Harry stared down the cult as they continued to trade spells back and forth. Professor Quirrell was down. He took a bludgeoning curse to the head early on, and wasn't moving. Professor Trelawney had taken cover behind the teacher's table and he hadn't seen her since, and finally Professor Kettleburn was on the ground bleeding out after taking a diffindo curse to the neck. It sent a chill down his spine, knowing that without the aid of a healer, he would soon be dead.
Professor's Green and McGonagall were still in the fight, but Professor Sinistra was clearly exhausted. It was only a matter of time before a spell broke through her defenses and took her out of the fight.
The students weren't fairing any better, many of them either tied up, or on the ground unmoving. There were still a few fighting back, but they were severely outclassed and dropping fast.
To make matters worse, the wizards he and the professors faced down were much better trained than the ones he faced off against with Tonks at the entrance to the chamber. They were also considerably more powerful, confirming his suspicions they had also undergone the ritual.
'Where the hell is she?' Harry thought desperately, remembering how Tonks said the Unspeakables were watching, and would step in to help once the battle started.
Harry winced, seeing Professor Sinistra go down to a Bombarda. The explosion curse slipping through her defense, and hitting her squarely in the chest. He knew he had to do something, but with all the cover fire the cult lay down, it was difficult to mount any kind of offensive.
"Protego Maxima!" Harry shouted, putting as much magic as he could into his spell, giving Professors McGonagall and Green a much needed reprieve.
"It's not looking good," Olivia panted as the alumni rained down spell after spell on Harry's shield in an attempt to shatter it.
"Avis!" Minerva shouted, creating a flock of bird in front of Harry's shield, using them to take some of the strain off Harry. "Aim high," she said, remembering being in a similar situation during the war. "Most of the students are already down, so there isn't much risk of hitting them anymore."
"It won't be enough," Harry said, gritting his teeth as his shield cracked under the constant barrage of spell fire. "There's too many of them."
"If you have a better suggestion, Mr. Potter, I'd like to hear it," Minerva said, regarding the first year.
"Cover me," Harry said, knowing this would be a risk, but didn't see a way out of it. "Lay down enough spells to keep them busy. It doesn't matter what spells, just make sure they have to either dodge or put up shields to stop them."
"What are you going to do, Harry?" Olivia asked, not liking the look in her student's eyes one bit.
"We need to split them up," Harry explained, staring down the five wizards as they took turns firing spells at his shield, giving each other time to rest between spells and conserve their magic. "We go as soon as my shield breaks," he said grimly.
Harry pulled in the free magic around him, which had grown rapidly with all the high-powered spells flying back and forth.
"Be careful, Harry," Merlin warned, knowing what Harry was preparing to do. "This is going to hurt, and you won't be able to keep it up for very long."
'How long?' Harry thought, planning out his offensive.
"Less than thirty seconds… if you're lucky," Merlin replied.
Harry sighed mentally, having hoped for longer.
"You haven't trained enough for this, Harry," Merlin explained. "You're body just isn't ready to take this kind of strain."
'I know,' Harry thought back grimly. 'But we're out of time,' he thought as his shield shattered.
Instead of using the magic he'd pulled in to launch another spell, he sent it to his legs, feeling his muscles spasm before he surged forward, moving faster than humanly possible.
He could hear the stone floor crack beneath his feet with each step he took, already feeling the pain Merlin described radiating up his legs as he struggled to find the right balance of speed and power to avoid hurting himself.
As he sprinted forward he used the iron skin technique on his arms and legs, protecting his bones from shattering as they impacted the ground.
He amped up his perception at the same time, making it feel like everything around him was moving in slow motion. It was what he training for, using all the abilities he learned from Merlin at the same time. He just hoped that he could survive it.
He saw the Alumni leader's eyes widen as he surged forward, all five of them aiming their wands at him now. He ducked and twisted around their spells, trusting Professor's McGonagall and Green to deal with them as he continued to move forward.
He didn't dare pull his wand, afraid that he would shatter it with his enhanced strength as he closed the gap between himself and Alumni.
With a hard shove, he sent one of them flying over the heads of a few students laying on the ground, sending them crashing into the wall with a sickening thud.
Pressing his advantage, he turned on his heel, slamming his forearm into the chest of the next closest Alumni, taking him off his feet, and slamming him into the ground hard. After taking down two of them in the span of a heartbeat, he turned to face the remaining three to continue his attack.
The remaining Alumni recognized the danger they were in, and quickly scattered, blindly firing spells behind them as they all went in separate directions to make it that much harder for Harry to target them.
Harry ducked the first spell, then slapped the second and third away with the palm of his hand, coating it in iron skin just before the spells impacted.
Harry set his jaw, fighting through the pain. His muscles were practically screaming in agony. The pain was almost debilitating, but he pressed forward, grabbing the robes of one of the remaining Alumni tightly in his fist as he pulled, sending him flying back toward Professor McGonagall and Green.
He heard them both shout stupefy, seeing the twin jets of red light out of the corner of his eye as he calculated their trajectory, confirming they would hit their target.
He moved forward to engage the last one, but dropped to his knees instead, the pain of continuing the technique proving too much as his muscles spasmed, and he let out a scream of agony.
At the sound of Harry's pain filled scream there was a lull in the battle, as everyone still fighting looked in his direction, seeing the bodies littered around him. The students in awe, and the attackers in shock as they reevaluated the state of the battle.
"Mr. Potter!" Minerva said, running forward to check on her student. "Are you alright?" She asked, kneeling down to check on him while Olivia kept her wand trained on their attackers wearily.
Harry groaned, trying to get back on his feet only for his knees to buckle again. "I will be," he said through gritted teeth, trying to stand again.
"No, stay down," Minerva said, putting her hand on Harry's shoulder. "Whatever you just did…" she trailed off, having no idea how he even pulled off what he did. "You're hurt."
"She's right," Merlin said. "There are micro tears in the muscles of both your legs, and you arm. You put too much magic into the technique. I'm accelerating your cell division to help you get back on your feet, but this is a patch job," he warned. "You're not going to be 100%"
'How long?' Harry thought, mentally reviewing his use of the technique, seeing where he went wrong.
"A few more minutes," Merlin explained. "I have to use your body fat, what little there is of it to do this, but if you do it again, I'll have to break down your muscle to fuel the repairs."
'Got it,' Harry thought back, surprised by how much more painful the process was than he expected.
"What did you expect?" Merlin thought back sarcastically. "I told you before, your body isn't ready for something like this. That pain you're feeling, that's your body literally breaking down from the strain."
"I'll be ok professor," Harry said through gritted teeth. "I just need a few minutes to recover."
Minerva nodded. "Alright, Mr. Potter, but when this is all over, we're going to have a long chat about all of this."
"You got that right," Olivia said, casting a shield to block a stray spell.
"Hey!" Daphne whispered, grabbing Lee Jordan's leg.
"What?" Lee said, looking up in surprise at the Slytherin girl hiding underneath the table.
"Keep your voice down," Daphne whispered. "Do you want them to see us?" She admonished, looking back at him pointedly.
"Sorry," Lee whispered back, darting his eyes around to make sure he hadn't drawn the attention of the Alumni.
"I need your help," Daphne said, casting a worried glance at Marcus Flint. "He's hurt bad. I can't stop the bleeding on my own."
Lee looked at Flint, seeing the blood pouring from his head. The second year Slytherin was no friend of his, especially with how often they butted heads during their Quidditch matches, but their rivalry was the furthest thing from his mind as he looked down at the pool of blood around Flint's head.
"I want to help," he said earnestly. "Can you get me out of this?"
"Finite Incantatem," Daphne whispered, pointing her wand at the third year.
As the ropes dissolved, Lee stayed low to the ground, crawling under the table as he looked over Flint.
"How long has he been out?" Lee asked.
"Draco said it happened when the gargoyle exploded," Daphne replied.
"That's not good," Lee said, shaking his head. "He's lost too much blood already," he added, seeing how pale Flint was. "Let's try Episkey together," he suggested.
"Episkey," they both said, watching as the minor healing spells did its work, closing the wound a little more, but worryingly, it still continue to bleed.
"It's no good," Lee said, shaking his head. "The spell was never meant to heal these kinds of injuries."
"We can't just leave him like this," Daphne said, shaken by the thought of watching one of her house mates die in front of her.
"We'll do what we can," Lee promised. "Ferula," he waved his wand, conjuring a set of bandages to cover Flint's head.
"Keep your hand here," he instructed, placing Daphne's hand over Flint's wound. "Press down firmly. If Flint is lucky, the pressure should stop the bleeding."
"Wait," Daphne said, seeing that Lee was about to leave. "Where are you going? You can't just go back out there."
"Flint's not the only one that's hurt," Lee said, looking at the few remaining students still fighting, and then down at the ones on the ground, unmoving. "They need help too."
"Don't be an idiot," Daphne hissed angrily. "We can't stop them. You're just going to get yourself killed if you go out there."
Lee was about to respond when they both heard a loud crash, looking up as one of the attackers slid down the wall beside them, then a loud thud as they both saw Potter take down a second one, then throw a third one toward the professor's who took him down, both their jaws dropping as they saw a first year handle the attackers with ease before he let out a pained scream and fell to the ground.
"They're not invincible," Lee said after a moment. "Look," he said, pointing at Draco, Hermione, and Ron. "They're working together, that's how we're going to take them down," he said, finding his courage, and crawling out from under the table.
"Gryffindors," Daphne muttered, keeping her hand pressed against Flint's wound, but without the normal derision in her tone as she watched him go. 'Good luck,' she thought, watching him go.
Hermione grit her teeth as she and Draco maintained their shield spell as they faced off against another attacker. Even with Draco joining her and Ron, it wasn't easy standing against even one of the Alumni.
"Incendio! Incendio!" Ron shouted from behind the layered shield, only for the Alumni to bat one of his spells away with his wand, and dodge the other before sending a Bombarda in retaliation.
"Switch," Ron said after the spell broke Hermione's shield, but was stopped by Draco's.
He was on the attack too long and was beginning to feel the strain. As he stepped back Hermione stepped forward, taking point.
"Wingardium Leviosa," Hermione muttered, lifting a broken chunk of the Hufflepuff table high into air, and above the head of the Alumni, before canceling her spell. As it fell, she cast another spell, "Duro," turning it to stone to increase its mass.
She watched as the Alumni looked up, seeing her spell, then threw himself to the side. She cursed mentally. While the levitation charm was colorless and hard to notice, Duro wasn't, letting off a bluish light that was far too easy to spot.
"Depulso," Ron said, recognizing Hermione's strategy as he altered the course of the chunk of wood, accelerating its fall and putting it back on target with the Alumni.
They watched as the chunk of wood came crashing to the ground, landing on the Alumni's leg. They heard a sharp crack, followed by a cry of pain from their attacker as he clutched his broken leg.
"Diffindo! Diffindo!" Draco said, going on the offensive as he sent a cutting curse at the downed man, cutting deeply into his chest, and wand arm. "Incarcerous," he added for good measure, conjuring ropes to trap him in.
"Duro!" Ron said, turning the ropes to stone, making it that much more difficult for the other Alumni to get him back in the fight.
Draco glared at the Alumni as he groaned in pain, not caring in the least if he bled to death. Whoever the man was, he had been one of the most vicious, targeting students with cutting curses and explosion hexes right from the start.
"There's still so many of them left," Hermione said, wiping the sweat off her brow as she looked around worriedly. "Maybe we can rennervate some of the older students," she suggested.
"It won't do much good," Draco said, shaking his head. "None of them really know how to fight. The most they've done is trade a few spells in the hallways with other students. I even saw a few of them using Tarantallegra curses and Scourgifies. All it did was make the Alumni angry."
"Harry is still down," Ron said, casting a worried glance at their friend. "We can't take them down without him," he added, pointing out how their numbers continued to drop.
"Then let's get back to it," Hermione said, a determined expression on her face. "That one," she said, pointing at another Alumni attacking a group of second year students huddled in a corner.
Draco and Ron nodded grimly as they raised their wands and crept towards their next target.
Harry staggered back to his feet, his legs still feeling wobbly, but despite that, he was ready to get back in the fight.
"Harry, you need to stay down," Olivia said, seeing the pained expression on his face.
"No," Harry shook his head stubbornly. "We have to stop them, and we have to do it fast. All this is just a diversion, something to keep us busy while they do what they really came here for."
"And what's that?" Minerva asked, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"There isn't time to explain now," Harry replied. "But it's bad."
Minerva glanced over the defensive wall she'd created. It gave them a little more protection than their shield spells without the drain on their magic, but it was a double-edged sword, giving their attackers an easy target to focus their spells on.
There were already three Alumni further back, behind their own wall, casting Bombarda's.
Without a place to retreat to, or an escape route, the battle had turned chaotic, with pockets of fighting all around the great hall.
"How are Quirrell and Kettleburn?" Minerva asked, glancing at Olivia.
"Kettleburn is dead," Olivia said grimly. "He bled out a few minutes ago. Quirrell is still out cold, and with the hit to his head… I don't know if he's going to make it either."
'I hope this works,' Harry thought as he charged up a Reducto, feeling his arm shake as he prepared the spell, the tip of his wand glowing brightly. "REDUCTO!" He shouted, the spell color turning from a light blue to an angry red just before he released it.
He watched it streak across the room to the Alumni's defensive wall, their eyes widening in panic as they dove out of the way just before the spell impacted, shattering the wall, and sending chunks of debris flying in all directions.
"Impedimenta! Impedimenta! Impedimenta!" Minerva shouted, using the opening Harry created to tag one of their attackers. They were too strong to freeze completely, but it would slow them down enough to make it easier to hit them with the next round of spells.
"Confringo! Confringo!" Olivia shouted, targeting the Alumni with her own explosive curses, aiming for as much permanent damage as she could manage, no longer interested in going easy on them and giving the others a chance to revive them later.
The Alumni raised a shield, blocking her first spell, but the second crashed through, and the third struck her wand arm, sending blood and bone flying as she screamed in agony.
Minerva nodded grimly to Olivia as the other two attackers scattered. As the fight raged on, the truth dawned on them. There was no way to stop end this without killing them. The Alumni were ready and willing to fight to the bitter end.
Minerva pragmatically assessed the battle. The students served as little more than a cannon fodder for their attackers. For the most part, their spells weren't powerful enough to do any actual damage, but it did distract the attackers, forcing them to split their focus instead of consolidating their attacks.
Harry cast a worried glanced at his friends on the other side of the hall. They had already engaged another Alumni, and seemed to be holding their own, but he knew that could change at any moment.
"You need to keep your distance, at least for now," Merlin advised. "If too many of you group together, it will just make you a bigger target. We need to keep their focus split if we want to win."
Harry sighed mentally, knowing that Merlin was right. The two Alumni that ran off had returned, now with an additional three members beside them. He nodded to Professor McGonagall and Green before he raised his wand, ready for the next round.
'Where the heck are they?' Lee thought as he crawled across the floor. 'The twins have to be around here somewhere. I saw them go down right around here.'
"Hey," he heard a whisper from beside him.
"Higgs?" Lee whispered, recognizing the Slytherin Seeker. It looked like he had a few cuts and bruises, but other than a body-bind, he seemed ok. "You alright?" he asked, worried that he could be more seriously injured.
"Me? I'm fine," Higgs whispered back, hiding a pained expression. "This is nothing," he boasted. "I've taken worse hits from the twins in Quidditch."
"Have you seen them?" Lee asked. "I thought I saw them go down around here."
"Yeah," Higgs nodded. "They're over there," he said, nodding his head to the right.
"Thanks," Lee nodded back.
"Wait," Higgs said, seeing that Lee was about to leave. "I saw you go down too, near Flint. How is he?"
"…Not good," Lee replied with a shake of his head. "He took a bad hit to his head… I don't know if he's going to make it."
"…Oh," Higgs replied, looking down, visibly deflating.
"Greengrass," Lee said, "she's with him. She's trying to help him."
"Yeah?" Higgs asked, seeing some hope.
"Yeah," Lee confirmed. "She freed me, then I helped her put some bandages on his head to stop the bleeding."
"What are you doing now?" Higgs asked. "There isn't a way out of here, I checked."
"I'm going to check on the twins, see if we can get back in this," Lee explained.
"Get back in this?" Higgs asked incredulously. "I hate to break it to you, but we don't stand a chance against them, they're too strong."
"Tell that to Malfoy, Granger, and Weasley over there," Lee replied.
"Right, Potter's friends," Higgs replied. "They do that exercise stuff with him, right?"
"Yeah, they took down a couple of em' too," Lee replied.
"Seriously?" Higgs asked, surprised. From where he fell, he couldn't see a lot of the fighting, but he heard the screams.
Lee nodded his head. "I wish I didn't walk out on Potter," he said regretfully, remembering how he had stormed out after finding out Granger and Malfoy were going to be there as well.
"I wish I'd showed up in the first place," Higgs agreed.
"…I have to go," Lee replied, "maybe with the twins we can do something too."
"Wait," Higgs replied, surprising even himself. "I'll come with you. Get me out of this."
"You'll be a target," Lee warned. "They're not going easy on us anymore. They're gonna want to put us down permanently."
"…Do it. I can't let you Gryffindors have all the glory, can I?" Higgs replied, forcing a smile onto his face, despite his fear.
"Plenty to go around, I think," Lee replied. "Finite," he said, freeing him from the body bind.
"Thanks," Higgs nodded, grimacing as he rolled over onto his stomach.
"Episkey, Episkey, Episkey," Lee said, healing as much of Higgs's wounds as he could.
"Thanks," Higgs nodded as the pain faded away. "Let's go find your friends, see if we can give Potter and the Professor's a hand."
Harry grit his teeth as he held his shield spell. The Alumni had blasted away the last of the defenses Professor McGonagall had put up, putting them right back in the thick of things.
The battle was turning against them. More of the students were down, and no longer able to distract the Alumni, and to make matters worse, the Alumni knew who the real threats were, and refocused their attacks.
They had already taken down a large group of seventh years that had banded together. There were ten of them, and he could see the remaining smaller groups of students buckling under the pressure. Once they went down, all the Alumni's focus would be on them.
Harry ducked, rolling out of the way as his shield spell shattered, feeling the icy cold air of a Glacius spell flying over his head, then rolled the other way, dodging an Incendio.
"Ascendio," he muttered, quickly lifting himself high into the air to dodge the next three spells the Alumni sent at his feet.
As he fell, he aimed in wand at the middle attacker. "Levicorpus," he said, grabbing the man by the ankle and lifting him into the air. The man screamed in surprise as he flew to the ceiling, but Harry wasn't finished yet. He cut off his spell, then banished the man back down, sending him crashing into his allies in a tangle of broken limbs, watching with grim satisfaction as Professors Green and McGonagall took advantage.
"Acio wands!" McGonagall shouted, ripping the wands out of their hands, and quickly destroying them.
"Expulso! Expulso! Expulso!" Green shouted, targeting their arms and legs, watching as the explosion curse broke their bones and tore at their skin. She could still hear one of them groaning, taking their lasts breaths, and then finally, silence.
The three of them looked around the room, taking a much needed breather as they assessed the situation. Students were still dropping like flies, and the Alumni had gotten even more vicious as they attempted to put down the remaining students, but after the last three they took down, it looked like the tide might turn in their favor soon.
"Over there," Harry said, pointing at a group of second and third years taking on one of the Alumni. They looked exhausted, and without help, they would go down any second.
McGonagall and Green nodded as the three of them marched towards the students, keeping a watchful eye for any stray spells headed their way.
Hermione looked around the room, a look of relief on her face as Harry and the teachers finally took down the three Alumni they were facing. It felt like they had been fighting for hours, but checking her watch it was less than an hour.
The students they helped were reviving the downed students, and patching them up as best they could, but the fighting didn't look like it would end anytime soon.
"Ready?" Ron asked, looking toward one of the few Alumni still fighting alone.
"Ready," Draco confirmed.
"Ready," Hermione agreed.
They moved as one toward the Alumni. Hermione and Ron, with shields raised and Draco ready to go on the offensive.
As they got closer, the Alumni spotted them, turning on his heel as he sent an Expulso curse at them.
Hermione grit her teeth as the spell struck her shield, mentally noting this Alumni was stronger than the previous ones they's fought.
Draco quickly returned fire, "Bombarda!" he shouted, sending his own explosion curse, only for the Alumni to easily bat the spell away with his wand.
"Incendio! Incendio! Protego" Ron shouted, sending a pair of fire spells before quickly raising another shield.
"Diffindo!" Draco shouted, sending out a cutting curse right after Ron's attack.
The Alumni cursed mentally as he saw the three spells flying in his direction.
While the spells they sent were relatively weak, it was their grouping that was the real problem. He couldn't easily dodge them, forcing him to use a shield. "Protego!"
Hermione dropped her own shield as she saw the Alumni raise his, "Lumos!" she shouted, surprising the Alumni with the bright light she aimed directly at his eyes.
The Alumni groaned, seeing spots as he rubbed his eyes, creating the opening Ron and Draco had been waiting for to launch their own attacks.
They broke formation, running to either side of the Alumni. They flanked him, moving past his forward shield, and launched their spells. "Confringo!"
All three watched as the fiery explosion hit the Alumni from both sides, sending him to the ground screaming in pain, his clothes torn, and singed from the attack.
Hermione leveled her wand at the Alumni as his shield flickered out. "Everte Statum!" she shouted, throwing him backward to land heavily against the wall, knocking him out cold.
"Hey Lee," Higgs whispered. "I think I found Fred," he said, rolling over the third-year student onto his back.
"How does he look?" Lee whispered back.
"Alright, I think," Higgs said, looking him over. "It looks like he just took a stunner."
"He probably knows where George is. Wake him up," Lee replied.
"Right," Higgs said, fishing out his wand. "Rennervate," he said.
Fred's eyes shot open as he looked around wildly.
"Easy," Higgs whispered, throwing his arm over him to push him back down and stop him from drawing too much attention to them.
"Higgs?" Fred whispered in confusion, wondering what a Slytherin of all people was doing helping him.
"Yeah," Higgs replied. "We're looking for your brother, too. Have you seen him?"
"We?" Fred questioned, still feeling disoriented.
"Yeah, me and Jordan," Higgs replied.
"The others need our help," Lee whispered.
"Others, what others?" Fred questioned.
"I think he hit his head," Higgs said with a sigh. "Look," he said, pointing towards Ron. "Your brother's out there fighting. He needs help."
"Ron," Fred breathed, seeing his brother fighting against an adult wizard as he made to get back up on his feet.
"No," Higgs hissed, holding down Fred.
"Get off me," Fred growled, trying to shove Higgs off him.
"Would you just shut up and listen for once in your life, Weasley?" Higgs hissed, refusing to let go.
"I said get off," Fred glared.
"Fred, shut up. Can't you see he's trying to help you?" Lee said, jumping in.
"What?" Fred asked, confused why his friend was siding with a Slytherin.
"Look at them," Lee insisted. "It's taking all three of them just to fight off one of them off. You try to do this alone, they're going to pick you off just as easily as they did the first time. We need George to do this right, so where is he?"
"…I don't know," Fred admitted. "He was beside me when the fighting started, then I got knocked out."
"Damn," Higgs replied.
"He should be close by," Lee said. "Just look around."
"Wait.." Fred said, seeing an arm underneath a couple of students, one he recognized immediately. "That's him."
"Ok, stay there," Lee said, crawling forward. "I'm the closest. I'll take a look."
Lee didn't recognize them, but could tell the students were first years, and thankfully it seemed like they'd only been stunned. He rolled them off of George, but his face went pale as he took in the sight of him.
George's eye was smashed in. There wasn't even anything left to heal anymore. It was just gone. His robes were singed and torn, and he had multiple cuts and bruises all over his body.
"Lee," Fred whispered, getting a bad feeling as his friend went still. "What is it?"
Lee reached forward, his fingers shaking as he pressed them to George's neck, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt a pulse. "It's bad," he finally replied. "I think he's lost an eye… I'll see what I can do to get him patched up."
"What?" Fred asked, his eyes widening in alarm.
"Keep your voice down," Higgs whispered just before one of the Alumni ran past.
"Episkey Episkey Episkey," Lee said, casting the healing spell on the George, glad that he was at least able to stop the bleeding. "Ferula," he said, conjuring a bandage to cover George's eye next, then finally a Rennervate to wake him up.
George groaned as he woke up. He hurt everywhere, especially his right eye. He blinked, looking up at the Hogwarts ceiling, and felt something was off, but he just couldn't place it.
"Stay quiet," Lee whispered. "Don't make any sudden moves."
"Lee?" George whispered back. "What's going on?"
"You're hurt," Lee replied. "I patched you up as best I could, but we need to know. Can you still fight?"
"Fight?" George asked with a sarcastic laugh. "We can't fight them. I tried. They're too strong."
"We have to, brother," Fred said quietly. "Look around."
George turned his head to the side, seeing the few students that were fighting off the Alumni. They were working together, but they were also taking a lot of hits, many of them just barely holding on. Then he saw Ron and his friends take one of them down, making him wonder if it was actually possible to fight them off.
"What's the plan?" he asked, feeling a cold resolve settle over him as he glared at their attackers.
"We fight them together," Lee explained. "Two of us shield, while the other two attack. When we get tired, we switch. Don't bother with Stunners," he advised. "We need to make sure they stay down."
"Wait for it," Higgs whispered, seeing an Alumni about to walk past them. "As soon as his back is to us, we go."
The others nodded to each other before going still, playing possum, then sprang to their feet and went on the attack
"Diffindo," Higgs shouted, sending a cutting curse at the Alumni's head, while Fred and George attacked with Bombarda's, and Lee with a Confringo.
"Protego!" Lee and Higgs shouted, raising a set of shields after their initial attack just in time to take the Alumni's counter spell.
The Alumni spun on his heel as soon as he heard the rustling behind him, and raised a shield instinctively, stopping the cutting curse just millimeters from his face, but the explosive curses from Lee and the twins shredded his shield a heartbeat later.
Before it collapsed, he was already moving, rolling to the right as he sent off a trio of Incendio spells.
Lee and Higgs grunted as they felt the spells impact their shields. The first spell shattered Lee's shield, and the second shattered Higgs shield, but it gave all four of them the extra second they needed to dive out of the way.
"Protego!" all four of them shouted, creating a layered shield as they faced down the stone faced Alumni.
"You should have stayed down, boys," the Alumni said, shaking his head pityingly. "Expulso!" He shouted, sending a high pressure explosive curse at them.
The spell was over powered, easily tearing through all four of their shields, and sending the boys tumbling through the air, and landing painfully on the stone floor.
Fred groaned, barely holding onto his wand as he staggered to his knees, clutching his head, realizing they couldn't match his power. He watched as the man casually stepped towards him, the tip of his wand lighting up.
Fred kept his wand low, acting like he was still out of it, before muttering a spell, "Engorgio," aiming for the man's foot.
The alumni stumbled, looking down in surprise as one of his feet was suddenly larger than the other.
George, seeing Fred's spell, immediately realized his strategy, using spells the Alumni were unfamiliar with, and would have trouble countering or reversing. He sent off a spell of his own as the man looked down at his feet. "Langlock!" He shouted, gluing the man's tongue to the roof of his mouth.
The man's eyes widened as he realized he couldn't move his tongue, but aimed his wand anyway. "Bombabba!" He said, still getting the Bombarda spell off, but without the proper incantation, it wasn't nearly as powerful as it should have been.
"Protego!" Higgs shouted, raising a shield just in time to catch the spell. His shield shattered on impact, but it did its job, stopping the spell.
"Colloshoo!" Lee shouted, using a pranking spell the twins used often, sticking the man's shoes to the floor.
"Everte Statum!" Higgs followed up, throwing himself to the side to avoid the Incendio curse from the Alumni.
It was only partially successful. Instead of hitting his face it hit his shoulder, lighting his robes on fire. He rolled on the ground, smothering the flame, and mhoping his own spell landed.
Higgs's spell was supposed to throw the target backwards, but with the Alumni's feet glued to the floor, it dropped him on his back. He heard a loud crack and a muffled scream of pain from the man as both his ankles snapped.
"Incarcerous! Stupefy!" George shouted, tying up and knocking out the man as they all stared down at him, proud of what they'd accomplished.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as they finally reached him.
"Hermione, guys, are you ok?" Harry asked, seeing the state his friends were in.
"We're alright," Ron nodded, "what about you?"
"We're better now," Harry confirmed, seeing that they had the Alumni on the ropes now. Only four of them were left were standing, battling it out with the students, some of which were back on their feet after being revived.
"Episkey! Episkey! Episkey!" McGonagall said with a nod to Hermione, Draco, and Ron, healing a few of their minor injuries. "I'm glad you three are alright."
Hermione felt her heart swell, hearing those words, the first the professor had uttered to her since the test.
"If you three are ready, let's finish this," Professor Green said.
Harry looked at the Alumni. They were trapped in the center of the great hall, surrounded on all side by Hogwarts students, and even though many of them were injured, it left the Alumni dealing with almost eighty wands pointed at them, each of them sending out spells as quickly as they could.
The Alumni were reduced to casting shield spells, putting them purely on the defensive as one after the other as they fell to the barrage of spells the students were raining down on them.
As Harry, his friends, and the professors walked towards the Alumni, the student moved out of their way, looks of respect and admiration on their faces.
That was the moment everything went to hell. Three of the Alumni dropped to their knees muttering under their breath, chanting something Harry didn't recognize, but sent alarm bells off in his head.
Harry pushed past the students, knowing that he had to stop whatever they were doing. He charged up a Bombarda, shouting for the students to get back. As soon as he had a clear shot, he raised his wand, feeling it buckle as he let loose his spell. "BOMBARDA!"
He watched with bated breath as his spell flew across the room, slamming into the shield spell. With a loud crack, it pierced the shield, continuing forward for a moment before slamming into an invisible barrier, creating a loud gong.
"Hit it with everything you got!" Ron shout, clearly recognized the danger they were in as the barrier became visible, turning into a wall of light.
Harry could only watch as every student and teacher still standing let loose whatever spells they could manage. His vision filled with multicolored lights as the spells whizzed past him, only to be stopped by the same wall of light now surrounding the Alumni.
He watched in growing fear as the fourth Alumni joined the other three, kneeling on the floor as he chanted along with the others.
"Run," Harry said as he saw runes appear in the wall of light, then flow down to the stone floor, flowing out in all directions. "RUN!" He shouted again, setting off a panic with the students as they all scrambled back.
Harry saw the wall of light pulse, turning from white to an angry red. Then a deafening roar as the pulse extended outward violently, tossing students in all directions.
He didn't even have time to blink before he was thrown backwards, slamming painfully into the wall, his vision filled by the bodies of the other students caught up in the Alumni's attack.