Order of the Phoenix
The Ides of March
By Ruskbyte
Chapter Eighteen
~ The Ides of March ~
"Players, mount your brooms!"
Madam Hooch's whistle sounded, and the two teams kicked off the pitch and into the air. Harry peeled off to the right, streaking across the field at a brisk clip. Out the corner of his eye, he could make out Katie snatching the Quaffle away from the Ravenclaw Chasers and streaking towards the distant goals.
"Bell's got the Quaffle," announced Lee Jordan from the stands. "Ducks under Turpin and passes to Johnson. She's looking fine that girl is--"
"Jordan!"
Harry smiled and, as he listened to Lee's commentating, all the while scanned the Quidditch pitch for any sign of the Golden Snitch. It was mid-March, and the sky was blanketed in a layer of low hanging pewter grey clouds despite the onset of spring, hiding the sun and making the elusive ball all the more difficult to spot. Floating high above the other players, Harry felt her coming up alongside him before he saw her.
"You're looking rather pleased with yourself, Harry," noted Cho, using only one hand to steer her Comet 260 close by him.
"Just appreciating Lee working the crowd," he admitted. "Unless by some miracle the game doesn't finish, today's the last time we'll be hearing him."
It was the final match of the Hogwarts Quidditch season. Slytherin had never managed to recover from their humiliating defeat at the hands of Gryffindor and had subsequently lost their match against Ravenclaw and only just managed to tie with Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw had beaten Hufflepuff during February, on Valentine's Day in fact, and were currently ranked second, behind Gryffindor.
They have to beat us by one hundred and sixty points to win the cup, thought Harry, watching as Fred tried to dismount the Ravenclaw Keeper just as Angelina shot at the goals.
"Alicia Spinnet scores the first points of the match!" exulted Lee. "Ten-Zero to Gryffindor!"
"Somehow I doubt anyone besides the Gryffindors are going to miss him that much," noted Cho wryly. "He certainly is..."
"Eccentric?" finished Harry with a knowing grin, "that he is."
The two Seekers continued to slowly circle above the pitch, talking, but still keeping an eye out for the elusive Snitch.
"So how's poor Neville doing?" asked Harry after a while. "I didn't see him this morning."
"What do you mean, 'poor Neville'?" asked Cho in return, a concerned frown marring her elegant features.
Harry grinned at her and explained, "He was almost having a panic attack last night. He didn't know if he should be supporting Gryffindor with the rest of the house, or Ravenclaw since he's now your boyfriend. He was trying to convince Hermione to clone him so he could do both!"
Cho was completely flummoxed by this statement and even began to blush a delicate pink when a loud, undulating wail rang out. It cut through the air as loud and clear as a foghorn, only going on and on without any apparent end in sight.
"What in the nether hells is that?" shouted Cho, covering her ears.
*Now who was it that told us Voldemort would never attack during a game of Quidditch?*
Harry growled at the voice's sarcastic tone and replied, "Please tell me that isn't the alarm I think it is."
*Okay, we can do that.*
*I don't think it will help though.*
Damn, I can already feel them. I better let Dumbledore know.
*I think you'd better let everyone know.*
The blaring siren call had been sounding for a full minute when it abruptly tapered off, leaving the echoes sounding throughout the hills and around the castle. Harry could see everyone looking around in confusion and mixed amounts of alarm. The fifty or so Aurors stationed about the pitch were looking particularly twitchy at this interruption.
With a tight set to his mouth, Harry swooped down to the teachers' box, where Dumbledore was sitting. All the professors where looking around in confusion, the headmaster included, trying to distinguish the reason for the loud sound that had so unexpectedly startled them all.
"We're under attack."
*Oh really? We'd never have guessed.*
*Shut up! This is important.*
The words caught the attention of every single person in the box as if emphasised by a gunshot. Dumbledore turned to Harry with a surprised expression and asked, "Under attack? Could you explain what you mean by that, please, Harry?"
Harry nodded sharply. "After the attack on Hogsmeade I placed detection wards around Hogwarts to a radius of five miles. That alarm means that more than a specified number of Death Eaters or other possible enemies have entered range. We're going to be under attack."
"What is this 'specified number'?" asked Snape, looking snidely at him.
*Insufferable git.*
I've been saying that since practically the moment I met him.
"Fifty in total," replied Harry, meeting the Potions Master's glare with a level gaze.
Dumbledore's eyes widened in surprise and he exchanged a look with Professor McGonagall. With a shake of his head, he turned to face the rest of the spectators sitting throughout the stadium, all of them watching Harry and him closely.
"This is Professor Dumbledore," he boomed. "Hogwarts is under imminent attack! All students are to proceed quickly and quietly to the Great Hall. Teachers-"
He was cut off by Harry, who motioned him sharply into silence and then cast a Sonorus Charm on himself. "Belay that! All students are to head directly to the Practical Fighting Techniques auditorium at the end of the third floor corridor. Head directly there without stopping anywhere along the way. Prefects shall make sure to escort any third-years and younger that may not know the route. All the teachers and Aurors will make a sweep of the school for any stragglers."
Harry paused for a moment, waiting for it to sink in. He could see nervous shifting about from everyone present, clearly wondering if this was some great hoax or the like. Opposite him, in the Gryffindor section, he could see most of his housemates gaping at him with wide eyes and open mouths.
I'm going to talk to Dumbledore later about holding drills for this sort of thing.
Ginny, Ron and Hermione, on the other hand, were already in motion, hurrying along in an attempt to get around the stadium to where he was now floating. No matter that he had just ordered them and everyone else to make for the PFT room, they were coming to stand by his side.
"Move!"
His bold exhortation finally got a response out of the crowds and the people started to exit the Quidditch stadium as quickly as they could. Harry could see his fellow Prefects, as well as the scattered Aurors, trying to direct the flow of traffic.
"We don't have a lot of time," he said, looking about as though scenting the air, "They're coming."
"What are, Potter?" asked McGonagall, gripping Dumbledore tightly by the arm, "What's coming?"
Harry's answer was a chilling, single word.
"Dementors."
***
"Why'd you bring us down here instead of the Great Hall, Harry?"
They were now in the Practical Fighting Techniques auditorium, where Harry was standing near the middle of the stage, with Ginny to his left, and Ron and Hermione to his right. Almost all of the Hogwarts students had arrived and now they were only waiting for the last of the Aurors and teachers to come in.
Harry glanced over at Hermione and answered, "Once locked down this room is the safest place on the planet. Practically impregnable."
"I've never liked the word 'impregnable.'" The four students turned to face Dumbledore, who had come up behind them, accompanied by Professors McGonagall, Lupin and Snape. Padding along at their feet, to Snape's obvious displeasure, was Snuffles. "Far too similar to 'unsinkable' for my liking."
"What's wrong with 'unsinkable'?" asked McGonagall with raised eyebrows.
Dumbledore smiled mysteriously. "Nothing. As the iceberg said to the Titanic."
Hermione chuckled at the black humour, but Harry turned back to watch over the assembled students and Aurors, all of whom were now present. "Don't worry about it," he said, "I've got a handle on the situation."
"You seem confident," observed Lupin,
"Of course I do," Harry replied. "It wouldn't help us all that much if I was running around like a headless chicken, screaming, 'Aaaaeeeii! We're all going to die!'"
Ron leaned close to Hermione and whispered, "If he was headless... how would he be screaming?"
Oh, honestly!
Hermione elbowed him, none too gently, in the ribs and shushed him with an accompanying glare as Harry turned around to face them. His face was as serious as she had ever seen him, his lips set in a thin line and his eyes hooded in foreboding shadows.
I've never seen him like this, she thought. Not even after the attack on Hogsmeade.
"Besides," he continued, "I've made enough modifications to Hogwarts over the past couple of months that the odds are definitely stacked in our favour."
"Modifications? What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" asked Snape bitingly, seeming very annoyed by both Sirius' presence and Harry's de facto assumption of command.
I'm curious about that myself.
"Hogwarts' defences are just that, defences," explained Harry patiently. "Passive defences, designed to protect those inside the school, no more. They do not follow the basic tenet that the best defence is a strong offence. Until now that is."
McGonagall crossed her arms and peered at him over the rims of her glasses. "Just what exactly have you done, Potter?"
"I gave the school's defences teeth. Sharp teeth." Harry smiled wolfishly at them and added, almost as an afterthought, "And a few other surprises."
He motioned them to take a few steps back and then moved to stand on the centre tile covering the auditorium's stage. His smile unnerved Hermione in how similar it was to that particular one that Fred and George would display every so often.
What exactly has he been up to? she wondered, receiving a reply that she would never have imagined if she lived to be a thousand.
"Activate Situation Map!"
A second passed in silence and then everyone standing on or next to the stage, except Harry, jumped in surprise. The stone floor seemed to ripple and shift beneath them, changing from a dull slate grey to a light creamy colour, like old and faded parchment. From the centre tile streaks of blue, red, green and black exploded across the smooth surface.
The thin lines intersected and crossed back and forth, in a particularly intricate and familiar pattern near the centre, and very quickly a picture of what was happening started to become apparent to those watching in amazement.
Looks like the Marauders have left one heck of a legacy.
And that they had.
***
Holy Hannah, it's a giant Marauder's Map!
Ron, along with everyone else, was gaping at the gigantic map now laid out at their feet. In the centre was a complete floor plan of the castle. There was the lake, the Forbidden Forest, all of Hogsmeade and more. If he were to guess, Ron would have estimated the map covered everything within four or five miles of the school, centered on the PFT auditorium.
As with the Marauder's Map hundreds of tiny labelled dots were displayed across the floor, most of them clustered within the auditorium.
"Hey!" exclaimed Ron, pointing off to one side of the Forbidden Forest, not far from where he was standing on the map, "I can see my dad's car!"
He bent down low and examined the rather large purple blob that was roaming slowly about, it's name and a short description trailing behind it. Looking closer Ron blinked as he realized that the label seemed to actually be floating in the air above the map, rather than being displayed on its surface.
FORD ANGLIA
Motor Car (wild)
"That's right. I'm surprised it's so close, actually," mentioned Harry with a smug grin. "When I was building and testing the Map I noticed that it usually roams much deeper in the forest. I suppose whatever triggered the alarms must have caused it stray."
Why on earth didn't he tell us about this thing?
"How far does this map extend, Harry?" asked Lupin, sounding somewhat awed.
Harry grinned broadly despite the seriousness of the situation. "Five miles. Just a bit further than the detection wards I set up after Christmas. I'm working on the principal that bigger is better. Of course, it can be scaled down to a mile radius, as well, for closer work."
"You've added some improvements as well, I see," noted Dumbledore, looking down at the dots inside the castle.
"Yes. Witches and wizards are black. Ghosts are pale blue. Magical creatures are green. Enchanted objects are purple," explained Harry.
Everyone, that being Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the four professors and Snuffles, crowded around that part of the map. Peering intently at the dots Ron recognised many names, as well as his own and Hermione's, but it was Harry's name that stood out the most amongst the rest. Surrounding his best friend's dot was a glowing white circle, then a gleaming golden circle and then another glowing white circle.
HARRY J POTTER
Wizard: Order of the Phoenix
Ron did a double take after a moment when he realized that Ginny's dot was likewise encircled in white, gold and white. The description underneath her name was also the same as Harry's, which caused everyone to give her a strange glance as they noticed.
VIRGINIA S WEASLEY
Witch: Order of the Phoenix
She and Harry certainly hadn't mentioned anything about this.
Ron and Hermione's dots were simply described as wizard and witch respectively, as was everyone else's. There were only five exceptions that Ron could immediately see, the first being Dumbledore, to Harry's immediate left. His tiny black dot was surrounded by a single gleaming silver circle.
ALBUS A DUMBLEDORE
Wizard: Headmaster
"Dear Lord." Ron heard Snape breathe in what sounded like horror. "It can detect the Mark."
Sure enough, Snape's dot was distinguished from the others by a thin black circle, then a sickly green circle and then another black circle. In fact, his dot looked more like a tiny skull than a round dot and his description was also different, appended with two words that explained everything.
SEVERUS SNAPE
Wizard: Death Eater
"Well, we don't have to worry about spies for Voldemort anymore," observed Ginny, trying to divert attention away from her own dot. "At least not proper Death Eaters."
Standing alongside Snape were McGonagall and Lupin's dots, also surrounded by a single circle, but in different colours. The Deputy Headmistress' circle was a royal blue and her description likewise had an addition to it.
MINERVA McGONAGALL
Witch: Animagus - Feline (grey)
Lupin's dot was encircled in a leafy green that was explained by:
REMUS J LUPIN
Wizard: Lycanthrope
And there, next to Lupin's dot, was another dot with a blue circle just like McGonagall's.
SIRIUS T BLACK
Wizard: Animagus - Canine (black)
"Sirius Tee Black?" asked Remus quietly, looking in astonishment at his old friend. Sirius, despite still being in canine form, looked exceedingly embarrassed. The large shaggy dog whined pathetically for a moment before thinking better of it and then growled at Remus in warning.
"After the debacle with Crouch and Crouch Jr last year, I made sure the Situation Map was a lot more specific than the Marauder's Map," explained Harry, turning away from the map of the school and looking over the part showing the Forbidden Forest. "Highlight alarm incursion."
A large glowing yellow circle suddenly appeared deep in the forest, at the very edge of the map. Everyone walked up to the highlighted area. None of them could repress a grimace at the sight that greeted them there.
No wonder the alarms went off.
As Harry had said earlier, it was Dementors. Lots of Dementors. Hundreds of them were crowded around in a clearing about four and a half miles within the forest. Their sickly green dots were drifting about in small groups of five or six as other dots representing other kinds of dark creatures wove between them.
"Still think the odds are in our favour, Potter?" asked Snape. "There must be nearly two hundred Dementors here. That's almost the entire compliment from Azkaban."
Harry smirked and motioned at the map. "You forgot to mention the mountain, cave and forest trolls. About fifty of those from what I can tell. Not to mention the Acromantulas."
"Spiders?" asked Ron, feeling the blood draining from his face.
"Yeah," confirmed Ginny, pointing to one side of the clearing, "a couple of dozen at least. Voldemort must have promised them a free meal."
"In other words, us," summed up Hermione, looking worriedly at Ron.
"Spiders?"
Harry was looking speculatively at the map, a frown on his brow. After a few moments he nodded and pointed to the centre of the clearing. "I think this is just a preliminary attack. He's only testing our defences. Seeing what we're capable of."
McGonagall looked at where he was indicating and asked, "What makes you say that?"
"He has only five Death Eaters accompanying him," noted Dumbledore, stroking his beard.
"Exactly," agreed Harry.
Ron was now paying attention to the details displayed at their feet, his mind already working on cataloguing what they were up against. A growl from Snuffles made him take a closer look as the six wizards marked in the clearing. He immediately recognized the names of three of the Death Eaters: Malfoy, MacNair and Pettigrew. But it was Voldemort's dot that drew his attention.
Now this is... disturbing.
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
Unknown: Death Eater
"Why's Vo - er, You-Know-Who listed as unknown?" he asked after a moment thought.
Harry unconsciously rubbed the crook of his right elbow and grimaced. "He's not exactly human anymore. He's something... else. Something worse."
Hermione motioned at map. "They're starting to move."
Spiders? Oh heck.
***
"Activate Hogwarts Defences."
Harry's words were immediately followed by a deep rumble that reverberated throughout the auditorium. A strange feeling enveloped Ginny, as if her feet were about to lift off the floor.
It feels like I'm diving on a broom.
"This feels like - like a Muggle elevator," muttered Hermione, looking questioningly at Harry. "We're going down? Beneath the castle?"
"Yes," confirmed Harry with a nod, "when the defences are activated, this room descends five hundred yards underground. We're completely inaccessible from the outside."
One of the Aurors, who had strode onto the stage, glared furiously at him. "Then how in Hades are we supposed to do anything if we're completely cut off?"
Dumbledore placed a calming hand on the Auror's shoulder and said, "Calm down, Thomas. I believe Harry said that we are only inaccessible from the outside. Not the inside."
"But how do we get out?" asked another Auror, this one sounding much calmer than her compatriot. "I mean, even so far down we're still inside the Hogwarts anti-Apparation wards."
"And there's an additional anti-Apparation ward around the auditorium as well," admitted Harry, his grin broadening as the two Aurors looked dumbstruck. "Even if the school's wards were to come down, this room has a completely separate set of protective wards and barriers."
"So how do we get out, Harry?" asked Ginny, thinking that this certainly explained his fatigue over the last few months. Even with the power supplied by the Order, putting all this together was no small task.
How did he manage to do it without anyone noticing? she wondered. He's hardly ever left alone these days.
The rumbling had finally stopped as Harry indicated the rear wall of the auditorium, where several large cabinets had risen up from the floor. Or perhaps it had been the room that had lowered itself down to their level. In any case, Harry strode to the central and largest of the cabinets and swung its doors open.
"With these," he declared.
Hanging within the cabinet, tucked closely together, was a mass of brightly coloured rings. They were made of some sort of plastic and were about a metre across and as thick around as Ginny's thumb. She exchanged a mystified look with her brother, who shrugged with equal puzzlement.
"Muggle hula hoops?" asked Hermione, identifying the strange objects by name if not purpose.
What use would even Muggles find for these things? wondered Ginny, utterly perplexed.
"Portkeys," corrected Harry, "each one easily capable of accommodating a dozen people without crowding. A hundred of them in all. Just hold one in your hands and say 'deliver us from evil' and you'll be taken to a safe location."
Lupin had plucked one of the hula hoops from the cabinet and was inspecting it with a critical eye. He looked up from the Portkey and asked, "A safe location? Where?"
"The promenade courtyard outside the Auror headquarters building at the Ministry," supplied Harry with a smirk directed at the stumped Aurors. "They're one use only, so there is no need to worry about anyone using them to get in. Besides, I included a translocation barrier around the auditorium as well. We can Portkey out, but not in."
The female Auror stepped forward again. "But if we're transported all the way to the Ministry, You-Know-Who will have free run of the school before we can get back." She waved a hand at the rows of hula hoops. "You've given us a wonderful way out, but there's no way for us to hold the school against his attack."
Ginny looked at Harry, whose smirk seemed to broaden. Seeing the gleam in his eyes, she just knew that this was all only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. He turned back to the centre of the stage and said in an authoritative voice, "Scale to one mile radius."
There was an immediate reaction as the a map of Hogwarts blossomed to several times its prior size and finer details became apparent. The dots representing those within the castle were now more readily discernable at a glance. But there was something that caught Ginny's eye beyond these changes, something about Hogwarts that was different.
"What in the world?" asked McGonagall, looking at the map in consternation. "Every entrance, exit and window has been... sealed off."
"The barrier shields are a metre thick and made from layers of granite and basalt," Harry explained, circling around in what Ginny recognised as his lecturing mode. "The outermost layer is also coated in an interwoven mesh of quartz, diamond and copper that can either absorb or reflect a wide variety of energies and spells."
Dumbledore looked impressed. "So Voldemort is now unable to enter the school, even though we are not able to defend it from our current position."
Harry grinned, "I never said that. Look at the ramparts. They're still clear, just like the Founders designed them for. All you need are these." He had made his way back to the rear cabinets and opened the one next to the evacuation Portkeys. Inside were what looked like several hundred thick gold bracelets, arrayed in neat rows.
"Jewellery?" asked Snape, "these are going to help us defend the school?"
"They are not simple bracelets, my friend," announced Dumbledore with a gleam in his eyes, "If I am not mistaken, these too are Portkeys. Ones that will transport us back to the surface and within the now sealed halls of Hogwarts."
Harry confirmed Dumbledore's words with a nod. "Precisely. Just say 'deploy' while you're wearing one and it will key you into the Great Hall. If you're in trouble or injured, say 'evacuate' and you'll be taken to the Ministry like the others. You'll also be able to hear whatever anyone else wearing one says."
The male Auror, Thomas, frowned. "So once we use them to get back out, there's no way for us to get back inside here?"
"If you're wearing a Portkey you can be brought back in by someone that's already here," replied Harry. "Whoever's running the show down here just has to touch your dot with their wand and say 'retrieve' and voila. It's the only exception to the translocation barrier."
"Good idea," said Ron. "It means that the Death Eaters can't steal one and use it to get inside."
"The command system is specifically keyed to select individuals, so any infiltrators won't be able to override anything." Harry pulled a reasonably thick, crisp and new book from a draw set within the cabinet, and handed it to Ron. "Read this. It's a manual explaining all the features and how to control them."
Ron took the book and looked down at it in surprise. "Why're you giving it to me?"
Ginny saw Hermione roll her eyes. "Honestly, Ron, isn't it obvious? Harry said that only certain people can use these new defences. You're one of them."
Harry nodded. "Most of you are, actually. Besides myself only Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore can use it. More people can be added later, the procedure is in the book."
"Why are you giving it to me then?" asked Ron. "Why not the professors?"
"I haven't been honing your chess game for the fun of it, Ron," explained Harry. "You're going to be coordinating our strategy from down here while the rest of us do the dirty work."
Ginny smiled at her brother as the blood drained out of his face, and the book dropped from his numb fingers. Funny how he seems more afraid of staying here than going out and fighting, she mused as Ron sputtered a feeble protest.
Harry's eyes were almost glowing in the subdued light of the auditorium as he slipped one of the Portkey bracelets around his wrist and started handing them out to the others. His expression was a mixture of the excitement that coursed through his veins before and during playing Quidditch and the grim determination he had exhibited after the attack on Hogsmeade.
God, I can literally feel the power radiating from him.
"I think it's time Voldemort and I had nice, quiet chat."
TBC...