Rating:
PG-13
House:
Schnoogle
Genres:
Action Drama
Era:
Multiple Eras
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix Quidditch Through the Ages Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Stats:
Published: 01/08/2005
Updated: 06/29/2005
Words: 244,306
Chapters: 66
Hits: 89,703

The War of Shades

quintaped

Story Summary:
Seventh year - The scar connection becomes wide open, giving both Harry and Voldemort ever more detailed views into each other's mind. Harry works on practicing the message he gained in Egypt (Harry Potter and the Goblin Rebellion), but Voldemort launches the Second War to fill Harry with hatred and anger and to strip him of all who are loyal to him. Ever more desperately Harry trains himself and others to fight, but something is making all of his friends fight each other. Harry must find a way to stop the internal warfare or Voldemort will be able to launch an attack on Hogwarts that will destroy all who are capable of resisting him, including Harry. Through all this, Harry must learn for himself how he will finally vanquish Voldemort.

Chapter 48

Chapter Summary:
Harry awakes from Ron's stunner to find himself surrounded by various sorts of beings. He plans to fight his way out, but Hermione prevails on him to trust her. He does and then participates in a group spell. Then Hermione explains the defensive plan to him, as far as she is allowed.
Posted:
04/15/2005
Hits:
1,275


Chapter 48 Deviousness

Harry felt his consciousness return to him and had the presence of mind to continue to pose as unconscious until he had a better idea what was going on around him. He could feel himself on something long, flat and hard like a table or wide bench. The air around him was humid, and yet he was cold because he was naked, with only a sheet over him. He heard many types of footsteps - was that hooves? - and some splashing sounds. There were hushed voices, but he could only catch occasional words "trap ... spell ... surrounded ... waiting for word ..."

No one seemed to be immediately around him, so Harry decided to attempt an escape. His best escape would be apparation, although it would almost certainly mean leaving his wands behind. He tried, but couldn't: he hoped that meant they were still in Hogwarts castle, although he was weak enough apparating without a wand that even a modest spell could have stopped him. He would have to fight his way out. He needed the element of surprise.

Harry catapulted himself up, yelling "Accio Wands, Expelliarmus" with his mind focused on summoning all the wands in the vicinity, not just his own. Landing on his feet, five wands flew to his hands, and he went into battle stance, backing up quickly until he got his back to the wall. He realized they were in the prefects' bathroom, at the edge of the pool-sized bathtub. There was a small crowd of beings of many types around, all suddenly staring at him.

"Oh, wonderful, Harry, you're awake," said Hermione pleasantly. "We're just now ready for you."

"Enough of that, Hermione! You had me stunned and I want to know what's going on!"

The rest looked shocked at Harry's reaction and quite nervous about what he might do. Hermione walked toward him with her hands up and her palms toward him to indicate he should calm down.

"I know it seems bad, Harry. I hated that Ron had to do that," she pled. "It is very important that you simply trust me. We need you to participate in a spell. It will be better if we add your strength to it. For all that we have ever meant to each other, trust me now."

Harry glared at her. "How do I know that the curse hasn't gotten control of you? You gave him the signal to stun me."

"The only proof I can give you right now is that you haven't been hurt or bound or killed. If a curse was going to make me hurt you, wouldn't I have done something more to you? The only explanation I can give you is that you could not be allowed to see what was happening just then."

Harry stared at her, and then glanced around the room, then back to Hermione. He reasoned that whatever might have made Hermione and Ron coordinate an attack on him must have abated, since nothing more had happened to him despite his total vulnerability. Certainly she seemed rational at the moment. He straightened up and handed her all the wands but his own.

"Wonderful, Harry. Come right now and we'll do the spell and then I can explain it all."

"Do I have time to get dressed?"

"No, there's a reason your clothes are off. I'll explain after the spell. It's important we hurry. Everyone here has seen you naked now and no one cares."

"Hello, Harree!" called Fleur Delacouer cheerfully and eyeing his body. "You have grown up vairee nicely since ze Triwizard Tournament."

Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Well, almost no one cares. Fleur, we weren't going to make him feel self-conscious, you know."

"Oh you Engleesh are so immature about ze body. He is a handsome and fit young man. I should have ze camera, not averting my eyes like he was some sort of deformed thing. It ees a pleasure to see and nothing for shame. I am not saying cruel things to make him feel uncomfortable."

"Oh, whatever, let's just get the spell done," said Hermione. "Melony, where should we all be."

"Form into a circle," said Melony, "get close enough to the tub for the mermaid. Yes, good, Madame Maxime, you will be able to take Her Grace's hand at pool level and Firenze's at the same time. Everyone take the hand of the person next to you with your fingers interleaved - like this - above your heads and reaching toward the center of the circle. When I have said the incantation, raise your hands back and upward, but without losing contact with your neighbor. I'll tell you when you can let go. For those of you who do not understand gobbledygook, it is enough that you focus your mind on protection of Hogwarts, the forest, and the vicinity."

Finally, something that made some sense to Harry: concentrating on protecting the school. He joined the circle, along with Hermione, Melony, Fleur, a mermaid chieftainess who was in the pool (obviously the reason they had chosen this room, since mermaids can only be out of water for fairly short periods), Firenze, Madame Maxime and one of the house elves. Melony spoke what was obviously a rhyming and rhythmic incantation in the harsh syllables of gobbledygook. When the time was right, she nodded and they threw their clasped hands back. An enormous blue light was created which spread outward in a circle like the shock wave from a nuclear explosion Harry had seen on films in his muggle school.

"Now bring your hands inward again," said Melony, "and release. Thank you all very much. It was an honor and very exciting for me to participate in the strongest spell I have ever helped to perform. Those of you who will not be in the battle or healing are asked to remain near here in case the spell proves unstable and must be performed again. The house elves will be seeing to your needs when more critical defensive needs do not demand otherwise."

"Okay, Harry, come back over here behind the curtain so I can finish with your murtlap," said Hermione.

"Murtlap? What for?"

"Well, you're going to be out in the battle soon. We want you as well-protected as we can."

"Is anyone else going to be able to fight?"

"Of course, Harry. Anyone who isn't rescuing the wounded or healing them is going to be fighting or guarding entrances. Don't you see - it's a trap!"

Hermione was starting to get more enthusiastic than Harry had ever seen her. In fact, she seemed rather manic. Harry was frustrated that she seemed uncontrollably ebullient.

"I know it's a trap, Hermione! I told you about it. The giants, several hundred of them, are going to hit from the north, and from the south we're going to be attacked by 1200 dementors and over 4000 dark wizards."

"Right where we want them!" bubbled Hermione, as she punched one hand with a fist, and then began to put a glove on. "Lie down."

"What!?" said Harry, as he sat on the wide dressing bench he had waked up on.

"They thought we were going to be trapped," said Hermione as she opened the jar of murtlap and began to scoop some out with her gloved hand, "but all along we were trapping them!"

"Ouch, Hermione, you're out of control - careful how you apply that stuff. Then take a deep breath and explain it to me."

"Okay, Harry, it's like this. Back in the summer, when we started responding to the death teams, we were stopping most, but having a number of losses as well, like Mrs. McMillan. It was tearing apart the magical community. We believed we could beat Voldemort's people if we could ever confront them - the response teams were doing that regularly if they got there in time. And we needed to do that, because the hit-and-run terrorism was grueling to respond to. So the question was - how could we draw them out into an open battle, where they would not be able to run when they found how capable we were? This was the question that Arthur Weasley put to the Order at the meeting after you and Ron rescued me. Remus told me that Mr. Weasley was shaking as he described how you offered to let him kill you to destroy Voldemort. He said that Mr. Weasley then composed himself and assumed command that night; he took on the persona needed to truly become the Minister of Magic - he demanded a strategy. It was Snape who suggested that Voldemort would not commit his forces unless victory looked certain, and the way to do that was to look weak. Tonks pointed out that we needed to keep on training, and that your coaching was particularly needed, so trying to fake being weak individually was not possible around you. I think it was Mr. Diggle, or was it Professor McGonagall? - "

"Hermione, calm down! You're too hyper. It doesn't much matter who said what, just fill me in."

"You're right, Harry, and I don't have all the details since I wasn't there. Someone said the alternative was to look fractious and divided. I know it was Moody who said we should make it look like there was a curse that was tearing us apart. Professor McGonagall pointed out how you would have to be kept totally in the dark about the strategy. Remus and Mrs. Weasley were concerned that it would drive you nearly mad, but that didn't seem to upset Snape very much."

"I'll bet," said Harry. "So what else?"

"Well, they kicked ideas around that night. Mr. Weasley told how the glasses had worked, so they agreed that everyone had to have them. They sent out witches and wizards to muggle department stores all over London to get enough wraparound mirrored sunglasses to cover everyone at training camp. Then they placed orders for all the people whom you would be in contact with this year."

"Well, not everyone. Cameron and Hagrid don't wear them. Dumbledore and Snape don't," observed Harry (making a point to leave out that Ginny had been taking hers off with him).

"That was Dumbledore's idea. He knew that he and Snape could protect the plan by using Occlumency. Reverend MacBoon had no need to know - he was needed to keep on counseling you just as he had, and it would be easier on him if he knew only what you knew. It's pretty much the same for Hagrid - you needed a close friend whose eyes you could look into. Besides, he is perhaps the worst secret-keeper in the world. I would trust him with anything that did not require keeping a secret, but nothing confidential."

"Agreed. It was really nice giving him his wizard training and being able to talk to someone without the glasses."

"Of course, it was, Harry. They were fun at first, but we all hate the glasses now. We spent a lot of time in the safe rooms so we could take them off."

"Let me see if I have this right, now. There has never been a curse; everyone in the school and at training camp has pretended to be influenced by one that made them squabble and fight with each other so that Voldemort, looking through my eyes, would see us as weak and commit his forces, so that we could then meet them and destroy them."

"Exactly."

Harry found the maniacal glint in Hermione's eyes disquieting.

"You people even blew holes through the castle to be more convincing?" Harry asked as he started to put his clothes back on.

"I prefer to think of it as renovation - Dumbledore installed additional magical protections and features as the repairs were made. My parents have done worse to their house redecorating. Come look over here," she said pointing out one of the narrow windows.

Harry looked and saw three dragons circling in the sky, one flying up to the others, and another and then another emerge from the base of the castle.

"Is that - Charlie - I see on that Norwegian Ridgeback?"

Yes, it is, and that Norwegian Ridgeback is Norbert. We'll have seven trained dragons in the battle."

"How could you have hidden dragons in the castle?"

"Oh, we couldn't. But over Spring Break, we blew a hole in the castle big enough to install a dragon-sized Floo connection - connected to another one in Rumania, where Charlie and the dragon rangers have been training the orphan dragons they care for while studying the truly wild dragons."

"Wow," said Harry, "I'm impressed. So what are they going to do - charge the dark wizard army with fire?"

"You'll find out in due time what their role is. It's still a bit early to let you know - or rather, to let Voldemort know. There are still adjustments his people could make to make our job more difficult."

"Okay, I'm happy to get whatever information you can share, just make sure it's enough that I don't mess something up. Now, we are here in the bathroom because ...?"

"Remember Melony's lecture on anti-apparation spells - she said that with enough powerful representatives of a wide variety of magical beings, such a spell could be cast that would stop all but the strongest of wizards from apparating in or out for more than five miles around. The giants and dementors would not have been able to apparate away anyway - now the sorcerers can't either. They're trapped. We had a witch, a wizard, a goblin, a house elf, a centaur, a mermaid, a half-giant and a quarter veela. That was why Madame Maxime was asked to be the DADA teacher - she has and will contribute in other ways as well, but her giant blood adds a lot to the strength and we couldn't use Hagrid because he couldn't be let in on the plan. When we filled Melony in on it, she and Dobby even suggested that they accelerate their plans to start a family so that she would have the dramatic increase in power that goblin mothers have in defending their homes."

"You people thought this through. Voldemort is fuming. But Hermione - they still outnumber us badly."

"The Floo network is being used to bring in every adult wizard or witch who can be spared. They will only be able to help defend the castle and fight on open ground and against the giants, however. We have an uneasy alliance with the centaurs. When they found that the giants were being brought into the Forest, they approached Madame Maxime about the situation - they were still too angry with Hagrid to talk to him. They have agreed to tolerate students - even our age - in the Forest. They will also attack Voldemort's sorcerers in the forest, in return for our working to clear the forest of the giants and dementors. They can't do magic, but they are strong, almost as resistant to spells as giants, and can easily outrun dementors. They told us where the giants were and we told them enough of the plan so that they would know we had to wait until Voldemort's forces were committed."

"They've put up with the giants for all this time?"

"Sort of. They've been concentrating on the south side of the forest for months now to avoid the occasional foraging giant. The centaurs are large and strong, but not enough to take on giants, and the giants don't mind eating centaurs. You'd be amazed how that motivates the centaurs."

"Well, not really. That part makes perfect sense. Even a centaur can't be neutral about being eaten. But even that will leave us badly outnumbered."

"Well, the people you have coached are the best fighters around, and we fight in well-disciplined units. A disciplined army with a good strategy can beat a rabble of even excellent fighters - that's how Julius Caesar conquered Britain with only a few thousand troops." Hermione then turned and looked grimly out the window. "And let me assure you that the lucky ones among them are the ones to be disabled by our army."

Harry tilted his head. "Why is that, Hermione?"

Hermione turned toward him angrily and whipped out her wand, holding it straight upwards between them. "Because any of them not on a stretcher who gets close enough to see this wand is going to find out just how much damage can be done with it. I have put up with far too much frustration to restrain myself against anyone that's part of the reason all this was done."

"Oh!" said Harry, quietly. Then he asked, "The sunglasses got to you that much?"

Hermione put the wand away and stepped right up to Harry. "Not the sunglasses, Harry - YOU!" she said, poking a finger in his chest. Then tears began to flow down her cheeks. "It was awful to see you so frustrated over what we knew was a ruse. Up until Spring Break, it was merely horrible, but since then it has been the most terrifying experience of my life. Nobody but Ron, Ginny and I know so well how much torture you have endured. Especially these last couple of months as you became so obsessed and delved again and again through Voldemort's mind, it has been horrid. We'd have to get off by ourselves and let out our pain. It was all we could do to not blurt out that you needn't work at it so hard, that you needn't wallow in Voldemort's filth, that it was all just a gambit. But we couldn't and we knew it. It was your desperation more than anything which coloured his perception of the matter. Your panic and frustration at our inability to stop fighting helped to keep him from questioning the charade. Your obsessive search for a solution made it easy for us to show you and him just what we wanted to show. And so we continued to let you suffer like you did, and we'd hold you and soothe you, then we'd go and cry together in safe rooms. ALL BECAUSE OF THOSE BLOODY BASTARDS OUT THERE!!!"

With that Hermione broke down sobbing and hugged Harry close, burying her face in his shoulder. He hugged her and stroked her back.

"It's all right, Hermione," he said, "I understand."

She sniffed and straightened up. "Well, it's not all right by me until every one of them is rounded up and dealt with, but we haven't time for tears right now. Besides a disciplined force, we have some additional reserves. That's part of your job in the opening hours of the battle. We have these envelopes with your instructions. They're numbered for you. This envelope here - the thick one - has another envelope inside it. Don't open that one; it has instructions for someone else. The note wrapped around it will tell you all about it. You need to complete the instructions in each numbered envelope before opening the next one. Each one puts the additional pieces into place without revealing the next step to Voldemort. That way he can't warn his troops until you already know about that step and have started to carry it out. In the meantime, we'll be getting into position and beginning operations - I can't tell you what that involves; you'll find out as you carry out the instructions in the last envelope."

"Okay, speaking of Voldemort," said Harry, "we have people who can fight anyone else he has, but how did you plan on taking care of him if he shows up?"

Hermione's lip quivered as she spoke. "Well, first, we expect he won't, as he has never committed himself personally in an operation unless victory had become certain or his presence was the only sure way to get a job done. But, Harry, when it comes time for someone to meet him, you've known for two years now that that's your job. If I knew of any other way - if any of us knew of any other way, we would take it. We can meet all his forces and we're pretty sure we can beat them, and we need to in order to protect ourselves, our families, and both the muggle and wizarding worlds. At least if we eliminate all his forces, he has to rebuild an army or do things himself. That will take time, and we will have bought ourselves some room to build our strength. But when it comes down to beating him - it's you that has to find the way."

"Is that what Dumbledore says?"

"Yes, Harry. He says you have what you need to win. He pointed out that you share the same powers and knowledge as Voldemort, you know what he is going to do before he can even do it, you have faster hands and reflexes and you are younger and have an athlete's stamina."

"But is that enough? His body has been destroyed before, and he came back."

Hermione nodded. "Dumbledore says that your work with Cameron has set you on the right path and that you will know what to do when the time comes."

"Oh. Just like that."

Hermione cupped her hands around her mouth and tried to choke back her tears. "Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry I can't tell you more. I really don't know any more. I think Dumbledore may have an idea, but he either isn't so sure himself or telling us would make it harder to achieve."

Harry looked very seriously at Hermione. "There's another way, you know. Arthur Weasley didn't have the nerve to do it, and now I'm asking you to do it." He closed his eyes and clasped his hands behind his back, "Destroy me and you destroy Voldemort - then the rest of you can deal with the dark army."

Harry waited a few seconds with eyes closed. Then suddenly 'CRACK', he felt a sharp pain across his face. He opened his eyes and saw Hermione rubbing her palm in pain and breathing hard. She glared at him and then grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him up against the wall.

"WE DIDN'T GO THROUGH THIS WHOLE SCHEME FOR OVER NINE MONTHS JUST TO START KILLING OFF THE PEOPLE WE LOVE, BUSTER. YOU'D BETTER GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD THAT YOU ARE PART OF THIS TEAM AND YOU'RE GOING TO STAY THAT WAY. AND IF VOLDEMORT SHOWS UP YOU'RE GOING TO KICK HIS ARSE! AND I EXPECT YOU TO DANCE WITH ME AT MY WEDDING, WHENEVER THAT MIGHT BE - HAVE YOU GOT THAT!?"

"Y-y-y-yes, Hermione."

She relaxed and let go of his shoulders and began to catch her breath.

"Hermione?" said Harry.

"What!?" she growled.

"I love you, too."

"I know, you great git! Don't you ever suggest a thing like that to me again!"

"I won't. So everything that has happened this year has been a ruse. What about the fighting? What about the damage to Hogwarts and the forest?"

"Well, the arguments were fakes - I mean, they had to be, they were mostly so stupid, but they made the curse seem the only explanation just because they were so stupid, - but the fighting's been real. Not that we were angry, but we had to fight 'for keeps,' so Madame Maxime has been awarding bonus points in DADA to those who win fights. When we sparred we too often pulled our punches, not wanting to really hex each other. Since we've been fighting for real, we've become much better at disabling opponents. Many of us are quite dangerous now, although we disable without killing. The damage to Hogwarts and some of the fires were for show, although we had to make it look real for Malfoy and the few others who haven't joined us. But mostly in the woods, we were setting traps. For instance, we set up what look like natural defensive positions for the dark army, but when they take them, they'll find those places infested with devil's snare."

"But what if the students forget and jump into one of those?"

"Don't worry, we have subtle markings to give us the locations, and the students all work as teams so they can protect each other from any mistakes."

Suddenly there was a deep rumble and the whole castle shook. Hermione got very excited again, "Madame Maxime!! That was one of mine - I recognize it."

"Vairy good, Hermione. Ten points."

"Woohoo!" celebrated Hermione, pumping her fist. Then she looked at Harry and gave a wicked, bloodthirsty grin that scared Harry. "Some of our traps are somewhat less subtle than devil's snare. That one will slow them down for a while too!"

"What about Malfoy and those other students who wouldn't join us, Hermione? They might do something back here."

"We thought of that, Harry. When you announced about the battle, the order was given for everyone to go back to their dorms, but everyone else knew not to do it. Once they were safely confined, their door was disabled. Crabbe and Goyle are standing guard."

"They are? Why them?"

"We didn't want to have them have the chance of being faced with fighting their own fathers. We thought they'd stick with us, but even they were not too certain. So since we needed someone to guard Slytherin, well, there they are. The door has been made soundproof so they can't be tricked. They still aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, you know."

"They've gotten better," observed Harry.

"Everyone does if you work with them, Harry. It's just been amazing these past few years."

Harry nodded acknowledgement. "Hermione, what about the Floo network and the secret entrances?"

"Aurors and adult auxiliaries are guarding those if they, erm, don't have the skills for certain other parts of our strategy against the giants - sorry I can't tell you the special skills for that yet - since they can't go into the south part of the woods where nearly all of the wand-to-wand fighting should take place. The elves will help with the entrances if needed, but the narrow openings are very easy to defend. Mostly the elves will be helping in the hospital and clinic and seeing to getting people fed when they have a chance.

"Here are your envelopes. The first one tells you to apparate to help Hagrid with something. You'll need to get far enough from the castle to apparate - only you and Dumbledore and Voldemort are strong enough to apparate through the spell we just cast. There are more instructions inside. I must get going - Madame Pomfrey and Melony need me to help get things ready."

And with that, Hermione kissed him on the cheek and went running out the door. Harry looked around at those who remained - the mermaid enjoying the warmth of the tub compared to the usual cold lake, and Firenze.

"What do the omens say, Firenze?" asked Harry.

"Since you were born, Harry Potter, the omens have been in disarray."

"Oh," said Harry disappointedly.

"Be not discouraged by that, Harry Potter. Before your birth, we centaurs found only dismal omens. Now there is opportunity, and if I may be permitted a most uncentaurlike word, hope. I cannot tell you the omens are good, but at least I can also say that I cannot tell you they are bad. That means that there is opportunity and that is an improvement. Godspeed, Harry Potter."