The Hogwarts Apprenticeship Program

The Battle

Ch 1

Percy

When our Dumbledore's Army galleons changed for the first time in nearly two years, we knew the final battle was coming. After coming back from our second war, we didn't want to go into another.

We had no choice. We had saved one family, we didn't want to lose another.

Since Annabeth and I had gotten back from the battle with Gaea, we'd been staying at Camp, mostly. We'd stayed away from school, mostly because neither of us wanted to have a flashback in the middle of a class. Tartarus had taken its toll on us, and we knew we'd never be the same.

We got over to Hogwarts as soon as we could. Chiron knew he couldn't keep us in camp, that we needed some time. We didn't tell him for what. Luckily Blackjack and Guido were up for a trip, as long as they got boxes of donuts at the end.

Or the beginning, or the middle, they didn't really care.

They managed to get us to Hogsmeade without an incident, and then flew off to the mountains to not get spotted. The last thing we needed was a group of clearsighted wizards spotting the two of them.

We managed to meet up with the rest of the DA in the Hog's Head. Everything was going as planned to defend the castle.

Annabeth and I had been listening to Potterwatch whenever we could after the war. We'd heard about the random killings and what had been going on at Hogwarts, but it was worse than we thought. Some of the kids looked like they had been whipped, some had black eyes, and some looked like they had been used as knife sharpeners. Everybody in the Room of Requirement was willing to fight against the Carrows, the two Death Eaters who had become Hogwarts teachers and the two who were responsible for the injuries, and of course Voldemort.

When the battle began, Annabeth and I did our best to get down by the lake, just in case. If we were overwhelmed or injured, I'd use the lake for help, but only then. Again, didn't want a clearsighted wizard seeing us.

Of course, nothing went to plan.

The Death Eaters seemed to realize we were friends with the Golden Trio. They came at us in large numbers, bringing monsters with them, although they didn't seem to see them. I was forced back to using Riptide instead of my wand, and once I had to summon a wave to push them back.

At one point I could see a large section of the wall of the castle collapse, with a boom like thunder that echoed across the castle grounds. Many people turned to look at the destruction, on both sides of the battle. It gave the rest of us an opportunity to take down a group of the Death Eaters before they could take us down.

When Voldemort's voice echoed across the fields, telling Harry to sacrifice himself to save the rest of us, I knew he would go. He had the same fatal flaw as me, although he didn't know it. Neither could live while the other survives... the prophecy had been on the floor in New Rome, along with my second Great Prophecy. Apparently they had both been in the Sibylline Books, all those years ago back in Rome...hard to think of both our lives being foretold centuries in advance. Guess that's why the two of us are friends.

Harry finally revealing himself at the end of the battle and killing Voldemort?...surprising, to say the least. We all thought he was dead, but that he had sacrificed himself for the good of us all. The same thing I would have done in his place. Stupid fatal flaw.

The lines of bodies in the Great Hall at the end of the battle reminded me of the end of the Battle of Manhattan. So many people had been lost, many of them friends of mine and the others'. Nobody wanted to deal with the losses at that moment. We all wanted a distraction from the destruction, anything at all. We were all very relieved when Professor McGonagall called a meeting of the seventh years.