Discovery

102.

Harry finally returned, looking surprised at all the people who had arrived since his absence.

Kingsley, Lupin, Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, Bill and Fleur, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had all come through the portrait hole, and were now looking to Harry for guidance.

"Harry, what's happening?" said Lupin.

"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school— Snape's run for it—What are you doing here? How did you know?"

"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army," Fred explained. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry, and the D.A. let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed."

"What first, Harry?" called George. "What's going on?"

"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized," Harry said. "We're fighting."

There was a great roar as everyone hurried out of the room and into the main castle. The crowd was thinning, and only a small group of people remained.

Fred and I watched as Mrs. Weasley was struggling with Ginny.

"You're underage!" Mrs. Weasley shouted at her daughter. "I won't permit it! The boys, yes, but you, you've got to get home!"

"I won't!"

Ginny's hair flew as she pulled her arm out of her mother's grip. "I'm in Dumbledore's Army—"

"A teenagers' gang!"

"A teenagers' gang that's about to take him on, which no one else has dared to do!" said Fred.

"She's sixteen!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "She's not old enough! What you two were thinking, bringing her with you—"

Fred and George looked slightly ashamed of themselves.

"Mum's right, Ginny," said Bill gently. "You can't do this. Everyone underage will have to leave, it's only right."

"I can't go home!" Ginny shouted, angry tears sparkling in her eyes. "My whole family's here, I can't stand waiting there alone
and not knowing and—"

Her eyes met Harry's. I watched as he shook his head and she turned away bitterly.

"Fine," she said, staring at the entrance to the tunnel back to the Hog's Head. "I'll say goodbye now, then, and—"

Suddenly, someone else had clambered out of the tunnel, overbalanced slightly, and fallen.

Percy Weasley looked around through lopsided horn-rimmed glasses, and said, "Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, so I–I—"

There was a long moment of astonishment, and no one dared utter a word.

"I was a fool!" Percy roared abruptly. "I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a—a—"

"Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron." said Fred.

Percy swallowed. "Yes, I was!"

"Well, you can't say fairer that that," said Fred, holding out his hand to his brother.

Mrs. Weasley burst into tears. She ran forward, pushed Fred aside, and pulled Percy into a strangling hug, while he patted her on the back, his eyes on his father.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Percy said.

Mr. Weasley blinked rather rapidly, then he too hurried to hug his son.

"What made you see sense, Perce?" inquired George.

"It's been coming on for a while," said Percy, mopping his eyes under his glasses with a corner of his traveling cloak. "But I had to find a way out and it's not so easy at the Ministry, they're imprisoning traitors all the time. I managed to make contact with Aberforth and he tipped me off ten minutes ago that Hogwarts was going to make a fight for it, so here I am."

"Well, we do look to our prefects to take a lead at times such as these," said George in a good imitation of Percy's most pompous manner. "Now let's get upstairs and fight, or all the good Death Eaters'll be taken."

"You ready?" Fred asked me.

I looked at my parents, who were both looking extremely worried.

"Maybe you should go—" Mum began.

"Please let me do this," I pleaded. "For Miranda."

Those two words seemed to be the last straw. My mother burst into tears, leaning into Sirius' shoulder.

My father looked at me and nodded.

"We'll make them pay." he said. "Let's go."

***

As we reached the Great Hall, McGonagall was already instructing prefects to evacuate the younger students.

"We have already placed protection around the castle," Professor McGonagall was saying, "but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your prefects—"

But her final words were drowned as a cold voice echoed throughout the Hall.

"I know you are preparing to fight. 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."

Students screamed, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Give me Harry Potter," said Voldemort's voice, "and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you should be rewarded. You have until midnight."

Silence swallowed us all. Every head turned toward Harry; every eye fixed on him.

Suddenly, Pansy Parkinson raised a shaking arm and screamed, "But he's there! Potter's there! Someone grab him!"

There was a massive movement: the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws stood in front of Harry, looking toward Pansy instead. Wands emerged everywhere, pulled from beneath cloaks and under sleeves.

"Thank you, Miss Parkinson," said Professor McGonagall in a clipped voice. "You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."

Slowly, the Slytherin students stood from their table and marched out of the Hall.

"Ravenclaws, follow on!" cried Professor McGonagall.

Each House began evacuating. The Slytherin table was completely deserted, but a number of Ravenclaws remained seated; even more Hufflepuffs stayed behind, and half of the Gryffindors remained in their seats.

"We've only got half an hour until midnight, so we need to act fast!" Kingsley addressed the remaining crowd. "A battle plan has been agreed between the teachers of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall are going to take groups of fighters up to the three highest towers — Ravenclaw, Astronomy, and Gryffindor—where they'll have a good overview, excellent positions from which to work spells. Meanwhile Remus, Arthur, and I will take groups into the grounds. We'll need somebody to organize defense of the entrances of the passageways into the school—"

"Sounds like a job for us," called Fred, indicating himself and George, and Kingsley nodded his approval.

"All right, leaders up here and we'll divide up the troops!"

"Come on, Hart," George called as the twins began hurrying toward the door. "I'm sure you can cause some damage."

I took Fred's hand, and we ran out of the Hall. My head was clouded with worries, but I had no time to even consider them.

We just need to make it out alive...