Rain Ross and the Battle of Hogwarts (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Preparing for Battle

here is part two of the double update! its a little shorter, but I hope you like it!

Now, I should probably warn you before you start reading that this chapter gets REALLY CONFUSING because I will randomly switch point of view throughout the chapter. So, if you think that the point of view has been changed, it probably has. just roll with it. I did it like this to create the impression of chaos.

E N J O Y !

the image is of Hogwarts under siege

Preparing for Battle

The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall was dark and scattered with stars, and below it the four long House tables were lined with disheveled students, some in traveling cloaks, others in dressing gowns. Here and there shone the pearly white figures of the school ghosts. Every eye, living and dead, was fixed upon Professor McGonagall, who was speaking from the raised platform at the top of the Hall. Behind her stood the remaining teachers and the members of the Order of the Phoenix who had arrived to fight.

“...evacuation will be overseen by Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organize your House and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point.”

Many of the students looked petrified. However, Ernie stood up at the Hufflepuff table and shouted, “And what if we want to stay and fight?”

There was a smattering of applause.

“If you are of age, you may stay,” said Professor McGonagall.

“What about our things?” called a girl at the Ravenclaw table. “Our trunks, our owls?”

“We have no time to collect possessions,” said Professor McGonagall. “The important thing is to get you out of here safely.”

“Where’s Professor Snape?” shouted a girl from the Slytherin table that Rain recognized as one of the girls she had dropped Pansy on.

“He has, to use the common phrase, done a bunk,” replied Professor McGonagall, and a great cheer erupted from the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.

Rain saw Harry moving up the Hall alongside the Gryffindor table. As he passed, faces turned in his direction, and a great deal of whispering broke out in his wake. Rain was grateful that she did not have to deal with these whispers, even though her prophecy could have made her just as famous as him.

“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 different voice echoed throughout the Hall. It was high, cold, and clear: There was no telling from where it came; it seemed to issue from the walls themselves.

“I know that you are preparing to fight.” There were screams amongst the students, some of whom clutched each other, looking around in terror for the source of the sound.

Rain looked across the Great Hall and met Draco’s gaze.

Her eyes were wide with fear. Draco had to consciously hold himself back from jumping up and going to comfort her.

The Dark Lord’s voice echoed through the Hall again. “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.”

There was silence in the Hall now, the kind of silence that presses against the eardrums, that seems too huge to be contained by walls.

“Give me Harry Potter,” said the Dark Lord’s voice, “and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.