In Defense of Hogwarts
Dennis was so, so scared.
He’d learned, pretty early on, how scary this school could be. He’d watched along with the entire school as Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were chosen as Champions for Hogwarts when Cedric Diggory had already been selected. Watched as those two flaming pieces of parchment spiraled out of the goblet and into Professor Dumbledore’s hands. How could he forget it? The stunned silence, followed by absolute chaos once the boys had disappeared behind that door…
It was all too frightening for a first year Gryffindor, and it only got worse from there. Because then came massive dragons, the deep, dark, endless depths of the sea and a Giant Squid bursting out of it. Of course, he had already befriended that squid when accidentally falling in the Lake on the way to Hogwarts castle. He knew, as Mr. Malfoy did, that there was nothing scary about him. But there were scary merpeople, and clearly scary Quidditch games that could nearly take the lives of Champions. If he tried to summon it, the memory of Mr. Malfoy falling, falling, falling through the sky was clear as day still, because it had been horrifying, to him and the entire school, to imagine a world where one of their fellow students was removed from it.
And then Viktor Krum died.
That too, haunted his memories, maybe even worse.
But of course, nothing compared to the fear that now held tight to his heart without letting go, even as the arms of a stranger he had been told to trust hugged him to guide him down the stairs of the Astronomy Tower, past drops of blood lit by the green of the Dark Mark outside. His own blood. And still through doorways that's doors had been reared of their hinges, tiptoeing over glass spilled across the ground from crashed windows or chandeliers and Dennis swore he could smell fire but then -
He was dropped onto the ground on his feet abruptly and, turning around, could see that it was in front of the Fat Lady’s portrait (he was safe, he was in his common room. It was all going to be alright now) but then the ragged man before him, whom Professor Dumbldore had called ‘Remus’, grabbed his chin softly to pull it back to face him and looked him straight in the eyes. Dennis felt an instinctual rush of fear once more but softened immediately when he was only met with care and pity in a pair of faded blue eyes.
“What is your name?” the mysterious ragged man asked softly, but with sincere seriousness in every word, and Dennis attempted, to the best of his ability, to speak in a voice clear of pain or fear.
“Dennis Creevey.”
“Remus” smiled. “Listen very carefully, Dennis; once you get through that door, you can’t let anyone else out. Not until an adult you know comes down and says you can, alright? And be prepared for imposters, even if one does. Do you understand, Dennis?”
Despite the seriousness the man spoke quite kindly, and Dennis nodded along without a second thought. “Okay.” He squeaked and was promptly spun around to face the portrait, left to listen to the clatter and stomp of the man’s footsteps behind him as he ran back down the stairs, clearly in a hurry to do something.
“Password?” The Fat Lady yawned and Dennis mumbled, “Leo mortuus est.” ducking the swinging open portrait door and diving in through the hole as fast as he could, into a brightly lit room filled with the commotion of rowdy Gryffindors shouting over each other about what the school lockdown was about. Who had smashed the chandelier in the Transfiguration hallway, and who was responsible for the terrifying Dark Mark shining above the Astronomy Tower in bright green, which kids pressed against windows to ogle at.
One of which was Dennis’s brother, Colin, who, upon turning and spotting him over his shoulder, widened his eyes and ran to embrace him. Dennis tried his very best not to yelp against the pain he caused by pressing against his wounded arm, shrinking that pain down to a wince.
“Dennis! You’re okay! We were getting so worried!” His older brother cried, running his hands through Dennis’s hair, slightly darker and more brown than his sandy blonde and breathing in and out heavily, no doubt attempting to calm himself from fretting over his brother.
“Um, correction, you were getting worried.” Natalie McDonald, an annoying girl in Dennis’s year who had tried her hardest to get close to him and masked it with disgust at the boy turned up her snout-like nose and got a swift punch in the arm from Jimmy Peakes, Dennis’s actual friend, and immediately admitted, “Ow! Fine… But Jim and I were only a little worried.”
“Where were you?” Colin demanded, ignoring the two, and Dennis frowned, because he was scared, and he had been bleeding minutes before - and bad - but Colin was only two years older than him; he could lay off the babying for even a little while. “Doesn’t matter.” He instead grumbled, like a crabby thirteen year old, sure, but he didn’t much care. Instead he pushed past his brother and shoved aside Jimmy so that he could slump against the cushioned bay window overlooking the grounds, gazing out at the Astronomy Tower in the distance.
He was terrified, and all he wanted was to relax a bit, so who could blame the thirteen year old, wounded boy for falling asleep within moments on that bay window? Of course, no one could blame him, but it was true that he was a lot luckier than other inhabitants of the castle.
For example, there was Angelina Johnson, tumbling through the portrait hole with a first year under her arm, Lee, Alicia, and Katie immediately running to her side as she shook rain, which had begun to fall in sheets alongside the lightning storm, from her braids, scowling.
“Of course Potter and his friends have to run off and take Diggory with them. Now where does that leave me? Head Girl meant to run this whole school cuz those Fifth Years killed our Headmistress!” She groaned, rubbing her temple and handing the shivering first year off to Katie. “Take her up to her dorm, will you? Caught her locked outside after playing in the rain. Make sure she gets some food, too. Bet she missed dinner in the chaos…”
“Johnson, we all missed dinner,” Lee pointed out as his stomach exploded in grumbles as a result, because it was true; the Seventh Year Gryffindors had been locked up in their common room studying for their final N.E.W.T exam the following day, claiming their futures were more important than food. “Because someone convinced me that the future was more important than food.” He not so slyly glared over his shoulder at Kenneth Towler, who didn’t seem bothered a bit, calling back, “And that someone was right!”
“Hey, you still made the choice, Lee. You could've gone down with me, I gave you plenty of -” “No thanks, Katie,” Lee stretched his knuckles out before him. “I’d rather starve than eat with your girlfriends.” He stuck out his tongue and Katie slapped him in the shoulder in response.
“Angie,” Angelina, who had managed to crack a smile at her friend's antics, turned to Alicia and frowned at the concerned look on her face. A look she knew couldn’t mean any more goofing off. “Are you going to go out and look for more kids?” They all were looking at her now, and Angelina, after looking at each of her friend’s worried faces in turn, sighed deeply, putting her own face in her hands.
“I’m Head Girl, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and a part of the Hogwarts Order of Defense,” She reached into her pocket, retrieving the shining gold coin representing the secret organization they were all proud members of. In a moment, Lee, Alicia, and Katie had all removed their own coins, and were raising their chins high, proud, and bravely along with her. “So let’s go defend Hogwarts.”
“Amen!” Lee praised and the group turned on their heels for the portrait hole, pushing the door open and dashing down the steps, ignoring the Fat Lady’s calls on how she had “Direct order to keep them here and… blah… blah… blah…” None of them cared. They knew they’d joined this organization for a reason; time to finally put those meetings to the test.
And they weren’t the only ones.
Up in Ravenclaw Tower, Cho Chang had taken one look at that Dark Mark and sprung into action - bounding down the spiral steps and on direct course for the Astronomy Tower, Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil trailing behind, because if nothing else they were prefects, and this was their duty to the school, even without gold coins burning in their pockets. Because yes, the call had been sent, unconsciously or not, so that every H.O.O.D member's coin burned a fiery hot in their pants as they ran down halls, smashed through doors, or clambered down steps, helping their school in any way they could. Hannah Abbott and Terry Boot stood back to back using all their strength to lift up the glass sprawled across an entire hallway and repair that hall’s windows. Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle were too scared of getting recognized by a Death Eater - or worse, one of them being one of their parents - to face them head on but their brute strength was useful for pushing toppled over furniture and statues back into place. And, finally, there were the ones brave enough to fight, such as Susan Bones or Ernie Macmillan, pointing their wands between a cloaked figure's eyes and sending him flying straight through a wall.
These were the members their teacher, a Mr. Harry Potter, would be very proud of, but of course he was still going to be proud of any member who helped in any way they could. Proud, and amazed.
Nothing they did to repair the school could have ever solved the damage that had already been done before Angelina and her friends even left the common room, however, as Colin, Jimmy, and Natalie had seen, gazing out the Astronomy Tower. Nothing could have stopped the momentum of the body they watched spiral down, down, down, through the air below the tallest Tower in the entire castle, then finally hitting the ground, the thud felt able to be felt in the children’s hearts from miles away, up in the safety of Gryffindor Tower.
Nothing could have stopped Dumbledore’s death, or the moment when Cho turned from observing Anthony and Michael Corner tackle a masked Death Eater to the ground, and her grin fell to a confused frown at the sight on the top of the marble staircase behind her.
“Cedric?” She called out to the man, who hung his head low, but whose mousy brown hair she’s recognized anywhere, if the Inquisitorial Robes over a Hufflepuff uniform didn’t narrow her options down enough. But even those features were hard to see, submerged by the shock that was the body dangling in his arms, one she couldn’t make out in the dark, or due to his cloak covering its head. “Are you alright?”
The only response she received was the figure beginning to slowly step towards her down the stairs, and she craned her neck, attempting to make out the person in his arms as his cloak billowed slightly from the wind coming out of a smashed window which hadn’t been repaired yet. She caught a glimpse of blonde hair, but couldn’t quite tell the shade in the darkness.
“Who… Who is that?”
“Who am I?”
“What?” Cho did a double-take at her ex-boyfriend, having been examining the body in his arms, and saw him raise his head at last, cracking a small smile at the corner of her lips. She couldn’t explain the chill that raced down her spine at the sight of it, instead trying to mask her own fear by laughing. “Cedric I know it’s you, stop playing games. Who are you carrying?” A flash of worry clung to her heart and she recalled a particularly mutilated looking little girl who had been trapped under a rain of falling glass, cuts all along her skin, shining, clear pieces wedged between bones. “Are they hurt?”
“Oh no… No… Just sleeping…” Cho knew, realistically, that Cedric hadn’t been acting like himself for some time. It was why she had broken up with him in the first place, after all, spiraling her towards the roller coaster ride that was her relationship with Harry. But that voice… That wasn’t just stress or overwhelming burdens that led to angry outbursts - no, that was not Cedric.
“Cedric?” But still, as with all things, people hold out hope in the end, you know? Harry did, back in the Department of Mysteries, and so many times before that. It happens to the best of us.
“Oh no, I’m not Cedric.” And it can often be our downfall. “I’m sorry, Cho,” He raised his wand, smirk on his lips, and even before he opened his mouth Cho knew exactly what words were coming, proven only by the short, quick life being sprawled out before her in her mind’s eye.
Her parents giving her her first broom… Taking her to her first Tutshill Tornados game… The trip to Diagon Alley before Hogwarts and then - RAVENCLAW! Meeting so many new friends, and learning so many new things, and then meeting… Cedric. Sweet, sweet, Cedric. With his jokes and his hair and his smile and his eyes and his laugh and his kindness, endless kindness. Cedric getting chosen, Cedric asking her to the Yule Ball, Cedric getting hurt but being alive, which was better than Viktor Krum, lying dead in the grass, an image that haunted all students of second year and above’s memories. And then Harry came, after a tearfilled breakup, with those young-love filled kisses and bad flirting skills of his, and he went as quick as he came, too. Which left her here, standing in front of a green jet of light, wincing but prepared, but then -
A shout came, and she opened her eyes, gaping at the sight of a man jumping in front of her with his hands raised, gripping a sheet of glass he was using as some sort of shield against the curse. It shattered the thing on impact, sending spiraling shard of glass everywhere, mostly onto the man, but one sliced across her cheek, and as the spell had deflected against the glass too and hit a nearby wall, the rubble from the impact came crashing down on her to hit her in the head, and then she was falling.
Not into a bright white calling to her, as she had anticipated with that deadly spell, but to the dark depths of unconsciousness.
Remus Lupin caught her just before she could hit the floor and break something, setting her down gently among the rubble then turning to glare at the sprinting away ‘Cedric Diggory.’
“Snape!” Snape was already raising his wand, lining up a spell at the man beginning to disappear in the darkness. A jet of orange light lit up the grounds on its path to the imposter, but he ducked out of its way cleanly, turning to face the pair of men, grinning maliciously.
“Be careful,” He mocked, pushing his pink cape out of the way to reveal the boy dangling limply in his arms, pale hair glinting in the moonlight. Snape sucked in a quick breath and Lupin swallowed, stepping closer to him to whisper lowly, “We can’t hurt him, Snape, we might hurt Draco.”
“Let him go!” Snape called out across the grounds, teeth gritted. “You have what you need, don’t you? You’re leaving! Let him be!”
“Then he’ll miss the party,” The imposter called back, cocking his head, and they were both so certain of who lied under those effects of polyjuice potion it was sickening to watch, helpless, as he began to back away, shifting Draco over his shoulder, grip on him tightening. “And quite the happy reunion too…”
“PROFESSOR!” The two men spun around, eyes widening at the sight of the Gryffindor cloaked Head Girl bounding towards them, eyes wide as saucers and horrified, with tears streaming down in thick tracks down her cheeks. “Professor Snape, you have to see - Oh my God - Oh my Merlin,” Angelina bent over to grip her knees, heaving and wiping at her eyes. “It’s… It’s bad… Oh he’s gone, Professor, he’s gone!”
“Calm yourself, Johnson!” Snape snapped, lowering his wand and stepping towards her, so that Lupin raised his wand to the imposter, but he had turned on his heel, beginning to run. Gritting his teeth, Lupin charged after him. “Who is it? Who's gone? What happened?”
“Professor Dumbledore, sir,” Angelina swallowed down a sob, sniffing and pressing the back of her hand to her nose. “He’s - Dead.”
“What?” Lupin spun around, stopping his running, nearly dropping his wand in his surprise as Snape stepped away from her in horror, then looked behind her, at the circle of figures he could just make out standing or kneeling at the base of the Astronomy Tower. Tightening his fist around his own wand, he bounded forwards, and Lupin followed, leaving Angelina on her knees, crying into the grass.
The two men slowed to a stop at the group of students, becoming very apprehensive when their calls of, “Dumbledore?” and “Albus?” were met with more tears, and the silent shake of the head Lee Jordan gave them over his shoulder. Snape pushed him to the side, scowling, then sneered at the sight on the ground in front of the kids, while Lupin pressed a hand to his mouth, eyes flooded with pure horror.
For there lay Professor Dumbledore in the grass, still and silent, not making so much sound to breathe - dead as can be, the Dark Mark shining, high, high up in the sky directly above his body, snake continuing to slither in and out of the skull's mouth. It almost looked like it grinned at the grief below it, grief that was well deserved, as the kids, who had just come out to save someone, continued to sob for the man they couldn’t possibly have saved. No one could, all they could was weep for the fallen great wizard.
Far away, on the outskirts of the school, Barty Crouch Jr turned to grin, the effects of the polyjuice potion finally fading away as his chestnut brown hair turned sandy blonde, and his chiseled jaw began to hollow out once more. The man pulled back his lips so a line of yellowed teeth shined in the moonlight, and the Potion’s master looked up and around just in time to see it, sneering and rising to his feet.
Barty was backing away again, but he wouldn’t let him get away to hurt more people, never. Carefully, he raised his wand and lined it up to align with the head of sandy hair, careful to avoid the pale head of hair that gleamed under the moonlight as Barty let his robes open up and flap freely in the nights wind, giving any and all a full view of the limp body hanging over his shoulder.
The grounds let up with red, as a single jet of scarlet light jutteed across the grass, straight for Barty, who had begun to laugh triumphantly, turning to run into the trees.
The light slammed into him and lit up his and Draco’s forms clearly for a second, allowing Snape to see the spell had struck true, and a slim stick of wood was now soaring into the sky and falling back onto the ground, but then the grounds echoed with a thundering, sharp crack, and Barty was gone in the blink of an eye, taking the form of Draco Malfoy with him, leaving his wand behind.