Chapter 61

"What are we going to do?" I asked. The Death Eaters and their army of Inferi were rapidly approaching Hogwarts. There was no way that we could provide an effective defence if nobody in the castle knew what was happening right outside their windows.

"I-I don't know," Blurryface said. "Even with everyone in the car, we can't fight the Death Eaters by ourselves. There are just too many of them." He landed the car in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, but nobody knew what to do once we were on the ground.

"Let's kill tonight," Sandman said. He opened the door and ran towards the Death Eaters. Horseshoe followed him, along with a few of the freed prisoners. I looked around frantically, hoping for another way out. I was far too small for this - I might as well have been part house elf. If I did what Sandman did, I would have been killed almost immediately. I had to do something though, for both Hogwarts and my much braver friends. I exited the car and ran along the outskirts of the forest, still wearing my black ski mask. I then entered the castle while the others held off the prisoners.

I ran like the devil, because those Death Eaters would never leave me alone. I ran through the Great Hall and into Professor McGonagall's office. Thankfully, the gargoyle did not ask for a password. I entered the office, and breathlessly told Professor McGonagall, "There's an army of Death Eaters and Inferi approaching Hogwarts. Pete, Joe, and a few others are holding them off for now, but we need reinforcements as quickly as possible."

"I will inform the students," Professor McGonagall said. "Thank you for your help." She got up from her desk and followed me into the Great Hall. "Sonorus," she said, pointing her wand at herself. Suddenly, her voice boomed throughout the castle. "All students, please come to the Great Hall! All students, please come to the Great Hall!"

Within a few minutes, all of the students in the school poured into the Great Hall. A few of them had already noticed the army of Death Eaters and were talking about it. "Did you see all of those people in masks?" one first year said. "They're so scary looking. What are they doing here?"

All of the students took a seat at their respective tables, and Professor McGonagall began to speak. "Students, it's time to do it now and do it loud. The Death Eaters are just outside the gates to the school, and this is our only chance to defend the school. For your safety, I am only allowing students seventeen and older to participate in the battle, but we are in desperate need of reinforcements. Any student who wishes to participate may step towards the gates."

Nearly all of the sixth and seventh year Hufflepuffs did so, as did many of the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. "If there's a future, we want it now!" Miss Jackson shouted with her wand raised in the air.

I followed them out of the castle, and as I did, I heard the clanking of suits of armour coming to life. "I finally got to use that spell again!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed. I looked back to see all of the teachers following us into the battle.

The situation on the battlefield was grim. As soon as we opened the gates, hundreds of Death Eaters and Inferi rushed towards us. I tried my hardest to remember how I was supposed to defeat Inferi, but thankfully, it came to me. "Incendio!" I exclaimed, pointing my wand at the nearest Inferius. It spontaneously burst into flames. I did a quick Flame-Freezing Charm in order to navigate my way through the battlefield, and I found Pete battling a Death Eater.

The Death Eater pointed his wand towards Mr Sandman. "Avada Kedav-"

"Expelliarmus!" I interrupted. The Death Eater's wand flew out of his hand, distracting him for one crucial moment.

"Stupefy!" Sandman exclaimed. The Death Eater fell to the ground, but more were approaching us. However, we had plenty of help from the other Hogwarts students.

Another Inferius approached me, but this one looked strangely familiar. The dead body had stringy, light brown hair and it was wearing a tattered Hogwarts uniform. Its most prominent feature, however, was a pair of rectangular glasses. This isn't just any Inferius, I realised. It's Mikey's corpse.

A few moments later, Mikey glided next to me. He looked into his Inferius' cloudy white eyes for a second, before pointing his wand at it. "Incendio," he said. The Inferius burned, destroying the last shred of life that Mikey had.

I continued to use the Fire Making Spell on all of the Inferi that I saw, but they just continued to come. The Death Eaters still hadn't surrendered, even with blood spilling on both sides. I saw more and more of my fellow students collapse, including Horseshoe. I wanted to rush over to make sure that he was okay, but if I did, I would have been killed. The Death Eaters were truly ruthless.

"Stop!" I heard a high-pitched voice say. I immediately recognised it as Enoby's. How did she get here? I wondered. "You're all thoroughly ruining Vlodemort Day!"

"Kill the little emo girl, Jugson," a Death Eater said. "She has desecrated the name of Lord Voldemort."

"Avada Kedavra!" Jugson shouted. A jet of green light hit Enoby, and she fell to the ground. The self-proclaimed "goff" that the Flying Car Brigade had worked so hard to save was dead.

I tore my eyes away from Enoby's dead body and focused on Jugson. "Confringo!" I exclaimed, and a large explosion caused him to fall backwards.

The Death Eater slowly got up, and was about to cast a curse on me, but Donnie interrupted him. "Pertrificus Totalus," he said. Jugson fell to the ground, unable to move.

Sandman, Donnie , and I took down a few more Inferi, and for a while, it seemed that we were winning. The Death Eaters were slowly decreasing in number, and nearly all of the Inferi were now ashes scattered across the ground. However, the Death Eaters had reinforcements. Just when it seemed like they were about to surrender, an entire army of Death Eaters and their allies joined the remaining Death Eaters on the battlefield.

Mrs Rowle was among the reinforcements, and once she saw Spooky, she took him by the arm. "Urie!" she shouted. "Come here!" Brendon looked very different from when he left Hogwarts. He still had the same large forehead and skinny build, but he had developed a bit of stubble and a scowl on his face. His eyes, however, seemed to lighten up when he saw Spooky. "I need you to kill this Mudblood," Rowle said. Brendon tried to protest, but Rowle interrupted him. "I thought you were the killer king," she said. "Just do it. Snatch his chain and mace his eyes if you need to. I just want to see this Muggle boy dead."

"I can't!" Brendon exclaimed. "He's my friend!"

"You're a Death Eater," Rowle said. "We don't have friends, especially not Mudbloods. Kill him."

Brendon raised his wand and pointed it and Josh. "Av-av-avada..." he stammered before lowering his wand. "I can't do it! I'd rather die than kill Josh!"

"Then you are a traitor to your own kind," Rowle said. She pointed her wand at Spooky. "Avada Ked-"

"Expelliarmus!" Brendon exclaimed, and Spooky, Brendon, and Rowle were suddenly locked into a deadly battle. Meanwhile, I was still trying to disarm, petrify, or trip as many Death Eaters as possible. Even though the Death Eaters had done nothing but hurt the people I loved, I couldn't bring myself to kill them.

It seemed as if everyone who could was helping us fight. Even Frank's dogs were participating. With Frank's Crup, Blurryface, as their leader, they took down several Death Eaters. "My name's Blurryface, and I care what you think!" Blurryface commanded. "My name's Blurryface, and I care what you think."

After defeating a few more Death Eaters, I came across a familiar face. "Ray?" I said, but he didn't respond. His eyes seemed strangely empty, and he stared me down as if I was some sort of prey. He's under the Imperius curse, I realised. He then looked away and focused on the guy in the chiffon skirt, who had apparently joined the fight. Ray pointed his wand towards him and said, "Avada Kedavra." The guy in the chiffon skirt didn't have enough time to react. A jet of green light hit him, and he fell to the ground. Brendon called out for him, but there was no way that he could hear. My neighbour was dead.

There was blood on Hogwarts grounds, gallons of the stuff. I had watched the guy in the chiffon skirt die, and there were several other students and Hogsmeade residents dead as well. There were also plenty of Death Eaters who had been defeated, but we were still outnumbered. It was a miracle when we finally got reinforcements in the form of the entire Auror Department.

Once the Aurors showed up, the Death Eaters fell in droves. We had finally regained hope, although that wouldn't erase the horrors that I had seen. Within the hour, Darren Travers himself surrendered to us. Hogwarts was saved.

I trudged back into the castle, covered in blood from various spells that had hit me. Once the Death Eaters were gone, I helped Horseshoe Crab, who had broken his leg in the battle, into the castle. I was glad that he was okay, but I was still scared. There was no guarantee that the Death Eaters wouldn't come again, although once negotiations within the Ministry were finished, it seemed unlikely. Nevertheless, the Flying Car Brigade had successfully defended Hogwarts, and that was certainly a huge achievement for six young Hogwarts students.