𝙻𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 II SS/HG ✔️

The Battle

People who have read HP: DH recently will recognize several quotes taken directly from the source.

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Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed Neville down the secret tunnel from the Hog's Head bar. Anything that their wand light didn't touch was a claustrophobic dark in this roughhewn corridor. As they walked, Neville explained what they all had missed in their absence—how almost all of the Army had sequestered themselves away in the Room just to get away from the Carrows and the Knights of Walpurgis. The tunnel floor slanted upwards to meet a doorway. Neville, then Harry, then Ron, and finally Hermione tumbled out of the tunnel onto a tiny platform. The brightly lit Room of Requirement was packed with students cheering and stamping their feet and whooping.

"Are we gonna take back the school?" Seamus asked, all smiles.

Pushing his way to the front, Colin asked, "Did you really ride a dragon?"

Ginny elbowed up right behind him. She and Harry locked eyes for a moment. Then Harry snapped into action.

"Guys—he's coming. You all need to leave."

Hermione was struck by how silent the room got. The only noise was the squeak of trainers or the shuffle of uniforms.

"You mad, mate?" Seamus asked. "We're stayin' to fight."

"Not all of you," Ron ordered. "You're seventeen, you can choose to stay. Everyone younger?" He pointed down the tunnel. "Out."

Hermione whipped around, wand drawn—someone was coming through the tunnel.

"Dean!" Seamus shouted. Dean clapped Hermione and Harry on the back, then hopped from the edge of the platform to stand next to Seamus.

Fred and George came out next, with Lee just behind.

"Settle a bet," Fred said as he turned around. He hopped backwards from the ledge. "Was that you three on the dragon or not?"

"Guys, please—you don't have to be here," Harry insisted.

"We want to be," Luna said, calm as you please. George held up his hands to help her down from the tunnel.

"You're blocking the way, little bro," Bill said as he leaned under the low ceiling of the tunnel. He and Fleur held hands to hop down.

Harry clutched his scar.

A cold, clear voice declared in Hermione's head—in everyone's head: "I know that you are preparing to fight."

Several kids screamed.

"Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood."

There was a terrible pause. Nobody moved. Nobody even seemed to breathe.

The voice hissed in their ears again: "Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded."

Hermione cracked open one of her eyes; it seemed the witches were more effected by this blanket hex than the wizards.

"You have thirty minutes," Voldemort's spectral voice concluded.

The pressure in her head disappeared as rapidly as it had come on, her eardrums almost popping.

Ron leaned over to Harry. "Mate, no one's leavin'. Just—let it be, okay? I'll get the kids out."

Hermione turned to the crowd. "First-years, let's go." She clapped her hands and the kids she had tutored came to the front. They were certainly more eager to go than they had been previously.