Harry Potter and the Ring of Reduction

Chapter 21

The Battle

Harry was suddenly outside, several hundred feet in the air, looking at a stretch of countryside illuminated by a full moon over a cloudless night sky. Looks like Remus is going to miss this, Harry thought as he looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Harry's Auror-acquired knowledge of England's geography had guided Fawkes to where Harry thought the Death Eaters might be, based on the attack route the Aurors expected. Figuring they probably weren't too far away, Harry emptied his mind and focused on detecting Dark magic. He had never tried to do it from so far away, but knew the 'signal' would be so strong that he had a chance of sensing it. Less than a half a minute later, he had it. Fawkes disappeared, and Harry was suddenly in a different place, higher in the air so he wouldn't be detected. He could see Death Eaters on brooms, and sense dementors, but he saw no giants. Activating the spell the Aurors taught him to identify objects hidden by magic, he suddenly saw fourteen giants, in two rows of seven, trailed by dozens of Death Eaters, Dark wizards, and/or Voldemort helpers.

Harry gave a start as, in an instant, Flora and Hermione were next to him, hovering in midair as he was; he realized that Flora knew through Fawkes what had happened, and had awoken Hermione. Without a word, Harry changed the hand holding Fawkes's tail from the right to the left, and put his arm around Hermione's shoulders, as she put her left arm around his waist.

He sent her an image of what he had just seen, then the information he had learned from Dumbledore. She sent him a feeling of confidence. We can do this, we'll be all right. He sent back the same feeling, to communicate that he agreed. He then sent her an image of him at Auror headquarters, telling them. She sent to him that she intended to wake McGonagall, who would then activate the schoolwide alarm that would wake everyone.

Not having spoken a word, but having communicated a great deal, they both disappeared. Harry alerted the Aurors, then appeared back in his dormitory. "Everybody up!" he shouted. He yanked back the curtains of Ron's bed to reveal a very sleepy Ron. Just then, the alarms went off, and Ron went from nearly asleep to awake in a second.

"What's going on?" asked Ron.

"The castle's under attack," said Harry, speaking into his hand so Ginny could know at the same time. As the others scrambled to get dressed, Harry Summoned his broom and headed out of the dormitory.

Empty when he reached it, the common room quickly filled up, as people stumbled or ran from their dormitories. He stood in front of the portrait hole, silent until most of the students were there. Very conscious of the clock ticking, he didn't wait for every last person to come out before speaking. Many looked alarmed, frightened, or bewildered.

"I'm speaking right now as your Head of House," he announced. "The castle is under attack; the attacking forces should arrive at the castle in about a half an hour. Some of us will be going out to fight them in a minute. Sixth and seventh years who are seventeen or older can join if they want to; sixth years who aren't seventeen can join if their parents haven't forbidden it."

He was about to continue when Dennis shouted, "Professor, I'd like to come too. I'm a good flier, and-"

"Yes, you are, and I'd love to have you," Harry interrupted him, "but this is Professor McGonagall's decision. Jennifer, Dave, you're in charge here after I've gone. It's very important that everyone follow their instructions. Soon after we've left, Fawkes and Flora will conduct an evacuation. You're to go three at a time. The middle person, which should be the biggest person, should grab the phoenix's tail, after the others have put their arms around his or her shoulders, like this." Neville and Hermione stepped to Harry's side and demonstrated. "You'll be taken to the Ministry, where you'll get more information, but probably not immediately. They'll be busy, too. The important thing is, you'll be safe.

"Those who are coming, follow me. We're meeting on the grounds, between the lake and the gate." Harry turned and exited the portrait hole, followed by, he suspected, most or all of the Gryffindor sixth and seventh years.

Harry met McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick on his way out of the castle; each was carrying a broom. "Thank goodness for Albus," said Harry. "They could have been on us before we knew it. And you were definitely right about the time, Professor," he added to Snape, who had predicted a pre-dawn attack.

"One needs only to read a book on military tactics to make that prediction," responded Snape. "It is common sense."

"Why are they keeping the giants under a cloak?" asked Harry. "Why should they care if some Muggles see them?"

"The Dark Lord would be concerned that the Muggle military could get involved," said Snape. "There is not a high likelihood, but he would prefer to be careful. He has his own reasons for not wanting Muggles to know about the existence of wizards."

As had been the case when he had gone to observe the oncoming forces, the moon provided plenty of light. Looking around, Harry was struck by the natural beauty of the Hogwarts grounds, but he knew he couldn't linger on that thought.

As the last of the older students arrived, Harry started speaking, raising his voice so everyone could hear him. "I went out for a look before we woke everyone up. They should be about twenty minutes away by now, somewhere between ten or fifteen by the time we intercept them. Aurors will be joining us on the way, as well as some non-Aurors who've been fighting Voldemort since he came back." As he spoke, he knew that Arthur and Molly would be among them; he wasn't happy about it, but knew they felt they had to, and that it would be hard for them to know that he, Ron, and Ginny would be going into danger. "The opposing forces consist of about eighty to a hundred Dark wizards, a hundred to a hundred and fifty dementors, and fourteen giants."

He saw a few people flinch at that, and having seen one up close, he could certainly understand. "Do not get close to the giants, whatever you do. Remember, they are very hard to affect with magic. Leave them to the Aurors.

"Operate in groups of five or more, like we talked about in class. Make sure you have at least one person who can do a Patronus, but I know most of you can, so it should be no problem. You'll be doing lots of Patronuses; at least one member of every group should have the specific responsibility of looking out for dementors. Not that you won't know they're coming, of course, I've told you all about their effects."

"Harry, who's with you?" asked Justin.

"Just Ron and Ginny," he answered. "I need to be very maneuverable, and with their brooms, they can keep up with me. Okay, let's-"

Hermione stepped forward and turned to address the group. "Harry apparently didn't feel this was worth mentioning, but we just found out that he's going to be a specific target, that they have a plan to make him more obvious to them somehow. If you see Harry, Ron, and Ginny in trouble, and you can help, you should do so. I think you all know that Harry has the ability now to defeat Voldemort, we can't risk losing him."

"Aurors will join his party before we reach the battle," said McGonagall to Hermione. "Aurors on Firebolts," she added to Harry. "But I second what Professor Granger said, in any case. Professor Potter and his party could be overwhelmed."

"If we are, we'll run," he said, hoping to dissuade people from keeping their eyes on him; they would have enough to worry about. He didn't want to openly contradict McGonagall, however. "This is only if you happen to notice; don't be looking for me."

"I think they'll notice by the huge group of Death Eaters chasing us," said Ron; Harry couldn't tell whether he was nervous or was being humorous.

"Let's go," said Harry, not wanting to lose any more time than he had to. Sixty students and ten professors mounted their brooms and flew off into the night.

Six minutes into the trip, Harry was starting to feel the effect of the cold. For winter, it was a relatively warm night, but being in the cold air for a long time was uncomfortable, as he knew from having done it when leaving Privet Drive two and a half years ago. Still, he knew that he would soon be so busy he wouldn't notice the cold.

"Slow down," Ginny admonished him, speaking into her hand. "I know you need to be in front because you know where we're going, but we don't want to get that far ahead of the group. You know what McGonagall said."

"Yes, I know, that she doesn't want me ahead of the group when we get there," he said out loud, slowing down to be parallel to her. "You told me that after we took off."

"Well, it looked like you needed to be reminded."

"So, she told you to make sure I didn't get too far ahead, and made sure our party was joined by Aurors. Anything else she hasn't told me?"

"You'll be told when you need to know," she said; he wasn't sure whether or not she was joking.

"Glad to hear it. Just don't try to stop me from doing anything I want to do."

"You can fly right up to a giant and poke it in the eye, for all I care, just as long as you understand that we're going with you."

Harry remembered her saying that she wanted him to consider any risk to him as if it were a risk to her. He winced in discomfort at the thought of it, but he knew he couldn't think about that then; he had to do what he thought was best. On his other side, Ron asked, "So, Harry, are you on board with this whole giant-eye-poking thing? Because if you wanted to skip it, that'd be okay with me."

Grim as his last thought had been, Harry couldn't help but chuckle. "We'll see how it goes."

"Speaking of their eyes," continued Ron, now serious, "are the Aurors going to be using the Conjunctivitis Curse? When Hagrid told us that story-"

"No, they don't plan to," Harry interrupted Ron, anticipating the rest of the sentence. "Kingsley said that they expect the Death Eaters will have put some protection spell on the giants' eyes, that they'd anticipate that spell. They'll try it once just to be sure, but they don't expect it to be effective. The Death Eaters and dementors will be a big problem, but dealing with the giants will be the important thing."

"When do you expect them to set up the artifact?" asked Ron.

"Probably not until the giants have reached the Hogwarts grounds, or are very close to it," said Harry. "The giants won't be affected by Hogwarts' magical defenses, so the main reason for turning it on then would be so we couldn't fight the giants once they got past the castle walls. Well, nobody but us six, Luna, and Winston. And that wouldn't be nearly enough against fourteen giants. And if the giants get inside the grounds, they can let Death Eaters in, block anyone else, then withdraw the artifact, and they have the castle. Like I said, the giants are the key."

Harry turned his head every minute or so to make sure the others were still behind him, which they always were. Very soon, he saw several dozen wizards on brooms intercept them from their right; Harry could easily see that they were the Aurors, along with Order members. Looking through the crowd of brooms, he could see Arthur, Molly, and the rest of the Weasleys, and worried again. They're probably worried about Ron, Ginny, and I, he thought, but we're better able to protect ourselves.

Kingsley maneuvered into the Hogwarts crowd to fly next to McGonagall, as Tonks and Dawlish moved to join Harry's group. He wasn't surprised to see Tonks, but was to see Dawlish, who usually didn't have much to do with him. I'm really getting high-powered protection, he thought, knowing that Dawlish was perhaps the most powerful Auror. Catching Harry's surprised look, Dawlish gave Harry a wry glance. "I just want to be here when some new spells get invented."

"There they are," said Ron.

Harry looked ahead and saw the giants, a few hundred yards in the distance; it reminded him of something he'd wondered briefly when he'd first seen them. "Dawlish, why don't the giants have any weapons?"

"Probably because the giants themselves are pretty good weapons, and Voldemort wouldn't trust them not to get carried away with extra weapons and use them on whoever was nearest," explained Dawlish, looking intently at the giants. "We can always fly above them anyway, no matter what weapons they have, and we could use Repulsion Charms if they gave them projectile weapons. No, they're just going to dare us to try to stop the giants, and if we can't, they just march to the castle."

"That's not going to happen," muttered Harry.

"See, they can see us, that's for sure," said Dawlish. "They're not doing anything different, except they've taken off the cloak you said was on them. They're waiting for us to make the first move. They're not going to break their formation unless we can show that we can hurt the giants."

Here we go, thought Harry. He slowed down and descended to twenty-five feet, roughly eye level to a giant. The giants were at about one hundred yards and closing... seventy... fifty... thirty...

At what he guessed was twenty yards away, Harry pointed his wand at the nearest giant, and focused on creating a blinding light. A narrow, powerful beam of light came out of his wand. It was far stronger than anything he had done in practice, so strong that he had to squint, and he saw that others around him did as well. The giant was knocked back, as if by a physical force. He roared in anger, then charged forward; the other giants immediately did so as well.

"Harry, up!" shouted Ginny. Deciding to get one more shot in, Harry pointed at the next closest one and fired again. This one was knocked back as well, but the other ones were very close. Harry quickly turned and shot upwards, the others in his group with him. The nearest giant's swing missed Ron by less than a second as he followed Harry away. "Don't cut it that fine anymore!" Ginny shouted at him. "Remember, you're not the only one that can get hurt because of it!" He nodded, silently promising to be more careful, or at least to not take chances like that unless it was truly important.

"Avada Kedavra!" shouted a chorus of voices. Turning, Harry was surprised to see that it wasn't Death Eaters shouting it, but Aurors. A hail of green bolts sailed downward and hit their target. The giant staggered back, barely staying on her feet. Harry contributed a Stunning Spell, which seemed to have a small effect of its own.

Suddenly, the night became much colder, and Harry started to feel disoriented. Knowing immediately what it was, he summoned the memory of Ginny's reaction when he first told her he loved her, and a brilliant white stag came out of his wand. It was one of many, and the dementors started retreating, but they had accomplished their purpose: they had distracted the Aurors from their attack on the giant. A few dozen Dark wizards flew up to harass the Aurors further, firing spells at them while maneuvering around on brooms, trying to deny the Aurors clear targets. Other Dark wizards followed the dementors in attacking the Hogwarts group. Twenty feet to his left, Harry saw a group of students recoil from an area-effect spell. Deciding that the students needed more help than the Aurors, he sped in their direction, firing off Stunning Spells as he went. One connected, and the opponent fell off of his broom. It reminded Harry of the problem of fighting at that height: they were out of reach of the giants, but being knocked off of one's broom was possibly deadly. The fall could kill, and unencumbered Death Eaters could easily finish off anyone on the ground. Harry knew that part of the Order members' jobs was to catch people who fell, Summon their brooms and wands, and get them to safety. He also knew that while their side had a technical numerical superiority, some of their manpower was being used for such defensive purposes as that and warding off the dementors. In terms of sheer offensive capacity, they were outnumbered.

As Harry flew closer, he decided that Imperius Charms were the way to go, if possible. He tried one on an enemy who was ten yards away, but it didn't work; he then had to focus on defensive spells as he became a target, then dementors attacked again. Harry conjured another Patronus; he considered doing it every fifteen seconds or so as a routine defensive measure, but realized that Tonks was already doing so.

Another look around told him that the giants were moving on ahead, but they were now running. It was a slow run, more like a jog, but because of the giants' size, they covered ground very quickly. He knew this was one possible strategy the Death Eaters might employ in such a situation: if the giants could fight anything in range, they would, and if not, they would proceed to the castle. It made sense. Harry quickly debated whether to stay and help the students, or to go chase the giants. Almost immediately, he got an impression from Hermione. Go after the giants, she communicated. Neville and I will take over here, let people know when it's time to retreat.

Shooting off a few more Stunning Spells, Harry turned and flew towards the giants; it would take him less than a minute to catch up to them. Looking at his hand, he said, "Tell the others, be ready to ascend quickly." He heard her relay his instructions as he neared the giant who was lagging behind. Ron and Tonks conjured Patronuses as Dawlish shot off spells at the nearest Death Eater. Harry hoped it wouldn't distract the giant, but it didn't seem to.

How close dared he get? He had just seen the Imperius Charm fail with a wizard from a range of ten yards, and these were giants, resistant to magic. He had to get close enough that he could be swatted away if he were discovered; there was just no choice. He looked into his hand. "I have to get close, but you don't have to. Just be ready to distract him if he notices I'm there."

He flew closer, until he was four feet from the giant's back. Deciding that was close enough, he pointed his wand and focused on infusing the giant with love. The giant continued running, oblivious. Harry continued to concentrate, thinking about nothing else, trusting the others to warn him of any danger. He had been doing it for about twenty seconds when he heard Ginny in his head, shouting a warning. One of the other giants, the one nearest the one Harry was trying to affect, had seen their party; she shouted at the other one, and swerved to try to bat Harry away. Harry turned his broom so that it pointed to what had been his left, and shot away, barely escaping the giants' outstretched hands.

He ascended to a safe height, swearing in frustration. Facing the others, he said, "Okay, I want to get out in front of them, do the light thing again. Maybe I can slow them down."

"You know that Death Eaters are fighting Aurors over there, right?" asked Dawlish.

"I know. Maybe I can sneak up behind a few Death Eaters with the Imperius Charm. Let's go."

They flew off above the giants, who were still running at a steady pace. As they were past half of them, Harry looked behind him and, squinting in anticipation, did the flashlight spell on the trailing giant. The giant shouted in pain and fell, hands over his eyes.

One problem with the spell, Harry now realized, was that it was very visually obvious; everyone on the entire battlefield would know it was happening, and therefore know where he was. So much for sneaking up behind a few Death Eaters and doing Imperius Charms, he thought. Still, the giants were the first priority. Or, should he focus on the Death Eaters nearest the giants, hoping he could help get rid of enough of them so that they could fight the giants unimpeded?

His thoughts were interrupted by more dementors swarming around them, obviously attracted by the light. Death Eaters soon followed, having disengaged from the Aurors. They closed around Harry and his group. Harry warded off spells as best he could, and he saw a Killing Curse shield go up around Ginny. The Aurors reached them, causing the Death Eaters to retreat, and one to fall off his broom. Looking ahead, Harry saw that the giants were now a few hundred yards closer to Hogwarts than they had been when he knocked down the other one, who was just now getting up.

"Harry! Cover us!" shouted Kingsley. Harry looked around, shooting off Stunning Spells at anything that got close.

"Avada Kedavra!" shouted thirty voices, and Harry now understood why they were asking him to cover them: they wanted to finish off the one that was down. Death Eaters attacked the Aurors; they got close enough that Harry was able to do the Imperius Charm on one, who screamed and fell off his broom. Harry focused on another, who turned and put an area-effect spell on his comrades. So, they're not all Death Eaters, thought Harry, since this one hasn't been Cleansed.

The other Dark wizards recoiled, and three shot Killing Curses at him. Acting reflexively, Harry put up his Killing Curse shield around the wizard. Harry knew the Aurors might prefer that he let the wizard be killed, but he was doing a good job of distracting his comrades.

Harry shot off more Stunning Spells, then gasped as he saw Ron get hit, and fall off his broom while the Aurors tried to finish off the giant on the ground. Harry and Ginny dove; Harry caught him fifteen feet above the ground. Thank God there aren't any giants right here, he thought. Ginny Summoned Ron's Firebolt as Harry Summoned Ron's wand, which he had dropped.

"Give me his broom!" Harry shouted to Ginny, who tossed it to him. Harry caught it in his free hand, straining under Ron's weight as he held onto Ron with his other arm. He Disapparated, appearing in the emergency room of St. Mungo's. He put the wand in Ron's hand and the broom across his stomach so that Ron could return to the battle if he felt well enough to. He thought he saw Ron's eyes flicker, but he couldn't wait around for Ron to regain consciousness. I think he's okay, Harry told himself. He has to be okay. Harry refused to entertain the alternative.

He Disapparated again, finding himself on the ground slightly away from the battle area. Mounting his broom and taking off, he asked Ginny on his hand where she was, then shot ahead in pursuit.

It took him less than a minute to catch up. They were with the Aurors, and the group of students and Order members had made their way back from the site of the first engagement. The scene was chaotic, as Harry had been told battles usually were. Some Order members were constantly creating Patronuses, and some were attacking Dark wizards in groups of ten. As he flew through it, Harry shot off Stunning Spells at the Dark wizards nearest to him, then remembered what he should be doing, and put the Imperius Charm on the next few he passed. He realized that the Imperius Charm was better for more than one reason: the Stunning Spell could miss, whereas the Imperius Charm worked differently, and always reached the person who it was aimed at, if they were in range.

As soon as he got in front of another giant, still at a safe height, he directed the flashlight spell at the giant's eyes; again, this giant shouted in pain and stumbled, but didn't go down. Harry swooped down into the danger area-as he thought of if, any altitude below forty feet was a risk if giants were anywhere nearby-and maneuvered for a clear shot at the giant's eyes. He finally found one, and used the spell again; the giant went down.

Aurors, who had come over when they had seen the light the first time, started firing off Killing Curses; Harry flew back toward them to protect them from the Dark wizards he knew would be harassing them. Two down, twelve to go, he thought, but there's no way we can get enough of them by the time they reach the school. He knew the evacuation would be complete, but Death Eaters couldn't be allowed to occupy the castle, because it would be very hard to take it back once they had it, and resumed its magical defenses.

He flew ahead again, pushing the limits of the Firebolt's speed. As he caught up to the giants again, he could see Hogwarts in the distance, and despaired. It's going to be too late, he thought. He zoomed ahead of the pack of giants, this time using his flashlight spell on the lead giant, hoping others would trip over her as she went down. She did go down, but the others managed not to stumble over her. As he tried to get in position to do it to another one, Ron flew in and rejoined the group. Harry wanted to ask Ron if he was sure he was all right, but knew he couldn't take the time.

As the Aurors rushed over to take advantage of the next one down, Death Eaters followed them, and others joined from having been engaging the Hogwarts students; clearly protecting the giants was considered the top priority. The situation was even more chaotic than it had been: Patronuses of all sizes and shapes were flying about, pushing aside dementors; spells were flying through the air, and brooms were moving constantly as wizards on both sides tried to avoid being hit by enemy spells. It was impossible to focus on what was happening enough to understand the whole picture, so Harry just concentrated on what he wanted to do.

Getting to the clearest spot he could while still in visual range of a giant, Harry flew toward the one that was furthest away from the others. He shone the light in the giant's eyes; the giant stumbled and shielded his eyes. Again, Harry flew down to get a better shot to put the giant on the ground. Because the giant was shielding his eyes, it was difficult, but he finally got the position, and used the spell again. The giant screamed and went down; Harry was surprised that he wasn't being harassed by Dark wizards, but guessed that the others in his party were helping him with that.

He turned around on his broom to gain altitude again, and had almost reached forty feet when he heard a loud shriek. It wasn't the first one he'd heard since the battle had started, but it was the one that had happened nearest him, and he was sure he recognized the voice. Dread taking him over, he quickly turned to see Ginny flying through the air, and another giant at the end of his follow-through. He clearly hadn't got away fast enough, and Ginny had been behind him, covering him along with the others.

Terrified that Ginny would hit the ground and be stepped on, Harry instantly cast his spell on the giant, this time focusing on keeping it there even after the giant reacted. He stopped only because he realized that Ginny would soon hit the ground, and be injured more even if she wasn't stepped on. As he turned to levitate her, he saw Ron already doing so. She was hovering, no longer screaming but in obvious pain, one leg bent forward at the knee in such an obviously unnatural way that Harry winced. He flew to her, grabbed her around the shoulders as gently as he could, came to a full stop as Ron handed him her broom and wand, and Disapparated.

Again he appeared in the St. Mungo's emergency room, which was busier than it had been just a few minutes ago when he had taken Ron there. He started to lay Ginny on the nearest empty bed, but she was levitated out of his grasp by a Healer.

"How bad is it?" asked Harry immediately, not realizing or caring that the Healer had laid eyes on Ginny just that moment. Obviously accustomed to frantic relatives, the Healer ignored him and concentrated on Ginny, waving his wand and clearly lessening Ginny's pain.

"Go back, Harry," she said, still in some pain. "They have me, I'll be okay."

"I need to know-"

"Go back, dammit!" she shouted. "They need you! I'll be fine, it only got me below the waist. Go!"

His chest tightening, tears threatening, he bent over and kissed her, quickly and urgently. Then he Disapparated, finding himself not too far from the battle, which was moving ever closer to Hogwarts. They can't be more than two or three minutes away, he thought. He kicked off the ground again, flying as fast as the Firebolt would go toward the battle, and to the castle.

As he neared the site of the battle, he saw something that chilled him: two Aurors were flying low, at about twenty feet, one from left to right and the other from right to left in front of the giants. It was obvious to Harry that this was a desperate tactic to try to delay the giants' advance onto the Hogwarts grounds, that they were hoping to lure the giants into chasing them instead of continuing forward. It was working; three giants were chasing each one, leaving only four giants continuing to Hogwarts.

Praying that the Aurors knew what they were doing, Harry continued ahead to where the four giants were heading. He knew there was no time to stop all four of them, and he was sure the other six wouldn't be distracted for long. Seeing the Hogwarts gate in the distance, he had a sudden idea. He zoomed past the four giants; as he passed, he saw Dawlish, Ron, and Tonks peel off to join him. All that time they let it sit there, thought Harry. I hope they never did move it.

Passing the edge of the battle, he looked to his left, and seeing yet another thing that threatened to stop his heart, did a double-take. Thirty meters away were a very familiar, and very small, group of people on brooms: the Slytherin second years. They were on the periphery of the battle; he saw them flying in two formations of five, and Killing Curse shields nearby. He wanted to turn and fly to them, scream at them to leave the battle, but again, he knew he couldn't spare the time. He flew on, his heart pounding in his chest. What are they doing here? he wondered. How did they get out here in the first place? They were supposed to have been evacuated, and I can't imagine all ten of them could sneak out past the Slytherin prefects. If they did, those prefects are going to hear about it from me.

He tried to stop thinking about it, but he couldn't; as he flew, he got more and more emotional. I can't cry in the middle of a battle, he thought, feeling it was ridiculous to even have to think about it. But that was what he wanted to do just then. He reflected that going into battle was bad enough, but it was worse when virtually everyone you cared about in the world was out there with you, taking the same risks.

Unable to cry, he felt anger rising up. At the Death Eaters, at Voldemort, at the giants, even at the second years for doing something so irresponsible and risky. This has to stop, he thought, we have to end this thing. Is it still there... yes, it is, it must be under that tent, that covering, whatever. I guess they didn't want it to rust.

Twenty yards outside the Hogwarts gate, with his wand Harry flung aside the tent to reveal the upside-down tank that, for some reason, had remained there since September. He lifted the tank until it was levitating next to him, then, concentrating on holding onto it, headed toward the battle just as Dawlish, Ron, and Tonks caught up with him. As he got closer to the battle, on his left he saw Hagrid and Grawp, both armed with long weapons with points at both ends, waiting. The last line of defense, he thought. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

It took him less than half a minute to reach the nearest giant. The giant didn't see him approaching from the side until Harry was within ten yards of him. The giant turned his head. Concentrating for all he was worth, pouring his emotions into what he was doing, Harry swung the tank around and smashed the giant in the head with it. As the tank made contact, Harry felt a terrible headache come on, but one like he had never felt before. He immediately knew what it was: a warning that he was doing something he shouldn't be doing, something that went against the energy of love. He didn't know whether the tank had killed the giant, but he knew it possibly could. He winced in pain, but held onto the tank and looked for another giant. I have to stop them, he thought, them taking the castle is unacceptable. I can stop them.

Another giant ran past, seemingly oblivious to what had happened to the last one. Harry wound up for another swing, and hit the next giant in the back of the head, sending her sprawling forward. Harry screamed in pain as another headache came on, this one worse. He dropped the tank, not because he wanted to, but because he couldn't hold onto it. He slumped forward on his broom, unable to think about or do anything. The next thing he knew he was being guided up. He looked up to see Dawlish, an arm around his side, taking him up and out of range of other giants.

He received an intense impression from Hermione. Stop it, her feelings pleaded with him. Stop doing that, you'll lose the ability to use the energy of love. We need that, you need it. We'll find some other way, but stop using the tank. It's hurting you, you have to stop.

He gasped for breath, and reached up and patted Dawlish on the arm to indicate that he was all right; Dawlish removed his arm. Fawkes suddenly appeared above him and started to sing; Harry wondered whether he was finished with the evacuation, or if he just knew that Harry needed his support. He felt the song lift his mood, as it always did. I have to find some other way, he thought, echoing Hermione's thoughts. He realized he was using the tank in anger, and the anger was probably what was hurting him as much as the possibility that he might kill a giant.

He looked for the tank, but before he saw it, he was suddenly hit by something physical. He looked down and, to his great surprise, saw something that looked like water on his robes. A crowd of Aurors was starting to form around him, and they fought and chased off the wizards who had hit Harry with the water, for what purpose he couldn't imagine. He resumed looking for the tank, and he saw a giant looking like he was about to pick it up. Just before the giant bent over, Harry hit him with the flashlight spell, and the giant went down. Good, thought Harry, no reduction in strength, I must have stopped in time. Knowing he couldn't leave the tank there for another giant to pick up and throw at Aurors or students, he levitated it, and heaved it off into the distance, as far as he could throw it. To his astonishment, it sailed high and far into the air; it had to be a hundred yards, he thought. It landed with a crash right in front of the entrance to the Quidditch stadium.

He saw Ron, Tonks, and Dawlish looking at him in astonishment, and thought to make a comment about how far he'd thrown the tank, but realized that wasn't what they were astonished about. Looking at his torso, where they were looking, he saw a bright light, which seemed to be getting brighter and brighter. Oh, great, he thought, this is what Albus was warning me about-the idea they had about illuminating me. I didn't know he meant it so literally. He would be a beacon, an easily identifiable target, no matter where he flew. This is going to be fun, he thought sardonically.

Sure enough, dozens of Dark wizards started converging on his position. He took off, flying away from Hogwarts and the battle, Ron, Dawlish, and Tonks right behind him, and fifty Dark wizards trailing them. He felt his hand tingle. "Harry, I just want you to know I'm okay, they tell me I'm going to be all right. It's not good, but it's nothing they can't fix. I'm just not going to be able to rejoin the battle, to put it mildly."

He looked at his hand. "That's the best news I've heard all night. Both that you'll be all right, and that you won't be able to rejoin the battle."

He could hear the smile in her voice. "You would say that."

"Yes, I would," he agreed. Looking behind him, he saw Dawlish, Ron, and Tonks right behind him, matching his speed, and protecting themselves and him against any spells done by their pursuers that seemed likely to hit. Twenty seconds later, he realized with surprise that they weren't outdistancing the Dark wizards. Not all of the initial pursuers were still with him, but at least thirty were. Did they all get Firebolts? he wondered. He had thought he could simply outrun them, but clearly he was going to have to think of something else.

Since he couldn't lose them, he decided that going away from the battle was the wrong direction. He started turning slowly, as a sudden turn would allow them to gain on him too much. As it was, they gained about five yards over the course of the turn. His next idea was to take them all the way to Hogwarts, on the grounds. He would fly low, and if the Four Corners artifact had been deployed, he would fall off his broom, but so would his pursuers. He would have working magic and they wouldn't, so he and Ron could take care of them easily. And if the artifact hasn't been deployed... well, I'll think of something else, I guess, he thought. He knew he would pick up more pursuers, but nobody could catch him, and those without Firebolts would quickly fall behind.

Approaching the battle site again, he decided to see if he could get in a flashlight shot at a giant without slowing down. The giants had made relatively little progress in the last minute; their protection had diminished when the Dark wizards had started following Harry, and more Auror Killing Curses were hitting them, causing them to stumble and try to evade the Aurors. One giant happened to be looking away from the battle, in Harry's direction, and Harry immediately took the opportunity. Descending a bit to get a better shot, his aim was again good, and the giant stumbled to one knee. Harry pulled up on his Firebolt for a quick ascent, barely out of the reach of a giant who jumped, arms extended, in hopes of swatting him. Didn't know they could jump, he thought.

Safely out of range of the giants, he descended again quickly, his comrades staying with him with no difficulty. He flew just over the walls of the castle grounds, being careful to avoid the lake and the Whomping Willow. He braced himself for a fall, but almost to his disappointment, it didn't happen. He sailed across the grounds at an altitude of four feet, followed now by forty Dark wizards. Looking over his left shoulder, he saw another ten off to his left, apparently anticipating a turn. Better turn right, he decided. Ascending again, he started the turn just before he would have left the Hogwarts grounds on the other side, in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Looking over his shoulder again, he thought he saw a dozen small objects fall from the pursuing Dark wizards. He thought he must have imagined it, but that he should be sure; he decided to ask Filch to check the grounds after the battle. Then again, he thought wryly, I'd better do it myself. Harry knew Filch loathed taking instructions from him, which Filch was bound to do, as Harry was a professor and Head of House. If I ever do become headmaster, he thought, Filch is gone. There must be someone who's a nice person who would want the job.

Wondering momentarily why he was having such strange, random thoughts in the middle of a situation that seemed to demand his complete concentration, he focused again on the battle. How am I going to lose these people? It's like I'm wearing a huge, neon sign. He again sped past the battle; the giants were approaching the Hogwarts walls, which Harry knew wouldn't stop them. He imagined that the artifact was now being deployed. Great timing, he thought, but didn't want to turn around again. If the giants broke through, even he and the others who could use magic despite the artifact couldn't do much to stop them.

His hand tingled again. "I know you can't talk, I just want to say, I love you."

He smiled, and held up his hand. "I love you, too. Just running away, as fast as I can. Doesn't require much concentration."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"They got some stuff on me that makes me a huge, bright target. I'm being chased by thirty Death Eaters who must be on Firebolts. I can't lose them, but at least I'm taking them away from the battle."

To his great surprise, she said confidently, "That's okay, no problem. I know what to do. Just do what I say, okay?"

"Since I have no ideas right now, I'll be happy to. What is it?"

"First, start going up. I mean, straight up. Hold on tight to the broom. If you need to, use both hands, and don't talk, just listen."

Harry's eyebrows went high, but he started pulling the broomstick up, gradually so Ron and the others could follow. "Yes, I see that look," she said. "Just do what I say."

"I am," he assured her, looking at his left hand while gripping the broom tightly with his right, which was difficult since it also held his wand. He wasn't worried, because he knew Fawkes would catch him if he fell. "Going straight up now. Feels strange, but kind of neat."

"Are they following?" she asked. "Tightly packed?"

He looked down, past Ron, Dawlish, and Tonks, who he imagined must have been wondering what he was doing. "Yes, they're all following, in a pretty tight group."

"Good. Now, use the Imperius Charm, as an area-effect spell."

He shook his head quickly in surprise, thinking he must not have heard her correctly. "What?"

"Harry," she said urgently, "I just got a visit from Blaise here. He said it's a message from Albus, that you should do this. It'll work, just do it."

He didn't have to be told again. Grasping the broom with his left hand, he pointed his wand straight down, and looked down. "Scatter!" he shouted to his party. They flew off in different directions, and he visualized the Imperius Charm as affecting a wide area, and cast it.

A field of blue light emanated from his wand, expanding in the shape of a cone, with his wand as the tip. As it enveloped the crowd of pursuers, he heard screams, and saw many of them fall off their brooms. A dozen remained, which meant that they were allied with Voldemort, but not Death Eaters. It occurred to Harry that they were so far up in the air that those who fell would certainly die, unless someone was waiting to catch them. That thought made him wonder where Voldemort was; there had been no evidence at all of his participation in any of what had happened.

He saw Dawlish fly straight down; he wondered if it was to check to see if they would in fact be caught or not. Turning, he flew toward Ron, and exchanged a smile with him. He looked at his left hand and said, "It worked. Thanks, and tell Blaise to thank Albus for me."

"I will, but you know he hears you anyway. Now, go finish off the giants. It'll work on them, too. You don't need to get that close, just do it from fifty feet."

"That's great," he said enthusiastically, as he took the Firebolt to full speed again, Ron right behind him, Tonks and Dawlish further back, escorting the dozen surviving Dark wizards, still under the influence of the Imperius Charm. "But why didn't he tell me this before? It would have saved a lot of time, not to mention, some lives."

He thought he heard sadness in her voice; it must have been her sorrow at being reminded that lives had no doubt been lost. "You know he tries to avoid telling you stuff like this, that he does it only when he thinks it's absolutely necessary. The way they were chasing you, he must have felt like there was no choice."

He nodded. "Well, I shouldn't complain, just be happy that he told me when he did. I'm sure it'll end up saving a lot of lives, not just mine. I'm going to sign off, I'll let you know when it's over."

"Okay," she said. "Do you mind if I keep looking? There's not that much to do here."

He smiled. "Go ahead. I love you."

"I love you, too," she said, then went silent.

Flying next to him, Ron shook his head in wonder. "Pulled another one out of your hat, I see."

"Albus did, really," he corrected Ron. "He says it'll work on the giants, too. I'm not counting my chickens, though, until this is done."

Ron frowned. "Counting what chickens?"

"I'll explain later."

A few seconds later, they reached the scene of the current battle with the greatest concentration of Dark wizards. Harry cast the area-effect Imperius Charm; only one wizard screamed and fell off his broom, as the rest suddenly went docile. Harry mentally instructed them to throw down their wands, and fly over the lake and jump in, which they obligingly did. Moving on to another, smaller battle, he did the same thing, with the same results. He turned his attention to the remaining nine giants, who were within the Hogwarts walls, and advancing on the castle. One was holding the Whomping Willow, which he had clearly pulled out by the roots. He must have intended to use it as a weapon, thought Harry, but it was thrashing him violently.

Harry flew over and cast the Charm over the one nearest Hagrid and Grawp, who were just about to start fighting. The giant didn't seem affected for a second, then lost its aggressive posture, and just stood there. Harry moved on to the next one, and again it took a few seconds. The as-yet-unaffected giants shoved the affected ones in confusion; the Charmed ones did nothing in response. Within a minute, all nine giants were wandering aimlessly around the Hogwarts grounds, except for the one who was on the ground, curled up in a defensive posture and covering his face, being beaten by the Whomping Willow he had uprooted.

Just out of curiosity, Harry cast the new spell on the Willow. It had no effect.

The dementors had started retreating when Harry used his new spell for the first time near the castle; Harry wondered if somehow they knew that meant the tide of the battle had turned. He wanted to head back out to the path that had led to Hogwarts and find out if there were still any Dark wizards flying around, but he didn't, for fear that it was mainly his proximity that was keeping the giants under the Imperius Charm. In any case, he was sure that the Aurors and the others would easily take care of any Dark wizards that remained; he figured they would probably have escaped the battle anyway, knowing it was hopeless.

Harry mentally instructed the giants to leave the Hogwarts grounds, but it didn't work. He wondered if this was part of the giants' general resistance to magic; it took an area-effect spell to work on one of them, and all it did was mollify them. Still, he wasn't complaining. Hagrid and Grawp came over and started guiding the giants away from the castle, Harry staying close just in case. Ron was with Harry, his most recent action having been pulling-magically, of course-the Whomping Willow off of the giant it was attacking. Harry imagined they would re-plant it, though he couldn't see the use for it, except that it sort of added to Hogwarts' character.

Pansy, Hermione, and Neville flew over and landed near them; Harry and Ron got hugs from Hermione and Pansy. Harry added a quiet "thank you" to Hermione when she hugged him; she just nodded. People from the Ministry started Apparating in, including a few with cauldrons full of a red liquid. Harry found Kingsley, who explained that the liquid was something that would pacify even giants for a long period of time, at least a day. To Harry's surprise, the giants picked up the cauldrons and drank the contents, with a little encouragement from Grawp. I guess it must work with giants, just not in the same way, he thought. It must make them more suggestible.

"There's no reason we can't go to St. Mungo's, is there?" Harry asked Kingsley as the last of the giants drank the potion.

"No, go ahead, things here seem to be under control. You five can Apparate freely until further notice."

"Thanks," said Harry, and all five were suddenly in the St. Mungo's emergency room. They saw Ginny in a bed in a corner of the large room, and quickly headed over. She gave him a big grin and said, "There he is, the light of my life." The others chuckled as they got the joke a second before Harry, who had stopped noticing how bright he was.

There was a chair near the bed; Harry took it. He held Ginny's hand, kissed it, and looked at her with vast relief and love. "We're so glad you're all right," said Neville.

"Me, too," she said wryly. "That was close, I was lucky. And I'm glad that the Joining of Hands came in handy for something other than Quidditch."

Harry chuckled, and explained to the others what had happened. "But I'm surprised that Albus didn't just tell me himself, through Fawkes. It wouldn't have been a difficult message to send."

"He sent one through Blaise before," pointed out Ron. "He could've sent you that one himself, too. He must have had his reasons."

"Well," started Ginny, sighing a little, "I have a little confession to make. When I said I got the message from Blaise, it... sort of, wasn't quite true."

Harry's face expressed his puzzlement. "What do you mean? You got it from someone else? From Albus himself somehow?" Ginny shook her head. "In what way was it 'not quite true,' then?" he asked.

"In the way that it was a complete lie," she clarified, with some embarrassment and a hint of amusement. "I never got any message."

Hermione and Pansy smiled, but Harry was totally befuddled. "I don't understand," he said blankly.

"I had this idea a few weeks ago," she explained. "I was remembering how you changed the fire-suppression spell to make it an area-effect spell, and somehow I had the thought that in a battle, it would be really good if you could do the same for the Imperius Charm. I got the idea during one of the combat flying lessons. Then I remembered how it usually works with you, how you get them when you really need them. I thought maybe the way it works is that they work because you need them to work, you believe that they'll work. The flashlight spell worked much better now than in practice, because you needed it to, it was the real situation.

"I thought about telling you about my idea, but it realized it might not do any good-you might decide that it was impossible, then you wouldn't be able to do it when you needed to. I decided to wait, to only suggest it if the situation was that you desperately needed it, like the fire-suppression spell. Since I would be with you, I'd know the right time. My getting hurt changed that, but in a way, it made it better. You had only ever come up with the spells by yourself, you'd never had them suggested to you, so I thought it might not work. But because I wasn't with you, I could tell you it came from Albus. You'd believe me, and because it came from him, you'd be sure you could do it. And you were, and you did."

There was silence for a few seconds as everyone digested what Ginny had said. Finally Ron said, "Wow. And I thought I was devious."

"I hope this makes it into a history textbook someday," added Hermione. "He created the area-effect Imperius Charm under false pretenses."

With a sly grin at Harry, Pansy said, "He looks like he needs it explained again."

"I don't know whether to be annoyed that you lied," Harry finally said, "or to thank you for saving some lives, probably including mine."

"I know which one I'd pick," said Neville.

Harry nodded. "I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Or is that not a wizarding phrase?" he asked, turning to Hermione.

"They say it about dragons," she said, "but it has a different meaning. With dragons, it's because they could burn you to a crisp."

"Who would want a dragon as a gift anyway," wondered Ron. "Well, besides Hagrid, that is."

"I can't believe you did that," said Harry, still amazed. "You're really something."

He stood, and leaned over her bed to kiss her; she put her arms around his neck and held him there to prolong the kiss. Finally letting go, she smiled at him as he resumed his seat. "Remember, I'm fine from the waist up."

"I'll keep that in mind," he assured her. Turning to Hermione, he said, "And thank you, for helping me when I was going a little out of my head."

She explained to the others what she had done, then said to him, "Fawkes was sending, I could feel what you felt-both the emotion, and the pain, though not as strongly, of course. I was really afraid for you, which you probably got from what I sent you. I can understand why you got so upset, especially seeing the second years out there. I would've been too, if I were you. They're all okay, by the way, I saw them after the battle ended."

"Thank God," he said fervently. "I couldn't believe it when I saw them. How did they get out, anyway? The Slytherin prefects can't be that incompetent."

Hermione started to answer. "I don't know, but..."

She trailed off, as she started receiving the same information that Harry was. Their mouths hung open, to the surprise of the others. Emotion rose up in Harry yet again. "Fawkes?" he gasped. "Why would he do that?"

Hermione explained to the others. "Fawkes took them to the battle. During the evacuation, they asked him to take them there instead of the Ministry. He did." The others were now stunned, but not as much as Harry.

"I can't believe it," he said quietly. He felt like he should be angry, but he was too surprised to be angry. "Why... he would have known the pain that would cause me, he would feel it himself, and he would know that when he did it. Why?"

"I think I know, Harry," said Hermione somberly. "The answer is, for the same reason he helped you in the Chamber of Secrets. Fawkes responds to loyalty, loyalty to the person he's bonded to. The second years wanted to go because they wanted to help you. Fawkes knew that, and that would dictate what he did. He'll do anything he can to help someone who wants to help you, even if it isn't what you would want."

It was hard for Harry to accept, but he knew intuitively that it was true. Finally he sighed deeply, and said, "There's something very ironic about that."

"I'd say that's true," agreed Hermione. "He'll do what's best for you in one way, even if it's not the best in another. We all face situations like that, though, where both choices have their good and bad points. Phoenixes will just decide in favor of loyalty."

"At least they're okay," he said. "I don't know what I would have done if any of them had died. Speaking of which... I really hate to ask this, but does anyone know..."

"I do," said Ginny sadly. "Everyone, wounded or dead, has come through here, and I've been keeping my eyes and ears open. Six of the Order members and the people helping them died, I don't think we knew any of them. One Auror, I didn't catch the name. And four students. Two sixth years, Wilma and Everett. And two seventh years, Jonathan and Ernie."

Harry closed his eyes. He had known all of them, of course, but Ernie most of all; Harry considered him a friend, if not a close friend. He looked up at Hermione, pain in his eyes, remembering what she had said after last year's Hogsmeade attack. "So, do you think we got off easy with four?"

"It's never easy, but of course I know what you mean," she said. "I think about sixty of us went out, so yes, four isn't that high a number, considering the kind of danger there was. We weren't an army, just a bunch of people doing their best, with no coordinated strategy. We did pretty well."

They sat in silence for a minute, contemplating their losses. Then Ginny asked, "What happened to the Death Eaters that were following you straight up into the air?"

Harry shrugged, so Ron answered. "The ones that fell, died. Dawlish checked and made sure. He thinks we were several hundred feet up by that time, like about a fifty-story building. No one's going to survive that. And unlike our people who fell, like me, there was no one to catch them."

"That reminds me, what about Voldemort?" asked Ginny. "Did he ever show up?"

Ron answered again. "Dawlish said that at about the middle of the battle, the relays showed that he did, but he was obviously Disillusioned or under an Invisibility Cloak, or something. No one ever saw him, and no one's aware of anything he did. I think we know why he made sure to not make himself known."

"That's one good thing about what happened in December," said Neville. "He could have been a big factor here, if he hadn't been scared to show his face. But now, he's in a pretty bad way, isn't he? If any Death Eaters got away, it couldn't have been many, and now he's got practically nobody. I bet anyone who did get away didn't go back to him, so he's all by himself, more or less. He could recover, but he's in a much worse way than he was when he came back two and a half years ago."

"All because he couldn't leave me alone," said Harry. "He could have other Death Eaters that we don't know about, and he's Voldemort, anyway. We still have to be really careful. I just hope that nobody starts declaring victory."

"I promise to slap down anyone in the Ministry who does," said a nearby voice. Harry turned to see Bright standing behind him. Harry started to stand, but Bright put a hand on Harry's shoulder, keeping him down. "This isn't a formal occasion, Harry, it's all right. Just taking a tour. How are you doing, Ginny?"

"For someone who just had both legs broken, not too bad," she replied gamely.

He nodded, impressed. "To my surprise, I sense that you're telling the truth."

"Good thing you have to be in a line of sight," she said, smiling at Harry.

Bright looked mystified, but Harry didn't feel like explaining it just yet. "I assume they told you as soon as it happened?"

"Of course," he said. "It was pretty tense, since I couldn't get status reports, and there wasn't much I could do. Well, there was, but it was just things like making sure the potions for the giants were being made, that St. Mungo's was getting geared up, alerting crews to get rid of the bodies of any giants who died, like that. In other words, things that probably would have been done if I'd continued sleeping. But making sure that everything was ready made me feel somewhat useful, at least. I knew Kingsley would report when it was done.

"Well, I'm going to make the rounds, I just wanted to stop by and say hello. And, of course, to be one of the many who want to thank you, all of you, for what you did. Also, Harry, I meant what I said before. It's politically tempting, but I know better. No celebration, no gloating. We're still being cautious."

"Ginny!" cried an anxious Molly as she rushed to Ginny's side, pushing Bright out of the way in her haste to reach Ginny, who she leaned over and hugged tightly. Arthur was a few steps behind her; he stopped behind Harry's chair, which Harry vacated so Molly or Arthur could have it.

"Mum, you just shoved the Minister of Magic," teased Ron.

Still hugging Ginny, Molly replied, "He's a father, he understands."

Bright laughed. "Indeed I do, I would do the same if one of my children were on that bed." Turning to Arthur, he shook his hand. "I want to thank both of you as well, for what you did tonight."

With a small shrug, Arthur nodded. "We do what we can."

"If everyone did that, we'd be very well-off indeed," said Bright solemnly. He said goodbye to the group, then moved on to the next bed. Harry turned his attention to watching Molly fuss over Ginny. It's over, he thought. For now, anyway.

* * * * *

It was five-thirty in the morning when Harry and the others finally returned to Hogwarts. The students had finished returning ten minutes ago, so Harry avoided Gryffindor Tower, not wanting to be asked for his account of what had happened just yet. He went to his quarters and lay down for a half hour, reveling in the silence, yet wishing Ginny were with him. He knew it would take far less long for her to heal than if she were being treated by Muggles, but he missed her anyway. The then got up and took a shower; as he did, he noticed that his torso was still bright, but dimming slightly. As he got dressed, his robes covered it completely, to his relief.

Deciding he wanted company after all, and reflecting on the irony of his choice, he walked to Snape's quarters, which weren't that far from his own. He knocked on the door, which promptly opened. "Oh, it's you," said Snape, standing in surprise. "Come in."

"You were expecting someone else?"

"House-elves," Snape explained. "I requested that breakfast be delivered not long ago." Snape gestured Harry to a seat.

"I guess it is almost that time, I just hadn't thought about food," said Harry. He thought for a few seconds, then asked, "So, how badly do you think he's hurt?"

Snape didn't hesitate. "Very badly," he said, with obvious satisfaction. "I viewed the bodies of the Death Eaters killed in the fall caused by your spell; to my surprise, a few were ones I did not know. He had clearly been recruiting, and I strongly suspect that he was not being as selective as he once would have been. I have been able to ascertain that nearly every prominent Death Eater is now dead, or soon will be. The only one still at large is Lucius Malfoy."

There was another knock on the door, and this time, it was three house-elves. They hurriedly set up the table, and Snape's food. "You are welcome to stay and join me, if you'd like," offered Snape.

Harry felt himself gaping, and tried to recover. "Yeah, sure," he said.

"Bring another serving, and another place setting," Snape brusquely instructed the house-elves. They bobbed their heads up and down, smiling, suggesting that there was nothing they would rather do than fulfill his request; they departed quickly.

"Help yourself to some bacon, or sausage, while you wait for yours," Snape suggested as he sat at the table. "They always bring far too much."

Harry knew that was true, so he sat opposite Snape and took a piece of bacon. Noting that Snape seemed in unusually good spirits, for him, Harry decided to risk a joke. "I see you haven't got around to trying to be polite to the house-elves."

"On the contrary," replied Snape casually, as he finished the first bite of his toast, "they are thrilled with my behavior, as it is so much improved over what it used to be."

"I guess I hadn't thought of it that way," Harry admitted.

"Besides, being polite would only encourage them," added Snape, seemingly amused now. "Look at how they treat you, how uncomfortable it makes you. I know you could not bring yourself to be rude to a house-elf, but it does have its advantages."

Harry chuckled a little. "I don't know if you ever saw this in my memories, but Hermione and Ginny both think that Dobby would just love to be my personal house-elf after I graduate and get my own place."

Snape looked even more amused; Harry felt as though Snape was trying not to smile. "Considering how he treats you, and your reactions to it, his being your house-elf would be much more a favor from you to him than from him to you."

Harry felt that was a strange notion, but he could see Snape's point. Deciding not to go further into the topic of house-elves, he asked, "Why do you suppose Malfoy wasn't with the ones who were caught or killed?"

Snape looked thoughtful. "I suspect that he was functioning as the Dark Lord's personal assistant, close to him at all times. In practical terms, the reason would be that if you found him, Malfoy's job would be to distract you-" Seeing Harry react, Snape rolled his eyes and said, "You really must get over your adolescent associations with that word-while the Dark Lord made his escape."

Somewhat embarrassed, Harry nevertheless protested, "I have to take my humor where I can get it, I don't get nearly enough as it is. Anyway, I guess that makes sense, about Malfoy. It must be really embarrassing for Voldemort, to need that."

"'Degrading' would be a more appropriate word," suggested Snape. "Even before this morning, that he would require such an escort would be a painful reminder of how far he had fallen. Now, he has far more to worry about. The best thing for him to do would be to adopt the lowest possible profile, and attempt to gather forces again. This defeat, however, may harm his reputation to such an extent that it will be difficult for him to acquire followers.

"By the way, the new spell you used to such great effect... I assume this was one of your sudden inspirations?"

Harry shook his head. "Not mine, actually. Why don't I just show you, it'll be quicker." Harry was so used to having Snape view his memories that it didn't seem like a big deal. He kept the memory of what had happened at that point in the battle in the front of his mind. Snape reached for his wand, cast Legilimens, and viewed the memory.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Fascinating. But I find it beyond surprising that the headmaster would interfere in such a way, so directly. It is contrary to much of what he has said in his current state; it is as if he handed you a powerful weapon when it was not certain that it was necessary. Your life was not in imminent danger; Aurors could have assisted you with your situation if you had allowed them to."

"Yes, but then the giants would have taken the castle, or destroyed it," pointed out Harry.

"True, but the headmaster has only intervened when your life was in grave peril," responded Snape. "That was not the case here."

"Well, it's sort of a good thing that thought didn't occur to me," said Harry humorously. "There is more to the story, in fact. This is from soon after the battle, when we were visiting Ginny at St. Mungo's." Harry now focused his attention on the memory in which Ginny had explained how she had deceived him.

Snape viewed this memory, eyebrows high at first. He put down his wand, shook his head for a few seconds... then, to Harry's astonishment, started laughing. He laughed for a long time, almost half a minute. Harry knew Snape was laughing at his expense, but he smiled anyway, because he was so happy to see Snape laughing. Snape took a deep breath as his laughter died down. "Excuse me... that probably lasted longer due to the novelty of the sensation," he said, taking another breath. "People say, 'I haven't laughed that much in a long time,' that is probably not truer for anyone more than I.

"I really must remember not to underestimate Miss Weasley in the future. She may be only an average student, but she clearly possesses a native intelligence and imagination far outstripping yours; you would never have thought of doing something like that. The humor may only be apparent to someone who knows you as well as I do, and your slowness to comprehend what she was telling you only made it funnier."

Still smiling, Harry said, "At least I was right about one thing. I did say at one point that if you ever laughed, it would probably be at my expense. I do see the humor in it, of course. And I don't mind you having a laugh, all my other-well, I guess at the time, I was too surprised to think it was funny."

Harry had almost startled himself by having been about to say, 'all my other friends.' Did he really consider Snape a friend? It seemed a very strange notion, but thinking about it for a few seconds, he supposed he did, in a peculiar way. It wasn't something he wanted to say out loud, however. Snape gave him a penetrating look, as though what Harry had been about to say had been obvious, and Snape was curious to observe Harry's own reaction to what he had almost said.

Just then, there was another knock at the door. Snape opened it with his wand, and three house-elves came in, one of them Dobby. "Harry Potter!" he exclaimed breathlessly. "The other house-elves told Dobby that Harry Potter was here, so Dobby had to come. Harry Potter has saved the castle, saved our home, our lives-"

"Your lives?" Harry interrupted, as the elves set up his food. "You could get away at any time-oh, that's right, they were going to deploy the artifact. But you could have used a phoenix to get away."

Dobby shook his head back and forth quickly. "House-elves must not leave their home, even if it is under attack. Many house-elves would have died. Harry Potter is so very heroic and courageous-"

"-and is surely far and away the most outstanding human being born in the history of the planet," said Snape, his sarcasm obvious, "and after a long life as our greatest leader, will be elevated to the foremost spot in the pantheon of gods. You may leave."

Dobby had been bobbing his head approvingly throughout Snape's comment, obviously in complete agreement. "Yes sirs, thank you sirs," said all the elves in chorus, and quickly left.

Harry gave Snape a long-suffering look. "Please don't do that. You said I shouldn't encourage them, and here you do it."

"I said nothing about you, I simply do not want to encourage them myself," Snape pointed out with amusement. Well, I wanted him to be able to enjoy humor, thought Harry. Now I hope he can enjoy some humor that isn't at my expense.

"Ah, I stand corrected," said Harry sarcastically. "But your having said that will make them like you more, since you recognize my obvious greatness."

"I had not considered that," Snape admitted.

"You were having too much fun," suggested Harry, now amused himself. "By the way, I wanted to ask, how is Neville doing in the Potions class?"

"I assume you are not asking about his potion-making skills, which are still subpar, but improving." Harry nodded. "He is doing adequately. He is becoming more comfortable, or perhaps I should say, less uncomfortable. The first time, it was clearly an act of will for him simply to show up. He made several mistakes of the sort he made in the past due to nervousness, but after I demonstrated that I would act tolerantly and not use them as a pretext to abuse him, he made fewer and fewer. I almost wonder whether he unconsciously made the mistakes on purpose to see how I would react."

"I don't know much about psychology, as you know," said Harry. "But I'm glad he's doing better. I know he's trying, I see him and Ron studying it together a lot. They try not to ask Hermione for help unless they really have to."

Harry then asked Snape for his account of his part of the battle, and ate his breakfast as he listened. It still felt strange to be having breakfast with Snape, but it also felt good.

* * * * *

After breakfast, Harry went to Auror headquarters and talked to Kingsley, getting more information about everything that had happened in the battle. They had captured forty-five Dark wizards, only three of whom were Death Eaters; most of the rest had been among those set free from the foreign wizard prisons. Harry wondered whether Voldemort would now try to recruit from the prison populations of the non-English-speaking countries; Kingsley told him that after the prison breaks, security at most wizarding prisons worldwide had been beefed up. Harry asked if the ones they had in custody now would be executed; Kingsley thought they almost certainly would, and that doing so would heavily complicate any future Voldemort recruiting efforts. Harry knew that was true, and tried not to think about it. He then visited Hagrid and Grawp; Grawp's English had significantly improved, and Harry was able to have a basic conversation with him, to Hagrid's obvious pride.

As he left the Forbidden Forest-due to Grawp's presence, they couldn't talk in Hagrid's hut-he was approached by Dennis Creevey. "Harry, could I talk to you for a minute?" asked Dennis anxiously.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I was wondering if you could talk to Colin. He seems really depressed."

"Do you know why?" asked Harry. Colin was usually cheerful, Harry knew.

"He won't really talk, but we-Andrea and I-think we know why. We think it's because he didn't join the battle. Our parents told him not to, and he's not seventeen, but we think that's why."

Harry had no idea that Colin hadn't joined the battle; he hadn't stopped to notice who had and who hadn't. "He might just need some time to work it through. But I'll go say hello to him, see if he's in the mood to talk. Where is he?"

"Ron looked on the map for me," said Dennis. "He's in the Quidditch stands, sitting in his usual spot for announcing the matches."

"Well, that's going to make my finding him a little more conspicuous," Harry joked. "But at least we'll be able to talk privately. Okay, I'll go there now."

"Thanks," said Dennis.

Harry walked off toward the stadium. As he walked, he glanced over at the lake, and saw someone sitting under the tree that both he and Ernie had sat under; a closer look told him it was Justin. Harry took a deep breath, as he felt Ernie's loss more keenly than he had since hearing about it. Imagining how it affected Justin, he guessed that Justin felt how he would feel if Ron had been killed. Harry considered walking over and sitting with Justin, but what could he say? No words about how worthwhile Ernie's sacrifice was would help, Harry was sure; no words at all would help. Continuing on his way to the Quidditch stadium, Harry sent his feelings and an image of Justin to Hermione. She responded a few seconds later, letting him know that she would look for Susan on the map, so she could be with Justin if she thought it would help.

A few minutes later, Harry entered the stadium and walked to where Colin usually sat. Colin finally looked up and saw Harry as he climbed the last ten steps to get to where Colin was.

Colin gave Harry a quizzical look, obviously wondering why he was there. "Just felt like going for a walk," said Harry casually.

Colin chuckled. "At least you're not trying to fool anyone. Who sent you?"

"Dennis."

Colin shook his head. "So, I feel bad for not being very brave, and he sends the bravest person in England to talk to me. Good job, Dennis."

"He means well, Colin. But I can leave-"

"No, I didn't mean that. I know he doesn't want me to feel bad, he said it at the Ministry while we were waiting. It's just kind of ironic."

"He told me that your parents told you not to go."

"Yeah, and then he volunteered to go. That didn't make me feel much better."

"You did what your parents wanted you to do; you're not seventeen. That makes it the right thing to have done."

"Harry, at least four sixth year Gryffindors who aren't seventeen went even though their parents told them not to. There must be some difference between me and them."

"Would you have gone if your parents had said you could?" asked Harry.

"I think so," admitted Colin. "I hope so. But that's not what happened, so it's hard to say. It's also not easier because... I do think one of the reasons I didn't go anyway is that I don't think I would have been that much help. I'm not a good flier, and I'm not that good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, you know that. I know the spells okay, I just can't do them as well as a lot of people can. It was easy to talk myself into not going, for that reason. But I can't get rid of the idea that I was just too much of a coward to go."

Harry could see the misery Colin was in, and he felt for him. "Colin, last year after Hogsmeade, I had a conversation like this with Ernie. He felt bad that he didn't join the Diffusion to save me. This year... he may have been Head Boy, but he wasn't that good a flier, and was below average in Defense Against the Dark Arts. But today, he went anyway."

Colin sighed. "And now he's dead, is your point."

"That's part of my point, yes," agreed Harry. "That was the risk, a very real one. And even though some went when they shouldn't have, that doesn't change the fact that it wasn't really your decision to make; it was your parents', and you did what you were supposed to do. Think about how they would have felt if you'd gone and been killed."

"I know," said Colin, nodding. "I talked to Cindy while we were waiting, she told me about the talk you had with her. The seven of us-the seven sixth years who didn't go-felt kind of conspicuous, and some of us talked to each other. None of us felt good about not going. I know what you said to her, I see the point. It's just hard for me to change the way I feel about it."

"It may just take some time," Harry suggested.

"I don't know," said Colin disconsolately.

As they sat in silence, Harry not sure of what more to say, he wondered whether he should have waited longer to talk to Colin. I guess I'm not cut out to be a counselor, he thought. He looked at Colin and said, "Well, just keep in mind that I don't blame you, and I think you shouldn't blame yourself. I'm just glad you're still here."

"Thanks," said Colin. With a straight face, he added, "You go on ahead, I'll stay here and practice my Quidditch announcing."

Harry smiled. "Not that you need it, your announcing's very good. But you can work on more ways to give us positional information."

Colin chuckled. "I'll do that." Harry stood, and gave Colin's shoulder a squeeze, then patted it, and started down the steps.

* * * * *

A week later, on Sunday evening, Harry entered the Gryffindor common room and sat with the others, who were already working on homework. "What kept you?" asked Ginny, taking his hand as he sat. "You said you'd be here in a few minutes, and that was ten minutes ago."

"It was kind of a surprise," he said, keeping his voice down. "Corner stopped me, he wanted to apologize for last week, the Quidditch match."

"He apologized to you, but not to me?" asked Ginny indignantly.

"He said it was to both of us, he said to tell you," said Harry. "I think it probably would have been harder to do it with you, since you used to date him."

"Like I care about that anymore," she scoffed. "I'd be surprised if he does. But I guess it was probably hard for him to do it at all. Did he say anything except for that?"

"Basically, just that he was mad about being scored on so much, and that he still doesn't think it's fair, even though he knows it's the school rule. He admitted that he thought that I bought your Firebolt for Quidditch, that I just liked to spend money extravagantly to show off that I had it. But he said he changed his mind after the battle, that he understood what it was for, and that you and Ron were very important to that. And that the battle kind of put the Quidditch thing in perspective for him. That was pretty much it, I think. I was checking him, he was sincere."

"Well, that was good of him," said Hermione, seemingly hoping to encourage Ginny to accept the apology as Harry had.

"Would've been better if he'd made sure he talked to both of us, but yes, I suppose so," she said grudgingly.

"By the way, Neville's not here because he just got called by Professor McGonagall," said Hermione.

"I know, I passed him on the way, he was following the cat," said Harry. "I looked at him, and he just did this," he added, imitating Neville's shrug.

"I think I know why she called him," said Hermione excitedly. "She has to appoint another Head Boy, I think she's considering him."

"She waited the week out of respect for Ernie, I take it," said Ron.

Hermione nodded. "I assume so. But I hope Neville gets it, that would be so great."

Harry agreed, as Ginny asked, "By the way, did the Slytherin second years ever get punished for joining the battle?"

"Well, I know that McGonagall gave them all a ten-minute lecture on how irresponsible and dangerous it was, how the fact that Fawkes was willing to take them didn't make it all right, and so on," said Harry, having heard about it from Hedrick. "She told them that if it was up to her, they'd get a month's worth of detentions, but that it was up to Snape."

"And what'd he do?" asked Ginny.

Harry smiled. "He gave them one detention each."

The others were amazed. "Boy, he sure showed them," joked Ron. "They ought to kiss your feet for giving him his other half back."

"I can do without the feet-kissing, but yes, I think that had something to do with it," said Harry. "I didn't ask him about it, but he talked to them a little during the detention. He said that what they did 'was not a very Slytherin thing to do,' but that they had the right idea. They told me that their impression was that he was easy on them because they were trying to help me, and because they were doing something to fight Voldemort, which Snape really approves of."

"Wow," marveled Ron.

"I think that about sums it up," agreed Hermione.

They got down to their homework, until Neville arrived twenty minutes later. In response to Hermione's inquiring glance, he said, "She called me in to tell me that she seriously considered me for Head Boy," shaking his head in wonder at the thought. "She said she felt I deserved it, and some other nice things. But she decided to give it to Justin. She said he was a very good candidate too, and that since the job came open because of Ernie's death, she wanted to keep it in Hufflepuff."

"I can see that," said Hermione reluctantly, "especially since Hufflepuff lost two seventh years, Ernie and Jonathan. It's been a pretty hard week for Justin and the other two. Justin never cared about being Head Boy, but I have a feeling he'll take it seriously because he's taking over for his friend. But you did deserve it, Neville. I'm sorry you didn't get it."

"Well, I feel like it was an honor just to be considered for it," said Neville, "and to have her say the things she did. I was really proud, and I know Gran would have been too."

"She was proud of you for who you were, not what you did," said Harry.

"After she died, yes," agreed Neville. "This has been a year of 'almosts' for me, I was thinking on the way back here. Almost made Head Boy, almost chosen by a phoenix... come on, you know I'm not complaining," he protested to Hermione's wounded look. "It was just an interesting coincidence."

"You know I still feel kind of bad about that, that she chose me and not you," said Hermione sadly.

"I wish you wouldn't, and yes, I know you can't," said Neville. To the others, he added, "We've had this conversation ten times, or variations of it. She still feels bad, and nothing I can say can change that."

"Well, Neville, there's another way to look at the 'almost' thing, if it makes you feel any better," said Ron. "Almost killed, almost had a huge rift in your relationship..."

"Almost lost my head and tried to torture someone into insanity," Neville added thoughtfully, keeping his voice down. "Good point, sometimes it's better if the almosts don't happen."

And I almost got Voldemort, thought Harry, though he knew better than to say it out loud. It would seem too self-pitying, and he didn't want the others to feel they should have to reassure him that he'd done enough. When Voldemort is no longer a threat, he thought, then I'll have done enough. I don't care if it's just him alone, or him with Lucius Malfoy, or him with an army. I have to find him, I have to get him. And I will.

* * * * *

One of the consequences of the battle was that killed or captured Dark wizards left behind many brooms on the battlefield, including twenty-eight Firebolts. Since both Aurors and Hogwarts students had fought in the battle, Kingsley suggested that they divide them equally, but McGonagall declined, citing the Aurors' greater need for them. Kingsley agreed to take twenty-two, increasing the Aurors' total of Firebolts to forty, which was enough for eight more Aurors than they currently had. McGonagall kept the other six, and two weeks after the battle, arranged to trade two of them for eighteen used Nimbus 2001's. To Snape's outrage, she then distributed six each to the Heads of House of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, along with one Firebolt to each House. Starting next year, she announced, each team would use six Nimbus 2001's and one Firebolt for the Seeker, and private brooms would no longer be allowed. At the same time, she said, the brooms were not to be used at all until the next year, as some matches had already been played under the old system, and that it wasn't appropriate to change the rules in mid-season.

Two weeks after the attack on Hogwarts, the forty-five captured in the attack were executed. At Harry's urging, and, Harry assumed, Madeline's, Bright did not review all of the condemned with Legilimens himself, but he did do a third of them, most of them from America or Australia. He reported to Harry that, disturbingly, some of these people had never killed, and had been convicted of non-violent crimes such as theft. With more qualms than before, Bright allowed the executions to proceed, since these people could be broken out as well. Harry pointed out that Voldemort could simply start breaking people out of other countries' wizarding prisons, and they would be forced to capture and kill them, too. Bright said he felt in was unlikely, and that the same reasoning that applied to killing the other ones applied to this situation as well. Harry again considered speaking out against it, and again decided not to. Bright assured Harry that all had willingly allied themselves with Voldemort, and that tipped the balance for Harry against opposing it.

At the end of February, Harry conducted his semi-monthly energy-of-love testing. To his delight, if not his surprise, Hedrick reached 100, as did Augustina. Eight students in all developed the ability to use the energy of love, six of them Hufflepuffs: two third year girls, two fifth year girls, and Justin and Susan. Harry was very pleased; not as many were getting it as he would have liked, but when he recalled that before the year began he had worried that few or no students would learn it, eleven seemed like a lot. The younger Hufflepuffs' success in particular stirred more interest in study groups.

March was a very quiet month, both at Hogwarts and in the wizarding world in general. There were no more Death Eater attacks; except for the battle, Death Eaters had caused no deaths in the new year so far. In mid-March, the Prophet ran an article suggesting that Voldemort was, for all practical purposes, defeated, and it contained quotes from an anonymous Ministry source supporting the notion. True to his word, Bright identified the source (using Legilimens, Harry was sure), and made it clear that his career would take a dramatic turn for the worse if he ever again did anything similar. The next day's main article emphasized the Ministry's, and the Aurors', continuing determination to track down and eliminate Voldemort. Still, the wizarding world was starting to relax. In a way, Harry was glad that people were no longer terrified, but hoped that their vigilance and support for the effort to get rid of Voldemort wouldn't wane. Dentus had told him that many people's memories were short; Harry hoped they weren't that short.

In the evening of the fourth Monday of March, Harry and the other five were sitting on the conjured carpet in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Ron and Neville were talking about their private Potions classes with Snape, which had been joined from the beginning by Justin, Susan, and Terry, all of whom had to persuade Snape that they wanted to become Aurors. The conversation turned to the topic of them becoming Aurors.

"So, do you think all five of us will manage it?" Ron asked Neville.

"I don't see why not," said Neville. "Everyone seems serious about it, and not just because they volunteered to take Potions from Snape. It would be good if we all make it; within three years we'd be back up to thirty-seven, assuming no one retires. Thirty-eight, if Harry joins. Still no idea yet, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "For some reason, I'd rather put it off as long as possible. I'm not sure anything has changed in how I look at it; I sort of wish I could do both."

"Well, you know you can be a part-time Auror if you stay on at Hogwarts," said Neville. "But I guess you mean you wish you could do both full-time. I thought maybe the eight 100's last month might have pushed you a bit more to stay."

"Pansy's mostly responsible for four of the eleven we've had so far," pointed out Harry. "I could go be an Auror, she could stay and teach special classes on the energy of love."

"First of all, it's more you than me, and you know it, so don't argue with me," Pansy said, mock-sternly. "We don't know how good I'd be at teaching it to people who didn't have a lot of affection for me already. And secondly, I already have other career plans anyway."

"Really? What?" asked Harry.

"Did I never tell you?" she asked, surprised. "I think everyone else already knows. I decided early this year that I want to be a Healer. After Hogwarts, I'm going to take the graduate course they offer at St. Mungo's; it takes three years. Professor McGonagall told me that she talked to Healer Haspberg, and she's sure I can get into the course. Healer Haspberg said she'd be interested to see how the energy of love would work when applied to Healing."

"Wow... no, I had no idea," said Harry, slightly embarrassed that the others had known, but not him. "That sounds great."

"Yes, it's a really good idea," agreed Ginny.

Pansy chuckled. "I know why you think that." To Harry, she explained, "The first time I told her, she said it was good, because if any of your children had problems, she could just go straight to me."

"Yes, I've already explained why it would be good for her to specialize in Healing children," said Ginny helpfully.

"She means, of course, that I should specialize in Healing Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley's children," said Pansy, with a smile at Ginny. "I already told her, it's not as though I wouldn't do that anyway. Your children are never going to suffer from a lack of being looked after, I'm very sure."

"Not with Mum around," said Ginny. "She'd be going crazy just hearing us talk about this. I can only imagine what she's going to be like when she has an actual grandchild."

"It'll be something to see," agreed Ron.

Neville tilted his head. "Did you hear something?"

"No, what?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know, just a little noise." Neville shrugged. "Maybe I imagined it."

"So, Neville," asked a smiling Ginny, "What do you two think, about kids?"

Neville and Hermione looked at each other. "We are interested in having them," said Neville, "but there are practical issues. We're both going to have careers, so we would have to work that out. I'm sure Hermione's parents would like to look after children sometimes, but they both have careers too."

"I'm sure you both know, Mum would love to," Ginny assured them. "Even though they wouldn't exactly be her grandchildren, she..."

Ginny trailed off as something small and brown dashed between her and Pansy, stopping in the center of the circle formed by the six of them. As it nervously darted its head from side to side, Harry saw that it was an old-looking, beaten-up brown rat, with a tattered left ear... and a silver right front paw.