FicWad

Chapter Thirty Eight: Triple Crossed

For a few days, the entire school was abuzz about the Quidditch final that occurred between Hufflepuff and Slytherin, everyone analyzing the game and talking about each play, along with what the Hufflepuff team might have done differently to win the game. Hailey even admitted that looking back, there were some things that the Hufflepuff team could have done differently, that were not as obvious when playing the game.

Talk unfortunately slowly died down as reality set in on the students of Hogwarts. Exams were rapidly approaching, with most students feeling the need to buckle down and study to achieve the best possible grades. Even known slackers could be found in the library, attempting to work hard.

The fifth years had the very frustrating and time consuming task of preparing for their Ordinary Wizarding Level tests. These tests determined what classes they would be allowed to take during their sixth and seventh years, which would give them their options of what career paths they would take. Unlike the regular yearly exams, it was a culmination of five years of magical learning, with every little bit of information they learned being subject to examination.

Ginny closed her fifth year Transfiguration book in relief, as Harry stood by, also studying for his sixth year exams as he gave Ginny what help he could.

“Remember Ginny, don’t try and memorize every word, it will cause you to forget more than you learn,” cautioned Harry. “You’ve been doing well enough this year, just lightly review so you’ll be prepared enough to recall anything that might come up.”

“I know but there’s just so much!” cried Ginny in frustration. “How do you do it Harry, you were able to do well on your O.W.Ls and you barely even studied!”

“Ginny, to be honest I really didn’t need to study, don’t ask me to explain how, I just recall everything better when I don’t commit text to mind,” replied Harry. “Please, don’t stress out about it, you’ll do great.”

“Harry, I’ll fail everything, I just see it coming, Mum and Dad will disown me and I’ll be disgraced,” said Ginny in a worried voice and Harry found it a bit amusing that these particular exams turned normally strong willed individuals into worried wrecks.

“Ginny, relax,” replied Harry as he placed his hand on her shoulder. “Take a deep breath, count to ten.”

“It’s not helping,” muttered Ginny but she sat down, slowly calming down. “I’m sorry Harry, it’s just that…”

“The O.W.Ls are driving you to a verge of a psychotic breakdown,” responded Harry who was barely able to suppress a smirk.

“Yes,” said Ginny in a frustrated voice. “You’ve got enough to worry about, with…”

“Everything going on with Voldemort and not knowing exactly what he’s up to,” responded Harry. “Ginny…”

“Seriously it’s no trouble at all,” said Ginny before she shook her head, with a bit of a weak smile crossing her face. “Wow, we have had this conversation so many times, that we can finish each other’s sentences.”

“That or we know each other all too well, and Ginny, we haven’t had this particular conversation,” replied Harry. “Only about ten or eleven times, no big deal really.”

Ginny laughed in better spirits for a short time, before she sighed realizing that she needed to get back to work. She had enough time to quickly look over the first couple of years of Potions, before she joined Harry for lunch and then it was back to work, with the exams beginning on Monday, Ginny only needed to complete her studying on Potions and then she could try to take the day before the O.W.L. exams off.

After what seemed like an eternity of intense studying, but was really only about an hour, Ginny checked her watch.

“Time to go to lunch?” suggested Harry.

“Yes, I suppose we better,” responded Ginny as she blearily got up, before she followed Harry, gripping his hand as Harry climbed up towards the exit to the Slytherin library, before he used his wand to open the archway before leading Ginny through. Once Harry passed, the exit sealed itself, resuming its normal appearance of a brick wall to everyone but Harry.

A grunt was heard which caused Harry and Ginny to both stop in their tracks, before they pulled their wands out and looked forward. A clunk echoed and another clunk, before the battered form of Draco Malfoy appeared from a corridor off to the side, before he collapsed against the wall, before he turned his bruised and cut up face towards Harry, with a hand on his ribs and a pained expression on his face.

“What happened to you?” demanded Ginny calmly.

“Death Eaters…attack..found…out…about…passing information,” breathed Malfoy, as he slid across the wall. “In the school…now…tell…someone”

Malfoy very nearly passed out from the pain.

“Stay right there, Malfoy,” ordered Harry before he motioned for Ginny to follow him into another corridor. With a wave of his wand, Harry opened a classroom door before he pulled Ginny into an abandoned classroom and they closed the door.

‘I don’t know who he thinks he’s fooling,” whispered Ginny. “That’s a make up job so obvious that even a first year can figure it out and he was being too over dramatic for being injured.”

“Well, he’s trying to fool me, this could be his plan,” responded Harry. “A very poor plan granted, but it just proves that Malfoy’s up to something.”

Harry reached into his pocket, removing the Marauder’s Map. He didn’t know why, but something told him that it would be a good idea to check it.

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good,” muttered Harry and the map became visible. After a few seconds of looking at the map, an alarmed look appeared on Harry.

“What is it?” asked Ginny and Harry handed her the map.

“Look at the Divination tower area,” said Harry and Ginny looked at the map before her eyes widened at the name on the map. “Go get Mum, we need to prepare, as there appears to be a security breach in Hogwarts and I doubt that anyone is aware of it if my suspicions are right.”

“What are you going to do Harry?” questioned Ginny.

“I’m going to pretend to fall for Malfoy’s little charade,” responded Harry calmly.

“Be careful, please,” said Ginny as she kissed Harry good bye.

“Okay, Ginny, I will, it’s not like Malfoy can get the jump on me,” replied Harry calmly. “I can handle whatever that twitchy little twerp throws at me.”

“Okay, I guess, good luck Harry, I love you,” said Ginny.

“Love you too Ginny, bye,” said Harry as he parted ways with her as Ginny went towards Harry’s office before Harry rejoined Malfoy, ready to defend himself at a second’s notice.

“So, Potter, you’ve sent..for…help,” responded Malfoy with a pained grimace.

“Yes, Malfoy, do lead the way, I’ll be able to send word where they are but I may be able to take them by surprise,” answered Harry in a cool voice and Malfoy nodded, clutching his cheek, before he staggered down the hallway, clinging onto the wall as he moved step to step with Harry following behind.

Malfoy stopped, as he dropped to one knee, before he collapsed to his knees, and looked to be struggling to breath. With a shaky motion, Malfoy extended his arm outwards and pointed towards a tapestry that lead through a corridor that sometimes was used as a shortcut, before he dropped to his hands and knees.

“Through there Potter,” breathed Malfoy and Harry turned, before he stepped forward and pulled back the tapestry.

In a flash, Malfoy popped up to his feet, not injured at all and pulled out a sickly looking yellow vial and flung it into the corridor behind Harry. He used his wand to seal the tapestry to the wall, blocking all air from coming in and out, just seconds before a loud explosion was heard from inside the corridor and the biggest smirk ever appeared on Malfoy’s face.

He had done what no one else had done, he had killed Harry Potter!

Lily looked up from the work at her desk as she saw an incoming person coming towards her office. When she saw it was Ginny and the urgent look on her face, Lily quickly disabled the defenses to allow Ginny inside. Sure enough, Ginny bolted into the office, the Marauder’s Map in her hand.

“Ginny, calm down, what is it,” prompted Lily.

“We just got back from the Slytherin Library on our way to lunch when Malfoy came to us, saying that Death Eaters had invaded the school and had discovered that he had been passing information to Harry,” explained Ginny quickly. “Harry naturally saw through his ruse but was willing to play along long enough to see what Malfoy was up to and went off with him. Before he did, he checked the Marauder’s Map and well…”

Ginny held out the map, pointing to the intruder that Harry had noticed and pointed out to her just moments ago and Lily gasped as she looked right at the dot on the map.

“Heading towards the seventh floor,” muttered Lily gravely.

“There’s nothing important up there, except for…” started Ginny before her eyes widened in realization. “Oh bloody hell!”

“Exactly,” answered Lily as she traced the route with her finger, examining the map as quickly as she could. “We might be able to beat her there, but we’re going to have to work quickly.”

Lily walked over and threw a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace.

“Minerva, are you in your office?” asked Lily.

“Yes, Lily, I am, what seems to be the problem?” responded the voice of Professor McGonagall as she poked her head out of the fireplace.

“No time to explain exactly how I know, but there’s a Death Eater in Hogwarts, heading towards the seventh floor,” said Lily quickly.

“I will inform the other teachers to head there right now and Dumbledore as well if I can find him,” said McGonagall, who was all too aware that Dumbledore had not been seen at Hogwarts in several weeks, always away on business of some sort, only returning briefly to attend his counseling sessions with Malfoy.

“Do that, because if this Death Eater gets to the seventh floor, they will be able to use open up a doorway to allow others into the school,” added Lily in a grave voice and McGonagall nodded before she disappeared to sound the alarm.

Lily quickly waved her wand to contact the members of the resistance group, just in case the teachers couldn’t reach the seventh floor in time and there were too many Death Eaters brought in to Hogwarts for them to fight.

“Ginny, keep your wand ready at all times, we need to get to the seventh floor,” said Lily.

“You mean you want me to join you?” asked Ginny in surprise.

“Ginny, you’re an assistant teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts, that should be good enough,” said Lily quickly as the two left the office to take a shortcut to the seventh floor.

Malfoy continued to look smug as he looked at the corridor where Harry Potter would have likely to have been poisoned by essence of Nundu breath.

“Potter, you’ve ruined my life for six years, now I ended yours!” cheered Draco in a triumphant voice.

“Not yet, Draco,” answered a calm voice and Draco spun around, to see Potter standing there, who was very much alive.

“Potter, why in the hell aren’t you dead?” demanded Malfoy. “There is no way you could have survived being poisoned.”

“Right Draco, that plan was brilliant, it would have been more brilliant if I hadn’t seen through your entire scheme,” said Harry and Malfoy’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s right Malfoy, I knew you were up to something this year but I guess you couldn’t be above petty revenge.”

“My plan was foolproof Potter!” yelled Malfoy who was getting more and more upset by the moment, a year of hard work wasted.

“You’re the fool Malfoy,” taunted Harry. “You couldn’t kill me, you don’t have the ability to kill anything.”

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” cried Malfoy and the green light sped towards Harry and connected but Harry just vanished in mid air.

“Malfoy, I told you I was in control,” responded Harry, as he stood. “Holographic projection spells are fun, aren’t they Malfoy?”

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” yelled Malfoy but that particular Harry vanished in mid air and Malfoy looked on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum but he also felt a bit weakened by throwing a pair of killing curses at Harry. “Potter, fight me face to face.”

“That wouldn’t be very Slytherin of me, Malfoy,” responded Harry who stood right before Malfoy. “Come on Malfoy, one more time, third time might be the charm with the Killing Curse.”

“No, Potter, I’m not falling for you little hologram tricks,” said Malfoy but Harry reached out and snatched Malfoy’s wand with his bare hands before he grabbed the Malfoy heir by the arm and flung him to the ground.

Harry bent down and hoisted up Malfoy, until the two wizards were face to face, with Harry kicking Malfoy’s wand away.

“Now, Malfoy, exactly how did your associate get into Hogwarts!” demanded Harry.

“Potter, what are you talking about?” asked Malfoy, with confusion etched upon his face.

“Don’t play dumb with me, there is at least one other Death Eater besides you, Malfoy,” responded Harry.

“I don’t know where you’re getting your information Potter, but you know nothing about it,” whimpered Malfoy. “Now let me go!”

“Not until you tell me the truth,” said Harry in his most dangerous voice, as he was in perfect position to snap Malfoy’s neck with his bare hands if he wanted to, but if he did, he wouldn’t learn anything.

“ATTENTION! All teachers report up to the seventh floor, there has been a breach of security at Hogwarts, all prefects are to escort the students of their respective houses back to their dormitories!” boomed the voice of Professor McGonagall. “I repeat, all teachers to the seventh floor and all prefects will escort their students to their dormitories!”

“I had nothing to do with this Potter!” begged Malfoy.

“There’s only one way to find out,” said Harry as he looked right into Malfoy’s eyes. Malfoy’s Occulmency was fairly decent, but Harry broke through Malfoy’s defenses in less than thirty seconds, Harry was able to shift towards Malfoy’s mind with little effort, shoving together his false thoughts to determine the truth.

“Potter, stop it, you aren’t authorized to poke around in my head, I’ll have you arrested!” yelled Malfoy but Harry silenced Malfoy with a wave of his wand before he finished his work and dropped Malfoy to the ground before he burst out in laughter.

Malfoy looked up at Harry in astonishment, with a befuddled look on his face.

“What do you think is so funny?” demanded Malfoy.

“Malfoy, you really think that Voldemort would entrust you with killing me?” responded Harry in an amused tone, as the amount of confidence that Malfoy thought Voldemort had in him was extremely naïve.

“I happen to know that the Dark Lord has the uttermost faith in me Potter,” answered Malfoy in self assured tone.

“You are nothing but a mere amusement for Voldemort, Malfoy,” explained Harry. “He set you up to fail because your father failed. You are nothing but an example Malfoy, he never expected you to get close to killing me. You were set up.”

“Lies Potter!” shouted Malfoy as he made his way towards his wand but Harry leapt up and knocked Malfoy to the side.

“Listen to me Malfoy and listen to me good, Voldemort doesn’t give a damn about you,” responded Harry. “If you had any measure of what Voldemort was truly like, you would know that he would only want to kill me personally. He doesn’t rely on others to do what he feels is necessary.”

“I’ll still kill you Potter,” responded Malfoy but Harry flicked his wand and sent Malfoy flying halfway across the hallway and out of sight.

Lily and Ginny exited the short cut towards the seventh floor, to see Professor Trelawney moving quickly towards the Room of Requirement but she stopped abruptly when she saw that she had company.

“Professor Potter, how very interesting to see you up here, but of course I foresaw it!” exclaimed Trelawney as she looked at Lily and Ginny through her spectacles. “I heard the announcement about the security breach but perhaps if I step inside this room, I’ll be able to take the intruders by surprise.”

Lily glanced at the map, before she looked up at Trelawney and pulled out her wand.

“No that won’t be necessary…Bellatrix,” said Lily before she sent a jet of red light at her opponent to immobilize her but Bellatrix managed to block it and sent a ball of black fire back at Lily. That attack was blocked as well.

“Exactly how did you know it was me, you filthy Mudblood!” shouted Bellatrix, a sentence that looked very strange coming from Trelawney’s mouth and the other teachers made their way up the stairs, wands withdrawn as they looked at Trelawney curiously.

“Does it matter?” asked Lily calmly as she stepped forward with her wand pointed at Bellatrix. “Where is the real Trelawney?”

“Her mind is either broken or dead from the efforts that the Dark Lord’s attempt to extract the information from her brain,” said Bellatrix as she held her wand and looked at the teachers and Ginny, a calculating look in her eyes. “Nine against one, that’s not fair, it looks like I’m going to have to add something to even the score.”

Bellatrix waved her wand and a cloud of green smoke appeared, cloaking her appearance. Ginny shot ropes from her wand but they wrapped around the air harmlessly as Bellatrix slipped away and into the Room of Requirement, shutting the door opened. The teachers pushed the smoke away with their wands but the door had vanished, and Bellatrix was inside the room.

“She got inside,” said McGonagall in a frustrated voice, her Gryffindor nature shining through her stern demeanor but to her credit, she held her wand steady.

“We couldn’t handle one Death Eater and she’s likely to bring back more,” responded Sprout in a worried voice.

“We won’t get caught off guard this time, we’ll be prepared for them,” said Flitwick as he waved his wand.

“Yes, but do any of you have any ideas on what exactly they are up to?” asked Lily, with her eyes resting on Snape as she asked this question.

“No, we have to wait and see,” said Snape calmly and true enough, this little move by Bellatrix was news to him, the Dark Lord had not exactly told him of any plans to invade Hogwarts.

After a moment of intense waiting, the door began to materialize and the door pushed open. The teachers and Ginny all raised their wands, ready for whatever would come out of that room.

Several black shapes whizzed out of the room and the area around them went completely black.

“Instant darkness powder!” yelled Ginny. “Our wands won’t even be able to penetrate it until it fades!”

“Scatter, split their defenses!” yelled a Death Eater, who could see perfectly in the dark, as they were wearing night vision goggles, modified to work around the magic in the air at Hogwarts.

“Try and find your way through the dark, the powder’s only contained to this corridor,” said McGonagall’s voice but her suggestion was much easier said then done as it would be a few moments before they were able to make their way to the dark.

Harry walked through the hallway but Malfoy would not be shaken off as he stood face to face with Harry, his wand held out, with a look of utter contempt etched upon Draco’s face and Harry turned slightly, with his wand also ready.

“We’re going to finish this Potter, I’m not giving up until you’re dead,” said Malfoy.

“Malfoy, I don’t have time for you, there are more pressing matters at hand,” responded Harry.

“Face me Potter, unless you’re scared!” taunted Malfoy as he shot a grey jet of light at Harry which the Boy-Who-Lived effortlessly deflected.

“Malfoy, I don’t have time,” repeated Harry. “It’s not a matter of fear, there is a more dangerous threat than you could ever hope to be, Malfoy.”

Before Malfoy even had a chance to argue with Harry, three figures entered the room.

“Potter’s right, Draco!” chorused a Death Eater who Harry recognized as Alecto Carrow, who had very nearly avoided being captured by Harry’s resistance group recently. She was joined by two Death Eaters that Harry didn’t recognized.

“Ah, just in time to see me finish off Potter!” yelled Draco as he waved his wand.

“No that won’t happen, Draco,” responded one of the Death Eaters in a gruff voice. “You will come to us. The Dark Lord wishes to deal with you personally.”

“No, I have to kill Potter, it’s my right, you can’t take this away from me!” argued Draco as he stood to face the Death Eaters.

“The Dark Lord wants you alive, so he can deal with you personally and make your father see the price of failure, but he said nothing about roughing you up a little bit,” said the third Death Eater before he turned to Harry. “Potter, I would suggest you leave and let us finish our business here, and we might allow you to live until the Dark Lord is ready to finish his business with you.”

“Yes, Potter, for once you’re not our objective, this inept child is, so do run off and we’ll leave at once,” added Alecto as she held her wand between her stubby fingers and pointed it at Draco, while stepping back and allowing a chance for Harry to depart.

“An extremely tempting offer, but I think I’ll pass because quite frankly I don’t trust you to keep your world” admitted Harry before he used his wand to shoot a barrage of arrows at the Death Eaters, forcing them to put up shields charms. Spinning around quickly, Harry turned to face Malfoy. “Follow me if you want to live!”

Harry made his way down the hallway with Malfoy following closely behind.

“Best to keep moving, they won’t give up yet and there may very well be more if Bellatrix left them in,” said Harry in an absent minded voice.

“Potter, why did you save me?” demanded Malfoy. “I wouldn’t have done it for you.”

“Just because you would have left me for dead doesn’t mean I have to follow the same deplorable conduct as you do, Malfoy,” hissed Harry angrily. “Besides, if I let you die, you wouldn’t have lived long enough to realize that I was right, you were being set up for a fall by Voldemort because of your father’s failure.”

“Fine Potter, you were right, happy,” said Malfoy in an irritable voice. “Doesn’t change the fact that I want you dead.”

The sound of approaching footsteps indicated that Death Eaters were coming but Malfoy had quickly slipped through a side door, which left Harry alone, not that having Malfoy there would have helped any.

“Typical,” muttered Harry as he stood in a battle stance, ready to fight.

“That little parlor trick back there was amusing Potter,” remarked Alecto as she walked into the room with her two Death Eaters. “However, there is still time to cooperate with us, so show us where Malfoy is and we won’t have to teach you a lesson.”

“Better begin teaching because Malfoy just bolted out of here the second that he heard you coming,” said Harry.

“Insolent boy,” said a gruff voiced Death Eater as he sent a jet of yellow light at Harry which was quickly deflected by Alecto.

“The Dark Lord left very clear instructions to leave Potter alive,” hissed Alecto. “Nothing lethal…”

Alecto was cut off when she was hoisted a few feet off the ground by Harry who whipped his arm, using the Death Eater as a projectile, her body smashed into the other two Death Eaters. Harry quickly blasted their wands out of reach, before he leapt up other them and shot ropes from his wind, binding the Death Eaters. With another flick, they were suspended upside down, hanging from the ceiling.

“Now that should keep you three out of trouble, while I go help take care of your other playmates,” said Harry, before he pulled out his mirror and tapped his wand to it. “Ginny, are you here?”

Harry looked at the mirror, as a faint light appeared on it, but mostly darkness as he heard Ginny’s voice on the other end.

“Yes Harry, sorry about the lack of visibility, but a bunch of Death Eaters just launched an entire crate of instant darkness powder into the corridors,” said Ginny. “Hang on, I’m looking at the map right now, there appears to be at least thirty names on here that have been confirmed into Death Eaters.”

“That’s not counting the unconfirmed ones,” responded Harry darkly and Ginny shook her head.

“Lily called the resistance group, in fact, I believe Remus is leading them in through the Shrieking Shack,” added Ginny. “The McGonagall also contacted the Ministry, not sure exactly how much help they’re going to give us. We don’t even know where Dumbledore is right now.”

“Doesn’t matter, Ginny, be careful, I’m going to see if I can find where Malfoy went off to,” said Harry and Ginny looked at Harry curiously. “The Death Eaters are after him and as long as he’s in the school, everyone’s in danger.”

“Okay Harry, I’m going to join the teachers, they look like they need all the help they can get,” said Ginny and Harry just nodded, as Ginny’s face faded from the mirror, as Harry made his down the corridors, ready to join the fight.

McGonagall had her wand out, when she came face to face with Albus Dumbledore.

“Headmaster it’s only you,” responded McGonagall in a relieved voice.

“Ah yes, Minerva, I heard the strangest rumors that forced me to rush back here,” responded Dumbledore.

“If you heard about Bellatrix Lestrange posing as our Divination Teacher under Polyjuice Potion and letting a whole swarm of Death Eaters into the school, then that about sums up everything,” said McGonagall dryly.

Dumbledore looked at McGonagall with astonishment, he wouldn’t have suspected Riddle to try the same plan twice, but Voldemort was full of surprises. He had only came out of hiding to take control of Draco’s body, as he was running out of time in his rapidly decomposing body in his office and was unable to control this puppet form that he presented to the world for much longer.

“Very well, I shall help secure the school, these Death Eaters cannot be allowed to leave, contact the Order for backup,” prompted Dumbledore and McGonagall nodded, before she made her way quickly to her office.

Harry rushed forward, having heard scuffled sounds of fighting and saw a Death Eater stagger backwards, before he threw a curse over his shoulder. Daphne entered and attempted to bind the Death Eater but he managed to block her attack and Harry looked into the corridor to see Theodore fight another Death Eater. A vicious looking curse was dodged and Theodore waved his wand, before the arms and legs of the Death Eater snapped together and he fell to the ground rigid.

Daphne cursed as the other Death Eater had summoned a chair into her path and make his way down the corridor, to regain his bearings.

“Theodore, I’m sorry, it looks like he got away,” declared Daphne.

“Well, Dad always has been a slippery one,” said Theodore casually before he turned to Harry. “Hello Harry, fancy meeting you here.”

“Hi, Daphne, Theodore,” responded Harry. “I thought everyone was supposed to be escorted back to their common rooms by the prefects.”

“They were, but those plans changed when Death Eaters poured into the school from every which direction, its mass chaos,” said Daphne fretfully. “Most of the younger students were rounded off, before the prefects along with many of the other students joined the fight, but others were cut off from the main group.”

Harry placed his hand on his forehead, he had a funny feeling that Hailey was one of those younger students who had decided to slip off and knowing her, she wanted to attempt to help.

“So your father, Theodore,” said Harry.

“Yes, he didn’t seem too happy about my decision to join Voldemort but Daphne managed to catch him off guard before he could do anything,” responded Theodore. “So, what’s up with you Harry, you looked like you’re looking for someone?”

“Draco Malfoy, they’re after him apparently, but he ran off and he’s putting the whole school in danger,” answered Harry. “You two haven’t happened to see him have you?”

“Malfoy just happened to nearly side swipe us just a few minutes before we met up with Theodore’s father,” answered Daphne. “He seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, he shouldn’t have gotten too far, went about that way.”

“Thanks,” said Harry gratefully. “I’ll see you two later.”

“All right, take care Harry,” said Daphne as Theodore nodded at her side before Harry quickly made his way off to grab Malfoy before he got someone killed with his attitude.

“Sirius I can’t believe you came here, don’t you have any sense?” demanded Lily as she had saw a good chunk of the resistance group had managed to find their way to Hogwarts. “If anyone sees you…”

“Lily, Remus was visiting me when I heard your little message, I couldn’t just pass up the opportunity to help,” argued Sirius.

“Lily, believe me I tried, but Sirius was insistent,” said Remus calmly.

“Fine Sirius, but it’s not like if you get caught, we’re be able to magically get our hands on Pettigrew and prove your innocence,” replied Lily. “That’s the only proof that the Ministry will accept and anything less…”

“Finding Pettigrew might not be that much of a problem, considering he’s right in Hogwarts,” said Ginny as she examined the map closely and that got the attention of everyone around her, as they crowded around the map.

“Must of snuck in with the other Death Eaters,” suggested Remus calmly and Sirius looked ready to have a little talk with Pettigrew.

“Locating all the Death Eaters is important,” responded Ginny. “Sirius, I know what you’re thinking but we do still need Wormtail alive.”

“She’s right,” said Lily. “In fact, Ginny, give me the map, I’m going to go after Peter myself, I haven’t had the chance to properly thank him for betraying our whereabouts to Voldemort.”

Ginny did as she was told.

“Okay, split up into teams and everyone take a floor, do everything in your power to make sure the Death Eaters don’t escape,” concluded Lily before she made her way off as the members of the resistance group talked amongst themselves quickly about how to best divide up. It was a bit of a difficult approach, as they didn’t have the exact number of Death Eaters they were dealing with per floor but it was worked out before they split up.

Severus Snape crept around, removed from the chaos that Bellatrix had induced when she had used the Room of Requirement to draw Death Eaters into the school. It would be best if he had just stayed out of the way and picked his shots carefully.

“Severus, a word,” said Dumbledore quietly and Snape turned around in surprise, but Dumbledore didn’t seem to be too pleased with Snape at the moment.

“Headmaster…” started Snape.

“You should have told me of Bellatrix’s plan to invade Hogwarts,” said Dumbledore coldly.

“I was unaware of it, Headmaster,” remarked Snape calmly. “The Dark Lord keeps…”

“You are not gaining Lord Voldemort’s trust enough, as Lestrange would have had to been in the castle the entire year,” whispered Dumbledore.

“To be fair, I did tell you that The Dark Lord told me brew a large amount of Polyjuice Potion,” answered Snape briskly.

“Yes, I should have saw the signs,” admitted Dumbledore. “Still, I was in contact with what few Order members we could get into Hogwarts; it is of uttermost importance that I bring Draco to my office within the next twenty four hours.”

“Potter or the Death Eaters may very well beat you to him, because they are looking for Draco too,” informed Snape and Dumbledore’s expression became grave.

“It is of importance that we get to Draco before they do, otherwise an entire year’s of work in preparing the boy’s body and mind for the switch will be all for nothing,” ordered Dumbledore. “The Order may yet be able to find him, I told him he conspired with Bellatrix to flood the school with Death Eaters, so they won’t question him coming to my office for a few questions.”

“What of the Death Eaters, Headmaster?” asked Snape.

“Mr. Potter and his associates can take care of them,” said Dumbledore calmly, with a manic twinkle in his eye. “The Malfoy boy’s body is more important to the grand plan.”

Snape walked off to assist the Order and Dumbledore turned before he came face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange.

“Dumbly, didn’t your mother tell you that it wasn’t nice to manipulate other people to do your dirty work?” asked Bellatrix in a mock motherly voice.

“Bellatrix, I’ll have to ask you to surrender and I might suggest that you gain a lighter sentence when you are put back in Azkaban,” said Dumbledore as he held his wand out, hoping to avoid a fight, as he was using all of his magic to control the puppet duplicate that was facing off against Bellatrix.

“Dumbledore, your power becomes meaningless, give it up, Harry Potter has taken your place!” taunted Bellatrix. “Even the Dark Lord understands it, you are nothing but a holdover from another era, you can’t pose even the slightest threat to us, anyone who was good in your little Order has either been killed by us or switched their allegiances to a more proactive leader.”

Dumbledore attempted to catch Bellatrix off guard with a stunner but she blocked it.

“Stunners, Dumbledore, how fourth year of you!” taunted Bellatrix. “Surely in the last century and a half you might have picked up some tricks that might be of use. I’ll give you this one for free!”

Bellatrix blasted a rope covered in black flames from her wand and Dumbledore stepped back and managed to transfigure it into a harmless ribbon, the effort taking a great deal out of Dumbledore and he attempted to immobilize the crazed Death Eater but she sliced his ropes with a quick flick of her wrist.

“Ah, getting tired, Albus?’ asked Bellatrix in a mock baby voice. “That’s the trouble with you men, you can’t control your wands!”

Dumbledore fired two more rapid fire curses which Bellatrix blocked and Dumbledore felt his consciousness beginning to fade, the projection spell weakening because of all the magic he was expending against Bellatrix.

A flesh rotting curse flew right towards Dumbledore and that took the wizard off balance. Bellatrix gained a fair bit of confidence after putting a spell past Dumbledore’s defenses and a jet of yellow acid flew from her wand, splashing against Dumbledore’s right arm. Dumbledore recoiled in pain as his wand clattered to the ground.

“It’s a shame that you would have to end like this Dumbledore,” said Bellatrix with mock regret before she shook her head, not catching Dumbledore’s suddenly vacant eyes. “Actually, it isn’t, AVADA KEDAVRA!”

The green light impacted Dumbledore in the chest and Bellatrix stepped back. She had half expected Dumbledore to find a way to avoid the Killing Curse, but it never came as Dumbledore’s body thumped to the ground, motionless.

“I killed Dumbledore,” whispered Bellatrix as she stepped forward and jabbed the corpse with her wand but there was no movement. “I KILLED DUMBLEDORE!”

The insane witch reared her head back in laughter as she stepped away from Dumbledore’s corpse, with a spring in her step and glee etched on her face, not to mention a whole boatload of confidence.

Harry made his way to see a few students, including Hermione, Luna, and Neville, engaging group of seven Death Eaters, with a little help from a few members of his resistance group.

“Good afternoon Harry,” said Luna as she managed to put one of the Death Eaters down. “I thought you’d join in on the fight sooner.”

“I would…” started Harry as a Death Eater attempted to sneak up on him, but Harry threw his fist backwards and popped the Death Eater in the nose.

“Yes, there were more Death Eaters here, but Malfoy showed up, he seemed to be in a hurry, so a trio of them followed Malfoy down that corridor,” added Hermione as she sent a jet of fire at the Death Eater she was fighting. “Only just before you arrived in fact.”

“Really, thanks Hermione,” said Harry quickly, as he made his way, he had caught up to Malfoy.

He saw Malfoy cornered as three Death Eaters advanced on him.

“I’ve got to admit it Draco, you managed to avoid us for a long time,” said Dolohov. “The Dark Lord would like a word with you…”

“A-hem,” coughed Harry and the three Death Eaters turned around to see Harry. “Forget about me.”

“Potter, the Dark Lord only wishes for us to bring young Draco, we will leave the others alone once he had been secured,” stated Dolohov. “So just leave us to our work…”

“Malfoy will be leaving today, but it won’t be to Voldemort, I’m bringing him straight to the American Wizarding Government headquarters, where he’ll be tried for attempted murder,” said Harry. “If he would have killed anyone, I would have no problem with you taking him, but he hasn’t under my watch.”

“Incapacitate Potter, I’ll deal with Malfoy,” ordered Dolohov but Harry acted first, as he wrapped thick cords around the first Death Eater. A jab from his wand caused the magical equivalent of an electrical shock to zap the Death Eater and drop him.

The second Death Eater attempted to aim a concussion curse at Harry but Harry dodged under that one and levitated a desk with his wand. He withdrew it and the desk dropped on the Death Eater’s head. With another wave of his wand, Harry caused the metal of the desk to wrap around the Death Eater, trapping him.

“Sending a pair of new recruits at me, Dolohov?” asked Harry.

“Potter, the Dark Lord wants you alive but he didn’t say anything about making you wish that you weren’t,” stated Dolohov as he slashed his wand towards Harry but a stone shield was conjured. The shield was sliced in half but it gave Harry the opportunity to dodge around Dolohov and throw a pair of shuriken at Dolohov which had temporarily broken Dolohov’s concentration and allowed Harry to swerve slightly around to confuse his opponent.

Draco watched the battle from underneath a desk as Dolohov attempted to injure Potter with another slicing curse and then Potter using a chair to block its effects. The chair shattered into millions of tiny tooth pick sized pieces. As Potter pulled out a dagger, Draco could have kicked himself, he nearly had forgotten about it. Reaching into the inside pocket with a smirk, Draco would have Potter on his back, dead yet.

Harry threw his dagger at Dolohov and knocked his wand out of his hand. Dolohov gave an angry bellow and Harry blasted Dolohov backwards, into a row of desks. Raising his wand, Harry prepared to finish off one of Voldemort’s most dangerous Death Eaters once and for all.

Harry stopped in pain as he felt something stab in the back of his leg. The world around him became all blurry before he collapsed on of the desks, breathing shallowly.

Draco slowly removed the Dagger of Lestrange from the back of Potter’s leg, he had done it, Potter had been so preoccupied with Dolohov that Draco seized his chance and had succeeded where the Dark Lord, along with several other Death Eaters, had failed.

Draco Malfoy had killed Harry Potter.