Heaven ♡ Luna Lovegood

17.

Chapter Seventeen;

Everything was chaos.

The first half of the battle had been easier. Throwing Mandrakes from the roof, controlling Devil's Snare and Snargaluff pods. The screams from the Death Eaters could be heard from the Tower as they fought Devil's Snare and tried to rip Snargaluff pods from their heads.

Even from the Astronomy Tower the sounds of battle could be heard. After they'd run out of plants they'd been shooting spells from their ideal strategic location; none of the Death Eaters were able to sufficiently retaliate against them from their high position.

But the game changed when the Death Eaters brought Giants into the mix, and they began to target those in towers.

"Best get down below, we're easy targets here!" Professor Sprout bellowed, and without further ado Annie and the others rushed from the tower; screams filled the air as a giant swiped out at the Tower causing the roof to collapse. Annie coughed and screamed, "Arresto Momentum!" at the debris incoming toward her, which allowed her and several others to scramble out of the way before it collapse. Dust filled her eyes and her lungs as she coughed, blindly making her way back down the stairs. Her grip on her wand was so tight that she could feel her palm become sweaty.

They hardly got a moment's break as they burst out of the staircase and straight into another battle. Annie quickly cast a shield charm, and just in time too, for a jinx had been headed her way. She dashed forward and joined the fray, finding herself side-by-side with Anthony Goldstein and Susan Bones as they faced off against their own individual Death Eaters.

Annie fired jinxes and sidestepped them, got hit by some and landed hits. She couldn't keep track of everything; there were too many screams and crashes and bursts of light, too much taunting laughter and cries of despair, too much dust in the air and too much confusion. Whatever Death Eater she managed to bring down, she managed to find another one later. She fought next to several others, but couldn't recall her faces. Sweat streamed down her face and her nose was bloody from where she'd been hit with a curse, and she had one thought in mind:

Attack. Defend. Protect Hogwarts and the people inside, defeat Death Eaters and dark creatures that were their enemies.

There were just so many of them; it was almost like fighting a hydra, especially since the numbers of the defenders of Hogwarts continued to drop rapidly.

This was the Battle of Hogwarts.

Annie didn't see how they were going to get through it unscathed.

+++

"You have fought, valiantly. Lord Voldemort's knows how to value bravery.

"Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blonde spilled is a terrible waste.

"Lord Voldemort's is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately.

"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your wounded.

"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then the battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you for me. One hour."