Demigods at Hogwarts 2 (Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince)

Chapter 21

Despite my best intentions, I have not been keeping up with this. I will add more info about my plans at the end, but I won't keep you from the chapter. 

I'm going to skip the rest of the book up until the final battle, so presume that everything has happened in the same manner as the original. This will recommence from just after Harry has left to go to Tom Riddle's cave with Dumbledore. It probably won't be the most accurate retelling of the events of the story, but I want to have fun.

-Jessicorn

Hermione POV

Harry had gone off with Dumbledore, and I had a terrible feeling that something would go wrong. He'd asked us to keep watch, which was very sensible. The school was far less defended without Dumbledore here. I trusted the other teachers, with the possible exception of Snape, but Voldemort was incredibly powerful. Without Harry and Dumbledore, we were missing a huge portion of our defence. There was no true substitute, but there were people who could try.

Percy and Annabeth were sitting in the common room, talking quietly. Ron sat on the other side of the room with Hazel, playing a game of wizard chess. Thalia and Nico were out doing a patrol of the border. I had summoned the DA, and we were to meet in the Room of Requirement in half an hour, but we couldn't all go at the same time, so we would go in a staggered manner.

"Ron, Hazel, let's go. Percy and Annabeth, are you happy to follow in five or so minutes?"

"Yes, see you then," Annabeth replied.

Ron and Hazel packed away their chessboard and joined me by the door of the common room. We left, emerging into the dark corridor. Back when we were in first year it was an intimidating experience, sneaking out, now it was usual for us. With Ron, who had been sneaking out with me for years, and Hazel, who never seemed to make a noise, sneaking out wasn't exactly a challenge either. All of the demigods were very quiet when they wanted to be, even Percy and Thalia, who were very loud the rest of the time.

We entered the room and sat down, ready to wait for everyone else. I opened up the Marauders Map and started inspecting it, looking for anyone who was out of bed. As we had agreed, Thalia and Nico were walking around the edge of the grounds, making sure there was nothing out of place. McGonagall was also on patrol, periodically going past the main entrance, as well as the other major entrances to the castle. Sprout and Snape patrolled the higher floors, all the way up to the entrance of Dumbledore's office. Three of them patrolling was all right, but it was nowhere near enough to maintain a proper guard. That was where the DA came in. I didn't expect everyone to come, probably only those who checked their coins ever night, but I was pretty sure Neville, Ginny, and Luna would. With those three, plus the demigods, Ron, and I, we had a great team.

Percy and Annabeth arrived a few minutes later, followed by the other three. They all sat around on the chairs, ready to go.

"Thank you all for coming."

"You definitely don't need to thank us," Ginny said, "but we would like to know what we're here for. And why Harry isn't present."

"Harry and Dumbledore are away. I can't say too many specifics, but we need to make sure the castle is safe. We fear that something might happen while the headmaster is away."

"What do you need us to do?" Ginny asked.

"Look for the wrackspurts, they'll tell you where people are," Luna suggested.

"There's no one in the castle that shouldn't be here yet, but that sort of thing can change very quickly. I suggest that Percy and Annabeth take the ground floor, Luna and Ginny take the second and third floors, Neville, Ron, and Hazel take the fourth and fifth, and I'll stay here with the map. I'd like to see you guys once every half hour so I can have updates."

Everyone nodded and left to take their places. I would have preferred to be out in the action, but it was important to have someone in a home base. If something came up, then I would fight.

I kept an eye on everyone in the map, watching their progress. Occasionally, they came within a few metres of the teachers, but all of them were impressive at sneaking, even Neville.

It wasn't until one am that anything of interest happened. I'd been having reports of nothing all night, but just as I was scanning the map, two more names appeared, in the forbidden forest. Draco Malfoy and Fenrir Greyback, both of which I unfortunately recognised.

Within seconds, I had scribbled a note about where I was going and left the room. I looked down at my map and headed along the corridor to where Neville, Hazel, and Ron were standing, peering around corners.

"Neville," I hissed.

He jumped, but didn't squeal, staying as silent as one so surprised could. Ron and Hazel turned to see the disruption, their wands drawn.

"Something is happening in the forbidden forest, get down there. I need to tell the others."

The three of them nodded and started going down, I continued my descent, on the lookout for Ginny and Luna.

Thalia POV

Nico and I had been patrolling the grounds for hours. They were large to try to defend with so few people, and were very porous, owing to the weaker wards without the headmaster, the multiple tunnels, and the labyrinth creating paths into the forest. Unlike CHB or New Rome, it didn't have a standing armed force that could be quickly deployed in patrol and defence. It was really quite a problem for them. Nico and I were making out way through the forest to check the labyrinth when we heard unfamiliar voices.

"Why did you get us into the forest, this is horrible?" a woman's voice complained.

"At least I got you in here, that's more than can be said for those who came before me. It won't be long and you'll have your chance to return to the castle, Alecto," a young man replied, almost certainly Draco Malfoy.

I looked over at Nico who was crouched in the bush next to me. He shuffled closer, the quiet noise disguised by the wind in the forest.

"I can get a message to Hazel."

"I don't know if it will be necessary, Hermione should be watching the map and will have noticed this."

"Where do we want to fight them? The forest provides more opportunity to dodge, and we will fight better here, as will Hazel, and Percy and Annabeth will manage, but the wizards are better with more space."

"Then we aim for the edge of the forest, and hope that someone sees us. We don't want to give them the advantage of remaining unseen."

"Once we have backup the teachers can be informed."

We began following the group, hidden in the trees. There appeared to be seven of them. Draco led, with the only woman standing next to him. The others walked in silence. One was a werewolf, which concerned me. What sort of evil was enough to tempt a werewolf?

So, an update: My plans from now are to finish this story, which I'm hoping will only be a couple more chapters. I won't be writing a sequel, as I have grown out of this particular style of fic, in which it follows the plot of the original work very closely. I plan to publish some one shots next month, which I will also have on my ao3 (same name as this account). Thanks to everyone who has stayed and read this fic despite my long gaps between updates, you guys are the best!

-Jessicorn