her.

Hermione allowed herself to relax into Ron's arms and the kiss and tightened her own hold around Ron's upper body.

When the two broke apart some moments later, both of their faces were flushed. For some moments, they just smiled at each other. Just as the silence became awkward, Ron managed to get control over his vocal chords again.

"I wanted to do that, just in case I don't get the chance to do that again."

Hermione smiled and blushed.
"Well, I'm glad that you did it, because I wouldn't have found the courage for it. And now let's get those potions to Madam Pomfrey, shall we?"

Ron smiled and gave her another peck on the cheek before he turned towards the cupboard and began taking the bottles out. While he put them on the tray, he had to take care that he didn't let them fall down. His hands seemed to be shaking a little, though he didn't quite know why.

Hermione stood by his side and looked out of the window. Just as he had put the last bottle onto the tray, a cry from Hermione made him spin around.

"Mione, what's wrong?"

Hermione didn't answer but gestured out of the window. Ron's eyes followed to where she was pointing and he literally felt the blood freeze in his veins.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Luck was his lady tonight, the man decided. He didn't have to wait and watch for too long until the face of the girl appeared on a window. The infirmary, if he was right.

It was good that it was the girl, maybe the red-haired boy was even with her. They wouldn't waste time to inform somebody else of it, and this made things even more easy.

"Now!" the man hissed at the two Death Eaters next to him.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Ron couldn't believe his eyes. He blinked once, then again, and looked back onto the grounds. But his eyes were not deceiving him.
Harry was out there, how he had gotten there Ron didn't know, and he was held at wand point by two Death Eaters. There were no Ministry Aurors close by to help him, and he appeared to be disarmed.

Then one of the Death Eaters hit Harry over the head, and they began dragging him off towards the Forbidden Forest.

Ron turned and looked at Hermione. Her face had become pale and her hands were shaking.

"Hermione?"

She looked at him with tear-clouded eyes.

"How did he get out there?"

Ron just shook his head.
"I don't know. But I bet that the others don't know about it, otherwise they would tried to help him. We've got to follow them!"

"But Ron, shouldn't we inform Dumbledore? He has the map..."

Ron grabbed her shoulder.

"Hermione, they are taking him to the Forbidden Forest. As soon as he's in there, he won't show up on the map anymore! We don't have time to tell anybody about it, we have to help him. If we find out where they take him to, one of us can go back and inform the teachers."

Hermione reluctantly nodded and both ran out of the infirmary. Hermione was floating the tray with the potion behind her, at least trying to bring it close to the Great Hall.

They hurried down staircases and along corridors, oblivious to everything that was going on around them. Fortunately Hermione was levitating the tray, because it would have crashed to the ground had Ron been levitating it when he all of a sudden ran into a small figure and fell to the floor.

Groaning, Ron tried to get back to his feet, while a squeaky voice started apologizing over and over again.

"Me is so sorry Master Weasley, me didn't see Master Weasley there. Has Master Weasley hurt himself?"

Ron looked around in confusion, then his eyes settled on the figure of the house elf that had caused his fall.

"Dobby?"

"Yes Master Weasley. Dobby is sorry Sir, Dobby should have paid more attention..."

Ron just shook his head.

"Dobby, it doesn't matter. On the contrary, it's good that you're here. Could you take that tray to the Great Hall and give it to Madam Pomfrey? And then tell Professor Dumbledore that Harry is in danger. Death Eaters have captured him and drag him into the Forest. We try to follow them. Can you do that, Dobby?"

Dobby nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes sir, Dobby will do that. Anything to help Master Potter, Dobby will do."

And with this, he ran off towards the Great Hall with the tray floating securely behind him. Ron and Hermione glanced shortly at each other, then continued their chase out of the castle.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Remus, Sirius and Dumbledore were sitting on a small table in the Great Hall, discussing what to do next. So far, Voldemort had not shown himself and the Aurors seemed to be handling the situation as well as they could. Only few had been brought into the temporary infirmary so far, and Wielding had assured them that all Ministry capacities were on their way to Hogwarts as a support.

Snape was leaning on the wall next to them and McGonagall was huddled together with the other teachers and Hagrid not far away from them. Harry was still occupied with helping Madam Pomfrey when the doors to the Great Hall opened and a house elf hurried in, a tray with bottles floating behind him.

He put the tray down next to Madam Pomfrey and when he looked up, he squeaked in surprise.

"Master POTTER!"

Harry just shook his head.

"Yes Dobby, it's me. What's wrong?"

The cry had drawn the attention of the other teachers, and Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus and Snape hurried towards them.

Dobby was occupied with hugging Harry's knees in excitement, embarrassing Harry terribly in the process. Dumbledore eyed the scene, then his eyes fell on the tray with the Cruoris Potion.

"Dobby, what is going on here? Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley were supposed to bring those potions, where are they?"

Reluctantly, Dobby turned around but didn't release his dead grip on Harry's knees.

"Master Weasley told Dobby to bring those here sir. He told Dobby that Master Potter was in great danger and that he and Mistress Hermione had to follow Master Potter and the Death Eaters. He told Dobby to tell Master Dumbledore that, sir."

Dumbledore frowned.

"What exactly did Mr. Weasley tell you?"

"He told Dobby that Master Potter was taken by Death Eaters to the Forbidden Forest sir. He and Mistress Hermione wanted to follow them and told Dobby that he should tell you that sir. And then Dobby comes here and finds Master Potter, Dobby is glad that he is here and not captured."

"They left the castle?"

Dobby only nodded.

Dumbledore turned towards Remus and Sirius who had gone pale during Dobby's story.

"A trap", was all Dumbledore said. Both Sirius and Remus nodded.