The Cell

Chapter 15: Chaos and spellfire

A battle is won by the side that is absolutely determined to win it.

- Leo Tolstoy

Despite the great wanker saying they wouldn't attack until midnight, she sensed a volley of spells begin attempting to break down the outer wards moments after the voice ceased.

She threw up a quick tempus charm; 11:38. She stayed seated a few more minutes, casting faster than she had been before, weaving and knitting any and all protections she could think of around the castle before growling with frustration and getting to her feet.

She ran back through the side doorway she had earlier exited from and tossed a bombarda at the stone, caving it in behind her before transfiguring the chunks of rock into a solid wall. It wouldn't hold long, but it would delay them briefly.

She took off down the corridor, ascending a flight of stairs back into the main castle.

She spotted McGonagall across the Great Hall. The elderly witch had just animated the suits of armor all through the building and was bracing herself against a wall, breathing hard from the exertion and complex nature of the spell. Flitwick's short frame stood next to her with a hand on her arm, wand drawn at his side and nearly brushing the ground.

Hermione turned and took at the faces around her, a mixture of The Order, the DA, and older Hogwarts students – some she recognized, others she didn't. While she was sure there were loads of other people throughout the castle, maintaining different fronts, many of their strongest duelists were assembled near the main entrance.

Word must have spread through Ginny, Seamus and McGonagall, because, while she got some nods, nobody questioned how she was there or whether she was herself.

Seamus and Dean were in one corner with Ernie MacMillan, heads low and speaking quickly to one another. Luna, with a dreamy look in her eye, stood next to Ginny near the middle of the hall, who was in turn flanked by Charlie and Bill. She saw Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, and Angelina Johnson running toward the stairs holding brooms and carrying satchels full of what looked like spiked metal orbs about the size of grapefruits.

Hermione turned and spotted Tonks' pink head entering through one of the side passages. She had apparently had the baby, her stomach flat, and Hermione felt her heart catch in her throat. She was not about to allow another child to be orphaned by this bloody war; Remus and Tonks had already been through too much. She sped to her side.

"Wotcher 'Mione," Tonks said, a grin pulling up one side of her face as she quickly hugged the younger witch. Her eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint, years of training having prepared her for this fight. "Minerva said you were wandering around here somewhere."

"Tonks," Hermione breathed, "you shouldn't be here, the baby-"

"Is safe with my mother," she finished for her, voice kind but firm. "I'm needed here."

She was about to protest anyway when she saw McGonagall, now straightened and striding toward the middle of the hall, cast an enlarged tempus charm. It flashed 12:00 and the room went dead silent.

"Prepare yourselves," she said, projecting her voice with a sonorous charm. "Potter is working on something that will hopefully bring the fight to an end sooner rather than later, but we need to buy him as much time as we can. If you can't cast to kill, at least take them out of the fight – they will be doing far worse, I assure you. Move the wounded out of the way if possible, Poppy and her team will retrieve them. Hold the line, and Merlin be with us all."

She removed the wand from her throat and turned back to the doors, Flitwick on one side and Septima Vector on the other, who appeared to be garbed in some sort of dragon-hide armor and was holding a wand in each hand. Hermione silently vowed to get the story behind that later.