"Lord Potter… are you sure this is a good idea?" Amelia Bones asked as Harry finished handing out new shields, swords and arrows to the assembled Centaurs. Several other wizards and witches were also carrying the circular shields and hefting them thoughtfully.
"My family magic isn't affected by the new Wards." Harry stated. "I have to be part of the assault since I'm currently the heaviest hitter you have."
"He's right." Albus agreed almost sadly as he hefted his staff to test its balance. "Between the Centaurs and those of us who can use magic without wands, we outnumber them, but they can use wands and we cannot. Lord Potter is our primary asset in this situation."
Bones gave an angry nod.
"We are ready." Bane declared as the Centaurs finished forming up. "These arrows will do as you say?"
"The runes on the tip will breach most shields and should they hit someone, it will Stun them." Harry confirmed. "I had them made after last year's… incident in case Hogwarts was ever attacked. I didn't expect to have to need them to attack Hogwarts."
"We shall use them carefully." Bane confirmed.
"Everyone ready?" Harry asked and at the rumble of confirmation, he raised one hand, manifesting the Lor and Ul symbols. As everyone stared, he touched the closest symbol, opening a portal straight through the Wards and to a point half-way to the castle.
"Charge!" Bane commanded, waving his sword in the air and the centaurs flooded through the portal, splitting into groups as their hooves hit the path to the castle and spreading out to deny their enemies the chance to simply fly away. in their wake, the witches and wizards followed, staffs ready for use as needed while several birds soared above them.
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"Lord Potter is leading an assault." Jor-El reported quietly, causing Hermione, Ginny and Neville to exchange glances and nods.
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The first sign that Alecto Carrow had that something was wrong was when her brother was tackled by a ballistic bear, the impact ripping him off his broom and bouncing him off one of the rafters on his way down.
"What the…" Alecto gasped, lifting her wand ready to cast something, only for her vision to be obstructed by a massive fanged mouth set in an orange blur. Claws latched onto her shoulders and Alecto tumbled to the unforgiving flagstones below.
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Reverting from his ape form, Neville didn't waste even a second.
"Barricade the doors! Help is on its way, but we need to do all we can to stay safe! Barricade now!"
As the teachers and students began to move, Neville moved to where Hermione was staring in shock at the motionless body of the witch she had landed on.
"I've got this." Parvati stated as she hustled past, gathering Hermione into a hug while across the other side of the room, Fred, George, Ron and Percy were gathered around Ginny with Fred and George using torn strips of their outer robes to tie up the injured wizard that Ginny had knocked down.
Grabbing Alecto's wand, Neville braced himself as he pointed it at Hagrid.
"Finite Incantatem!"
The wave of pain almost caused him to collapse, but the spell worked, the ropes holding Hagrid vanishing.
"I got you." Professor Sprout moved to catch Neville as he staggered. "Everyone, help barricade the doors! Now!"
.
"We're being attacked!" Peter shouted and the five Obscurials stared at him in shock. "They're trying to stop us by killing the children in the Hall!"
The Five scrambled out of the window, using their otherforms to reach the ground in front of the incoming rescuers. Behind them, the main doors were flung open as Voldemort strode forwards, leading his army.
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"They're children…" Albus mourned as the five brightly-clad Obscurials clenched their fists.
"Everyone, try and reach the Wardstone." Harry commanded as his runes formed around him. "Get past Voldie and his crew. I have the Obscurials."
"Are you…" Albus trailed off in shock as Harry seemed to blur forwards, sending the oldest boy flying backwards, then he used a paired rune to hurl a second one back with a strong gust of wind.
"He's got this." Aberforth confirmed, jamming his staff against the ground as he shielded against the incoming spells. "We need to get to the Wardstone and take it down!"
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"Not good." Draco mused as he watched from the balcony.
"We should help them." Nott noted and Draco nodded slowly.
"Yes… yes… find the others. Have them meet me at the… second floor gallery off the main stairs. That will be the best place for us to attack from without putting ourselves in danger from their return fire."
Nott winced as, below them, Dumbledore unleashed a staff-fired spell that impacted on one of Voldemort's followers, turning them into a lightning-laced explosion that killed two others and wounded at least three more.
"Right!"
Draco watched him go, then stroked his dragonhide belt again.
"I hope this works…" He muttered to himself.
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Harry spun and jumped as the Obscurials tried to swarm him. Imbuing his feet and fists with magic so that they were surrounded with coronas of energy, he blocked and punched the twisting cloud-forms, occasionally briefly forcing them to revert to solidity as they tried to recover from his attacks. Whenever their assaults slackened, he would fire several spells at Voldemort, forcing him to dodge and block until the Obscurials returned to engage him in combat once more.
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"Albus." Gellert moved away from the group, wand at the ready and Albus copied his actions, staff ready to shield or blast as needed. "It has been a while, my old friend."
"It has indeed, Gellert." Albus agreed sadly. "It is not too late. You can still atone…"
"I have nothing to atone for!" Gellert snapped, his voice filled with cold fury. "You are the one who should atone… for causing the death of your sister if nothing else! Such power… wasted!"
Albus' expression set. "Do not speak like that of Arianna, Gellert."
"And why not?" Gellert fired a probing spell at Albus, only for his old friend to use his staff to absorb it. "Just because she jumped in the way of the spell that I fired at you…"
Gellert paused as the area around him and Albus seemed to freeze.
"All these years I did not know which of us had fired the spell that ended her life." Albus ground out, his magic seemingly manifesting in an aura around him. "All these years, I feared it had been I who slew her in my unthinking rage. Thank you for putting my mind at peace… old friend!"
Gellert dived to one side, shielding for all he was worth as a blast slammed through the space he had been occupying, a blast so powerful that even its mere proximity shattered his protections and sent him bouncing across the ground. Gasping for air, he pulled himself to his knees, then he stared at the sight of Albus raising his staff again, debris circling him as a mere side-effect of the power he was channeling, power enhanced by the phoenix now riding his shoulder.
"Scheisse!"
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"Shield and move!" Voldemort shouted as he dodged a blast launched at him by the barman of the Hog's Head. "You're more mobile, use it!"
Matching deeds to words, Voldemort rose into the air, only to crash down heavily as a stooping bird raked its talons across his head. As he pulled himself back up to his feet, he grinned mirthlessly at the sight of Aberforth shielding himself from a near-solid barrage of spells being fired from the windows of Hogwarts.
His sense of triumph was cut short when a tall red-head used a staff of his own to unleash another blast at him, this one comprised mainly of lightning.
"Why in Merlin's name did I never decide to learn how to use a Staff?" Voldemort grumbled to himself as he created a shield to block the powerful attack. "Once this is over, I will get my own Staff and learn how to use it!"
The attack finally faded and Voldemort fired several blasts of his own, then he paused.
"How did she just block that?" He mused, then a rumbling noise made him glance sideways before he rocketed upwards as fast as he could, managing to dodge the slash from the longsword wielded by a galloping centaur, a slash that would have bisected him.
"Loose!"
Spinning round, Voldemort cast a shield to protect himself from the volley of arrows, only for them to pass through the shield as if it wasn't there. Only the fact he was wearing dragonskin robes saved him from being turned into a pincushion.
"What is going on here?" He growled as he flew higher to avoid the arrows, then once again, he was sent tumbling by raking talons.
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A flicker out of the corner of his eye caused Draco to turn and look at the Entrance Hall, but there was nothing to see and he turned back to fire another salvo of spells at the attackers.
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Luna flapped her wings for more speed as she flew down the passage that led to the Wardstone Chamber. As the door loomed ahead, she backwinged to a near-stop and then reverted, landing lightly on the ground even as she pulled her staff out of the sheath on the small of her back, a sheath that was far larger on the inside in a manner similar to her wand-holster.
Twisting one end-cap, she grinned as a slightly-curved blade appeared, one that had non-human runes running up the spine. Raising it, she swung it down so that the blade went between the two wooden doors, carving effortlessly through the magic-enhanced bar that locked it closed.
.
The tree exploded as Harry was sent flying through it. Almost half the resulting debris was further shredded as the Obscurials pursued their quarry. Harry managed to slide to a halt on his feet and one hand, straightening up just in time for a tentacle of chaotic magic to slam into him, knocking him off-balance again.
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Aberforth and Bill Weasley concentrated on holding firm as the incoming storm of spells skipped and coruscated along the edges of their shields.
"I hope… Albus… makes it…" Bill managed to state through his clenched teeth and Aberforth nodded in unwilling agreement, then suddenly an avalanche of muscle and scales rumbled past and the spellfire stopped.
"Sssusss… Potter's Basilisk." Aberforth gasped in recognition. "Damn, it's big."
"We need to help her!" Bill ran forwards even as SssSthss flinched from a spell that gouged into her flank.
"Help the giant monster. Right." Aberforth grumbled as he lurched after the Cursebreaker.
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As the hawk that had been attacking him fell towards the ground, its feathers aflame, Voldemort finally looked down and his eyes widened.
"Damn it!" He hissed. "Half my forces, already dead… but at least I have a chance to reclaim my monster and then… what the hell?"
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Draco jolted as the feel of magic around them changed.
"What was that?" Nott yelped.
.
"The Wards are down!"
At Amelia Bones' triumphant shout, the massed witches and wizards charged through the gates of Hogwarts or flew overhead on brooms in a cloud so dense that they seemed to block the sky.
.
"The Wards are down." Draco sighed as he saw the mob charging towards Hogwarts in a wave of spellfire that seemed to swallow Voldemort whole. "Hang on…"
Draco undid his belt and held it out.
"Everyone, take hold. This is a Portkey that I asked Gellert to make for me. I made plans for if things should go wrong. Everyone holding on? Good. Blood Triumphs!"
The students vanished.
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Albus stood over the body of one who had once been his closest friend and his greatest enemy. Using his staff for support, he slowly knelt down and closed Gellert's sightless eyes.
"May you find a world that you can live peacefully in, old friend." He murmured, tears trickling down his cheeks. "And wherever you are now, know this…
"I always loved you…
"Always…"