DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.

A/N: If anyone wants me to find a way to send the following song to them, please contact me and let me know! (Come to think of it, that also goes for the song from the last chapter, too.) Anyway, you should play this music (if you have it) towards the end of the chapter, where a certain hero shows up…

CHAPTER 46: THE FINAL BATTLE

VERSE 1:

I will take it to the wire now / Until every race is run / I'll go straight into the fire now / Until every day is done / Voices say -- break away / Live each night as if each moment / Was the only one

CHORUS:

Through the fire / To the wire / When the night out of control / Is breaking your heart / Through the fire / To the wire / When the flames are burning hot / They take you higher / Through the fire

VERSE 2:

There's a feeling that I can't ignore / Like a stranger at my door / So revealing that I cannot hide / When you settle up the score / Voices say -- night and day / Live your life as if each second / Was the final one

CHORUS:

Through the fire / To the wire / When the night out of control / Is breaking your heart / Through the fire / To the wire / When the flames are burning hot / They take you higher

VERSE 3:

I look for signs that you are here tonight / When the passion calls the pleasure to the flame / Then I ask you of the meaning when you talk of love / Would you take the leap of faith? / Would you throw it all away?

CHORUS:

Through the fire...

-Larry Greene, “Through the Fire.”

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the guards themselves? -Juvenal, Sautrae (6.347f)

It was just after lunch when Dumbledore made a very grave announcement. "Students and staff of Hogwarts," he said with something wracking his voice. "For the past year, Voldemort has been working tirelessly to create an army of monsters based on snakes. His obsession with snakes comes from his being a Parselmouth, and he's been using advanced Dark magic to fuse snakes with other creatures, both normal and magical, in an effort to control them. In little more than three hours, that army of snake monsters will be attacking this school."

People muttered and talked to each other nervously, but Dumbledore made to silence them. He continued, "There will be enough time for everyone to move their possessions and pets from their dormitories to special sanctuary rooms in the dungeons which I discovered before the start of this year. Speaking of which..."

He took out the magical contract for the Order of the Stag, and undid the protective magical for the instance where someone would talk about it to someone who didn't know about it. He then continued, "Last year, Mr. Potter and other students formed what they called the 'D.A.,' in order to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, since Umbridge refused to teach anything useful. I helped reform it this year as a sort of DADA study group for fourth year students and above who were interested. Most of those members are still here in school even as we speak. I ask them to be on the towers of this school to help aim for any oncoming attackers. Will they help us?"

Cheers arose from those members from all four House tables. Dumbledore also went on, "Excellent. I also ask that a few talented flyers among our students, most notably Miss Chang from Ravenclaw-" there was lots of cheering for her here, especially from her fellow Ravenclaws "- will assist with flying our SkyFoxes, whilst flying along with professional flyers from all over the world, including Viktor Krum, Durmstrang graduate and champion from the Triwizard Tournament two years ago. I am also proud to say that three Weasley family members, being Charlie, Ron and Ginny, will help with that, since their flying as proved time and time again to be superb over the years." There was lots of cheering her from the Gryffindor table.

"Apart from the SkyFox pilots, I expect no students to leave the castle for any reason whatsoever. Please stay with the plan. And with that, I ask you all to return to your dormitories for further instruction. But before you go-" all students who were getting up sat back down to listen "-I have something to say. Now is the time to put your differences aside and trust each other. Each of you can be a hero in your own different ways. While I don't condone the killing of whatever monsters that Voldemort has created, I ask that you don't kill any Death Eaters or other human allies, unless you have to defend yourself from them. War is not simply an excuse to kill people. That is what separates us from them; we bring them in alive if we can help it. Often, mercy can hurt them more than violence in its own way. I ask that you do whatever would make us proud. By 'us,' I mean your friends, your family, your classmates and your professors. Help however you can, and don't be afraid to do the right thing."

Some applause started, and then it grew to a thunderous round. After that all quieted down, Dumbledore said, "Okay, now you should all return to your dormitories."

Professors McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and Snape all lead their students back, and as soon as they were gone, Dumbledore allowed the Aurors and other Magical Law Enforcement officials to come in, and then plans would be made from there. Hagrid stomped in with Fang, and the boarhound was taken to the refuge chambers, along with Hagrid's other possessions.

Firenze also showed up with the other centaurs, with surprisingly, included Bane. Firenze explained that the other centaurs agreed with him for the first time since their feud the previous year, they agreed that they needed to fight together for the sake of everyone's existence, not just their own.

Zatomas also came on the behalf of the acromantulas, saying that 25 of them apart from himself agreed to fight, since they would be rewarded with the carcasses of their prey (once it was proven to be safe for them to eat, of course).

The merfolk, lead by their chief, agreed to fight in or near the water, and protect the lake and all its secrets, plus the different ways into the castle from the lake itself.

Speaking of which, the Weasley twins and Lee Jorden were just setting up their grand device, and all of the different people from different species now assembled in the Great Hall moved out just in time to see what it was.

A giant sphere, about 100 feet in diameter horizontally and about 80 feet in diameter vertically, was now rising from the depths of the lake. On top was a protective dome for the people running this gigantic defense mechanism, and around its "equator" were ten equally spaced protective swellings, which were covering something. They all split in half and moved aside to reveal short, stubby cannons, which could move a lot up and down but only move slightly left and right. From the bottom protruded a thick, faintly transparent tube, which was supposedly keeping the sphere aloft. All in all, it was a giant balloon with cannons.

The top bubble slid open to reveal the trio. "Hello, everyone!" Fred said. "The design is simple: Our cannons will fire extra-swampy Portable Swamps at the enemy before our guys move in to finish them off! Even the most slippery of Riddle's snake monsters will be stuck in these swamps and tar pits! Say the word, and we'll even release some poison to kill them!"

"Just be careful what you do, since we want to be able to clean up after the battle," Dumbledore pointed out.

"Of course, professor!" George agreed. "And as for the Electrocuting Rats, they're already waiting in holes across the grounds, waiting to be sniffed out and set off. They're designed so once those beasts eat them, they'll explode."

"All in all, the Rats go off, the swamps are launched, and then everybody moves in," Lee summarized for everyone. "And if anything goes wrong with this balloon, we'll just escape through the tube at the bottom!"

"Excellent ideas, boys, and very mischievous," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Just be careful where you aim; we'll have people from the tops of the different towers aiming out of all the different windows. We have to form a tight circle around the castle."

All three pranksters jauntily saluted and got back to work.

In the meantime, Madame Hooch was going to the different Houses, getting students who were the better flyers, and since Madame Hooch had an awesome memory for all recent students who flew well, she knew every good flyer, fourth year and above, who could be a good pilot for a SkyFox. From Gryffindor, she had selected Ron, Ginny, Seamus, Katie, and a girl named Vicky Frobisher. (1) Apart from Charlie Weasley, other Hogwarts alumni from all four Houses returned to help out, including Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Oliver Wood, and Roger Davies. By the end of her collection from all four different Houses, more than a hundred students were assembled, both current students and alumni.

The students all followed the flying instructor to the Quidditch pitch, where Madame Hooch would give those unfamiliar with the SkyFoxes a "crash course" in training ("Forgive the expression," she added, seeing the looks on their faces). Those already familiar with them helped out.

~*~*~*~

One could almost feel the area around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade brimming with life and activity. In the small town, Dumbledore applied special magic to the homes and buildings, which allowed the properties to "shift" underground for their own protection.

Back at Hogwarts, DMLE officials and Aurors were being set up on all the towers and at every conceivable entrance and exit the castle contained. Some Aurors had even set up giant devices that looked like cannons of their own. These cannons were basically like giant wands; with the more magic encased in these wands, the more amplified the effects of the spell sent out.

Peeves had also shown up, alone, telling Dumbledore that it was hard to round up poltergeists, seeing as they were too chaotic and unwilling to cooperate. Dumbledore said it was alright and so that way, Peeves would have all the more enemies to himself to torment. Needless to say, Peeves was rather delighted when he realized that.

All the students, including their possessions and any animals they had, had been moved down to "bunkers" near the kitchens. Each House was assigned to a different room with beds and tables for people to take refuge in. If anything went wrong, Portkeys would be used to get away. Of course, there were hopes that it wouldn't come to that, also owing to the fact that Fluffy was stationed outside the doors leading to the "bunkers."

~*~*~*~

The sun continued its trek across the sky, and some people ate quick dinners served up by house-elves carrying the food around. People made bathroom runs as quick and clean as possible. Probably just to pass the time and relieve nerves, DMLE wizards checked over their equipment for the second time, third time, or nth time.

About an hour before sunset, movement could finally be seen. There were rumblings in the forest, and it wasn't the forest's normal population, because the other centaurs, acromantulas, and other creatures all fled to safe hiding spots already set up for them.

It was Voldemort's Serpentine Army, meandering through the forest and tearing down a few of the trees in its path.

The creatures that composed it were truly horrendous. They were all basically animals made into snake-like versions, complete with scales, fangs, forked tongues and poison. Voldemort had combined snakes with elephants and rhinoceros for strength, horses, stags and ostriches for speed, various big cats for agility, and various birds of prey for flight. Strangely, they weren't fused with any magical creatures, probably because it would have been too complicated. And yet, the sight of these thousands of creatures surrounding the castle and its grounds, making horrible sounds, was enough to scare anybody to some degree.

All in all, it was worthy of some horror movie or novel.

To cap it all off, a sleek black object now hovered over the Forbidden Forest, like some long, narrow arrowhead. People had heard about Voldemort making some grand vehicle for himself, and they now had a shrewd feeling that this was it.

The Light side knew that they had to work fast, since they only had more than an hour before the sun set completely, which would undoubtedly make it much harder for them.

The cruiser slowed to a complete stop in midair, but continued to emit a low rumbling like the bass on the radio of a Muggle car. Towards the "base" (or rear) of the arrowhead, there was a raised area, which included a sphere on top of that. There sphere split open to reveal an ugly dark figure on a sinister-looking throne. Even from this distance, everyone could make out that it was Voldemort.

Using the Sonorus Charm, Voldemort's spine-chilling evil voice resonated across the countryside. "Students and staff of Hogwarts, may I present to you... my Serpentine Army!"

As if on cue, all of the monsters hissed and made other sounds, depending on whatever animals they were fused with. As scary as those sounds could be, the defenders didn't let those sounds faze them.

"So," Voldemort continued, "Any last words before I attack and wipe out your precious, sacred school and sanctuary?"

Only Dumbledore could respond to that. Using Fawkes to fly up into the air, he was somehow able to amplify his voice without the use of the Sonorus Charm. "You will not take this school, Riddle. Even if you did somehow manage it by some satanic miracle, there will always be those who will fight you, oppose you, and keep you downtrodden."

"Oh really?" Voldemort called back sarcastically, turning this into a strange conversation or volley of taunts and threats. "If I seem to recall correctly, you allowed your oh so wonderful students to run out your precious Harry Potter and deliver him straight to me." Stopping for a moment to savor the sight of several students flinching at those words as though they had been whipped, Voldemort went on, "Face it, old man, without your special trump card, you can't stop me! I know the prophecy too, and I plan on living a very long time. Even if Potter was still somehow able to survive, which I definitely know now, he won't come to stop you help you! I'm sure he's somewhere in hiding, even as we speak, laughing his head off about how I'll demolish all of you!"

Both Dumbledore and Voldemort knew that those taunts were made to demoralize the defenders, and weren't entirely true; however, those said defenders seemed to feel it. Just to drag it out, Voldemort went on, "It was unbelievably easy, making you all do my bidding! It was also highly entertaining, by making you all do what I wanted while thinking that you were doing what you wanted! You all see only want you want to see! I just had to hide my plans into your tunnel vision to make it all work!"

The Light side seemed to weaken with every sentence, before Dumbledore made a subtle gesture with his wand. Suddenly, Voldemort tried to speak, but no sound came out.

"My apologies for using the Silencing Charm, Tom," Dumbledore said with a faint trace of humor in his voice. "I just figured that if you had this gigantic 'Serpentine Army' at your disposal, you wouldn't need your special gift of talking demoralizing nonsense into people."

Voldemort only responded with a look of pure hatred on his face, one that could have scared a basilisk into retreating. Dumbledore only responded with that infuriating twinkle in his eye.

After Voldemort magically restored his own voice, he gave the order (in Parseltongue) to his speed-designed shock troops to attack.

The snake-horses and snake-gazelles went first. Their scaly necks were elongated, and their normal bovine heads were replaced with snake's heads, except with twisted horns, and their hooves were replaced with claws. A few people who studied ancient civilizations were reminded of the dragon-like sirrush monsters from ancient Babylon, which it bore a striking resemblance to. (2)

The speed-designed Serpentine soldiers now charged forth with surprising speed. Actually, they were hardly as fast as cheetahs, which were the fastest land animals on Earth, but their snake-like movements gave the illusion that they were moving much faster. The fact that hundreds of them were running together in tightly packed formations didn't make the defenders feel any more comfortable than they already were.

On cue, the Weasley twins and Lee (from their "defense balloon"), released the Electrocuting Rats from among their hiding spots in the long blades of grass. The speedy Serpentine soldiers immediately sensed the rats and gave into their primal instincts to try to eat the rats.

Those monsters all exploded when they tried to eat them, sending their stinky red and green remains all over the place. There was some cheering from the Light defenders, but that was quickly drowned out by Voldemort's newest demands in Parseltongue.

The tougher land-going animals now attacked. These serpents were fused with elephants and rhinoceros. As they charged forward, making sounds which were a strange fusion of hisses and roars, Fred, George and Lee set off the bombs from their balloon.

Since the balloon was raised high enough to have a complete 360-degree panoramic view of Hogwarts and its grounds, the balloon's ammo could safely be aimed anywhere on the grounds without hitting the castle itself. Ten massive Portable Swamp charges were launched in a circle from the lake, and they successfully hit their targets.

The swamps exploded on impact, trapping the oncoming beasts in their tar-like stickiness. Hogwarts was now surrounded by a small swampy sea (with the exception of the lake, which was magically protected from the Portable Swamps). Once that happened, the twins and Lee set off the Electrocuting Rats still hidden on the field. The swamp water carried the electric current, effectively zapping the serpent-beasts.

People cheered from their spots, and the creatures slumped, knocked out by the electricity. Those cheers died off rather quickly when Voldemort gave new orders. This time, the snake-birds attacked.

A few hundred of these creatures flew at Hogwarts like the plague they could be thought of as, leaving at least a couple of thousand waiting on the treetops. These snakes were combined with just about every bird of prey imaginable: Falcons, eagles, ospreys, hawks, condors, etc. On cue, the air strike team flew forward.

Rising up out of the protective dome covering the Quidditch pitch, about 50 SkyFoxes advanced, lead by Madame Hooch and Ron. The students piloting them immediately sent out offensive curses. Reductor Curses, Silver Dart Curses, and other things blasted wholes out of the airborne monsters. They dropped from the skies, and the SkyFox pilots slowed to dead stops in midair, watching the snake-beasts fall. More cheering could be heard now.

Voldemort hardly looked deterred. "So all of you think that you can handle a few hundred of each?" he called out to them. "How about a few thousand of each? And without all your little tricks?"

Before anyone could respond, the Portable Swamps disappeared, and the serpent-beasts and serpent-birds rejuvenated, instantly healing through Dark magic. They were joined by their companions, still waiting in the ranks, all of which charged and/or flew forward. In addition to that, a smaller group of natural Dark creatures joined Voldemort's serpentine army, appearing out of the woods. It consisted of banshees, dementors, chimerae, and even a couple of adult basilisks (which killed no one at first, since everyone was already vaccinated against them). "ATTACK!" Voldemort decreed, both in English and in Parseltongue.

In response to the increase of battle, the Light side unleashed its own back up. The remaining SkyFoxes rose out of the stadium and went forward. They were joined by the magically shielded flying Ford Anglia, Hagrid and Norbert, and Ardeavis. Dumbledore joined them, once Fawkes picked him up by his shoulders and flew off, ready to fight. The spell cannons on the towers now propped themselves to be ready to fire; on the ground, goblins clad in their indestructible armor charged forward, screaming their war cries, followed by the scurrying acromantulas, ready to fight.

As if in a popular Muggle action movie, the two armies rushed forward like two opposing waves and clashed.

~*~*~*~

Harry was now halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, flying as fast as he could, since he was too weak to simply fire-travel to Hogwarts.

As much as he hated what some of those people had done to him, he still had bigger fish to fry: Voldemort and his ilk, who caused those problems to begin with.

With those plans fresh in his mind, Harry kicked up the speed by another hundred miles per hour and continued his flight.

~*~*~*~

The battle only lasted more than an hour.

It's strange how much can change in an hour.

People die, new friends and enemies are made, new memories become experiences, some heroes are made while others are shattered, and lives change forever.

All people, including those currently defending Hogwarts, had often heard epic battle stories as children, yet this battle they were now a part of shattered their opinions of those battles. The death, the destruction, the chaos, the worry whether or not you'll make it out alive... now everyone was facing that grim reality with the seriousness of adults.

And while Voldemort's initial attack was just to test how strong Hogwarts' defense was, this attack was purely to destroy as much and kill as many people as possible.

However, the defenders proved to be much more resilient than Voldemort anticipated them to be. In a strange sort of way, the discord that had been rampant over the past few months had strengthened Hogwarts even more, because it taught the students the importance of working together.

Now, all hell broke loose across the ground as the battle commenced.

The castle's defenders were able to draw the first blood, when the acromantulas spat sticky poison at some oncoming beasts, leaving them stunned and hurt, which made them easier for the goblins to finish them off by cutting them up with their swords, daggers and axes. Up in the sky, Norbert fried the main group of snake-birds heading their way, while the SkyFoxes picked off the straglers.

However, it eventually changed when the three gigantic basilisks were set loose. The acromantulas panicked and scattered, which resulted in a few deaths among the goblins and Aurors. However, someone unseen was about to help in the fight.

No one had seen Draco Malfoy since the siege began. Now, cloaked and disguised in black with a green-and-silver mask (which he acquired form Slythern's spirit) and armed with his wand, he set about to destroy the basilisks.

Draco knew already that basilisks were heavily protected against magic, just like dragons for example. He was aware of this, was prepared to do what he was about to do.

Pointing his wand at the nearest basilisk, he shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

With a rushing sound and a flash of green light, the nearest basilisk crumpled, dead. Draco knew that he was using the worst of Dark magic; he also knew that sometimes, you have no choice but to get your hands dirty. Technically, it was illegal to use the Unforgivable Curses on people; the same did not apply to mere animals, and almost no one (except for probably for the Darkest of wizards) would have any problems with Unforgivables being used on basilisks.

Seeing that people were now watching him use the Killing Curse against Voldemort's forces, he magically got himself out of the spot where he was and went off to destroy the other basilisks.

'I just hope using the Killing Curse on these monsters doesn't get too addictive,' he thought to himself before continuing his task.

Up in the air, the SkyFoxes strafed while facing their targets, shooting out whatever spells and missiles they could. The Reductor and Silver Dart Curses had been used the most frequently, skewering the animals (they also had to be careful not to hit the other SkyFoxes or their pilots). The snake-birds were dropping fast, but more kept swarming up to replace them.

Back on the ground, it was a terrible clash between the attackers and the defenders. The snakes also started spitting poison, which burned a few Aurors, goblins, and acromantulas. These poison-spitting snake-beasts were then nailed with spell cannons from the tops of the towers, which blasted craters out of them.

All around, casualties were beginning to mount on both sides. The only consolation to the Light side was that the Dark side was having to deal with an even higher casualty rate than they were.

Suddenly, the airborne and land-going snake monsters both fell back to make different attack formations. Voldemort ordered this after he saw a certain masked figure kill the other few basilisks.

Up in the air, the snake-birds formed a practical vertical wall flying at them, which was very tightly packed, hoping to fly at and around the castle itself. Cho, on the other hand, had a smart idea.

She flew level with the highest row of these tightly-packed vertical monstrosities, and then pulled off her own Quidditch move: Her “Swan Dive” move.

As the wall came forward, she dove straight down in front of it, firing missiles and shooting spells. She went in at such an angle that she was able to avoid colliding with the monstrosities. As she neared the ground, she rolled 180 degrees and flew flat out again. Looking behind her, she could see some others trying the same move. They were kind of clumsy at this relatively new and unpracticed move, but most of them were able to pull it off. Unfortunately, a couple of pilots weren't too lucky; they were either mauled by the airborne onslaught, or they didn't pull up in time out of their dives.

Quickly shrugging off her sorrow, she regrouped with the others in trying to mow down their airborne adversaries. They were assisted with some help from the cannons on the towers. Massive curses exploded at their targets, which started with the bigger creatures, working their way towards the smaller creatures in larger groups.

Fred, George and Lee were now out of Portable Swamps, so were now using their other tricks. Enhanced Wildfire Whiz-bangs attacked the relentless rush of serpentine horrors (which worked quite well, since the offensive fireworks had been magically designed to attack only the desired targets). The fireworks horrendously burned the Serpentine Army's troops, burning and blasting them without rest.

Once those fireworks were burned out (which took a relatively long time for them to do, according to the Weasley twins), the three pranksters in charge of the defense balloon tried out their latest creation, which was probably their most violent one yet: Portkey Projectiles. As their name said, they were basically Portkeys in the form of various projectiles, namely darts, shrapnel bombs, and nets. The three young adults in charge the defense balloon had to be careful as not to transport and/or kill their own allies. Against whole groups of snake monsters, they used the shrapnel; against big, individual snake monsters, they used the nets; and against the small, individual snake monsters, they used the darts. With this magical technology, these monsters were transported into active volcanoes all over the world. (3)

During that entire battle, Ardeavis was alternating between killing the enemies and rescuing allies. Peeves was also in the fray; since he was a poltergeist, he really couldn’t get hurt or killed. If the students and staff thought that Peeves was chaotic in the castle, they had never seen him in an all-out battle before; he took fought in such a crazy and hectic manner, he could have put ancient Viking Berserker warriors to shame. All in all, Ardeavis and Peeves seemed to compliment each other like yin and yang: Order and chaos.

The Serpentine Army's forces were now eventually dwindling down, but the halt of their assault didn't stop with something done on the part of Dumbledore and his Light followers; rather, it was done on the part of Voldemort and his Dark followers.

With hissing noises, the last snake-beasts and snake-birds withdrew and fell back, only to make room for something much more massive.

This creature was only remotely snake-like, with the way its vaguely serpentine body swayed. It was about as tall as the castle itself, and from ugly head to spear-like tail, it was probably two or more miles long. It probably weighed a few dozen or more tons, and roared a massive roar which probably would have made the trees sway if it was facing the forest. It had blood-red eyes, ugly yellow fangs, and devil-like horns on its head; its massive forearms had claws which would have put the claws on a Muggle lifting crane to shame; its massive legs were supported by enormous feet which would have left footprints at least twenty feet long. This monster was practically worthy of Godzilla itself.

"May I present," Voldemort declared almost royally, "The Serpentine Colossus!"

Ron quickly came up with a plan; to bombard it from above. A few adult pilots went down almost immediately, and Daphne Greengrass' SkyFox caught fire; she retrieved her wand and bailed out just in time to be rescued by Seamus, who had unloaded all his missiles on the giant monstrosity before rescuing the Slytherin girl.

Seeing this new development, the Colossus unleashed a massive burst of its poison diluted into what was basically super smelly breath. All of the pilots immediately scrambled and had to retreat back to the protected Quidditch pitch before they fainted from the semi-noxious fumes. Dumbledore, who was just coming in with Fawkes to help out, also had to retreat along with the SkyFox pilots; he was old, and most of his awesome power was already being used up in the massive battle as it was. Ardeavis flew back along with them in order to help heal anyone harmed by the fumes.

At that point, the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan tried nailing it with their various Portkey Projectiles, but sensing their intentions, the Colossus responded before they could act. The titanic monster propelled a particularly dense cloud of fumes at them, which partially melted their already-fired Projectiles in mid-air, and continued at the balloon. Quickly realizing what would happen, the three young adults evacuated the defense balloon through the support tube, just before the noxious fume cloud ate away at the balloon, completely rupturing it.

Hagrid and Norbert then swooped in, bombarding it with fire. With a swipe of its mighty claws, it badly scratched the dragon, causing it to fly out of control, making a haphazard emergency landing near the Quidditch pitch.

However, one SkyFox and its pilot were still up in the air: Ron. Before the Serpentine Colossus could even try to swipe at him, a multitude of hundreds of voices shouted, "CONJUNCTIVITUS!"

The hundreds of combined Conjunctivitus Curses hit the beast square in the eyes, causing it to lash out in pain. This resulted in one wild claw narrowly missing Ron and instead swiping one spell cannon clean off its tower, as well as leaving a gash the entire length of that side of the castle with its razor sharp tail.

As it stomped off across the grounds, blinded in pain, Ron looked down to see the brunette leading the entire student body.

"Hermione!" he shouted out to her. "What are you doing!?"

"Preventing you from dropping like a fly!" she called back. "No way was I going to let that happen to you!"

He smiled for a moment, but then the Colossus came stomping back, causing the ground to shake somewhat as it did so.

"Okay, everyone!" Hermione shouted to the entire student body. "NOW!"

Together, united in the face of evil, the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry launched a blazing counterattack against the Colossus with a wide range of offensive spells.

"STUPEFY!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

"MULTAE ARACHNE!"

"MULTI VESPERTILIES!" (4)

"SPICULAE ARGENTAE!"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

"VENTI TURBULENTI!"

"GRAVESCIS!"

"REDUCTO!"

"TARANTALLEGRA!"

The Serpentine Colossus became the prey of massive spiders, gigantic bats, Stunners, silver darts, turbulent winds, Disarmers, spasmodically twitching legs, and spells which blasted chunks off of it. It screeched in fury relentlessly.

Then, all as one, the entire student body (with Hermione in the lead), shouted, "RICTESEMPRE!"

The Colossus was now roaring uncontrollably. Ron wondered why they would all use a Tickling Charm on the beast when Hermione explained why by shouting up to him, "Attack it now, while its mouth is wide open!"

Ron thought about this for only a moment before remembering a book he had borrowed from Hermione once, at her suggestion. It was a book full of Greek myths, especially about heroes. One story that Ron liked in it was the story of Bellerophon, the hero who rode the winged horse Pegasus in order to slay the Chimera. The monster breathed fire, and by sticking a chunk of lead on the end of his spear, Bellerophon shoved it down the monster's throat. The fire melted the lead, which scorched the Chimera's insides, killing her almost instantly. The reason that Ron happened to like that story so much was because the hero seemed to like flying so much, just like Ron did. (5)

With the end of his wand, Ron conjured and dumped massive amounts of lead down the monster's open mouth without getting too close, and topped it all off with lots of oil. Then, Ron fired all of his remaining missiles down the Colossus' throat, as well as conjuring fire, using his wand something like a Muggle flamethrower.

The Serpentine Colossus shrieked in pain even more as it charged off towards the forest, steam and even fire escaping from its mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears. Finally, it fell over dead as burst into flames and disintegrated into ashes and dust.

The students cheered, and Ron felt victorious. That is, before Voldemort's dreadfully icy and evil voice reached their ears.

"Don't get too excited, oh valiant defeners of Hogwarts!" he cackled maniacally. "Those were the easy ones!"

And now the ground rumbled, and as everyone quieted down and retreated back to the relative safety of the entrance hall, everyone could see what the foul Dark wizard meant.

Countless dementors now glided onto the battlefield, backed by the snake-beasts, snake-birds, and even more Serpentine Colossi.

"Those were only the appetizers!" Voldemort laughed. "Ready for the main course?"

He then hissed demands in Parseltongue, but the students had a pretty good idea what Voldemort said to his troops.

The dementors were halfway to the castle itself when a bright white light from above caught everyone's attention. Even the dementors stopped, and since they were blind, like all dementors are, they must have felt it too.

The bright light contracted into a shining, glimmering star in the darkening sky, now well past twilight. It descended, and on the way down, transformed into a stag, which seemed to be running down from the heavens themselves. Without warning, it suddenly multiplied exponentially, picking up speed and galloping, mowing down the now scared dementors in their paths.

"Harry," Ron and Hermione whispered at the same time. In the relative silence, the other students could only hear a whispered word, but were still unsure what that word was.

Only Voldemort's truly infuriated voice confirmed their suspicions. In an enraged tone that even Snape could not manage on his worst day, the Dark wizard screamed a single word in absolute fury.

"POTTER!"

~*~*~*~

Harry got there just in time, and performing an ultra dangerous move, he transformed back to a human in mid-air, conjured a Patronus while in free fall, transformed back, and was now hovering too far up for almost anyone to see. However, he could still see all of them on the ground. Besides, quite frankly, he was also impressed with how Ron and Hermione managed to work together to bring down that gigantic monster like (with the help of the entire student body not on the SkyFoxes, of course).

Now, using the ancient magic he learned, he created a fiery aura around him, and off of it came thousands upon thousands of sparks of fire, raining down like raindrops. As they descended, they turned into phoenixes and attacked the countless forces of the serpentine army. Now, a whole army of white stags and red birds (6) attacked without pause at the army of snakes and snake monsters. Harry controlled them the whole time while singing excited phoenix music, which help embolden the defenders of Hogwarts and strike fear into its evil attackers.

As the last of the dementors fell dead to the ground, the monsters began to fight back with their own Dark magic, and the phoenixes were starting to be extinguished. Changing the tune of his phoenix music, he called all of them back up into the air, where he was. The students watching from the front hall, now joined by their teachers, could only watch in amazement as Harry did something truly unbelievable.

While expanding his own aura of fire, Harry had the fire-made phoenixes grow again and merge into his own expanding fireball. He spread out until he was at the center of a fireball now floating in the air, roughly two hundred feet in diameter, but still high above Hogwarts school and its grounds. Using his mind, he then progressed to the next stage of plan.

Harry now formed a fire-made phoenix of immeasurable dimensions, with gargantuan limbs forming: legs, claws, wings, tail, and a head. His phoenix music continued to resonate across the grounds. The students and professors of Hogwarts looked up in awe to see an entirely fire-made phoenix that dwarfed even the biggest known dragons in existence. He probably could have filled up the entire castle with all that fire, at least five times over!

Some students had actually jumped with fright when they saw this amazing fireball form a phoenix. A couple of students actually cursed out loud, although the professors were too dumbstruck to do anything about it; actually, they were looking for the right words themselves.

While continuing to blast its unearthly music, this humongous phoenix now flew in a wide arc, and spreading out its great wings, it flew low against the Hogwarts grounds, its wingspan actually reaching one end of the grounds to the other. It flew in low, and the earth itself actually rumbled a little as it flew in. The fire phoenix ended up engulfing the entire grounds as it passed.

Harry was now surrounded by a special kind of fire, one which could only burn Dark or evil wizards or creatures of any type or sort. The innocent, righteous defenders were unharmed, and the fire passing all around them as though it was merely a warm breeze. Most of the Serpentine Army was reduced to ashes in a matter of seconds.

As the fire passed entirely, it all vanished off, leaving the phoenix, still glowing in the air and singing its song. As it sped at the deck of Voldemort's carrier, the Dark wizard instantly vanished from sight.

As the phoenix Animagus continued his search for the self-proclaimed Dark Lord he had no choice but to kill, the defenders of Hogwarts felt their bravery and courage and strength rise again.

Harry Potter had come through for them after all.

(End of Chapter 46.)

A/N: Dramatic, cheesy, what?

(1) They mention this girl briefly in OotP as a good flyer but more interested in Charms than in Quidditch.

(2) I got this from a book I bought last summer. It’s entitled “Dragons: A Natural History,” by Dr. Karl Shuker. Copyright 1995, published by Simon & Schuster. Its call number is: ISBN 0-684-81443-9.

(3) No, this will not cause any problems later on, in case you’re wondering now.

(4) This is my take on what the incantation for the Bat-Bogey Hex might be like. “Karptera” is the singular word for “bat” in Greek, if I’m not mistaken.

(5) So, did any of you like my allusion to this mythical story?

(6) Actually, the thing about white stags and red eagles reminds me about the myth of the Huns, searching for their own promised land. I read the story from a book of hero stories, which got it from “The White Stag,” written by Kate Seredy, which won the Newberry Medal in 1938.

BACK NEXT HOME