The Attack
The following morning dawned cold and cloudy.
Undine was already in the kitchen when Ginny went downstairs, making breakfast. She was sheathed in a thick white roll-neck jumper. “Brr!” she said, with a shiver. “Why is it always so cold here?” she demanded.
“I don’t make the weather!” snapped Ginny, as she headed for the front door. Why do I get blamed for everything?
She stepped outside, and all seemed quiet. In the distance were the shields solidly covering New Durmstrang and New Hogwarts, brooding over the lower end of the valley.
Undine spoke suddenly over her shoulder, making her jump. “What’s that?” Her voice was puzzled. Her arm came out past Ginny and pointed to the cliffs above New Hogwarts.
“What?” asked Ginny, not seeing anything.
“That light,” said Undine.
Ginny squinted until she could see what Undine meant. The clouds were low above the Great Cliff, but the ones above New Hogwarts seemed brighter. As if they were lit, she realised, by something at the top of the cliffs.
“Wait,” she said and hurried inside. Somewhere in the house was Gosse’s school telescope, that she was used to falling over. But where…? She found it in the little alcove at the top of the stairs, next to the brooms. She hurried back outside with it.
“Can you see anything?” she asked.
“No,” said Undine.
The brass telescope was heavy, and trying to point it upwards while looking through it difficult.
“Here,” said Undine. She stepped in front of Ginny and let her rest the telescope on her shoulder. It was easier now for Ginny to see the top of the cliff. She could see the strange glow in the clouds – it was silvery, not yellow or orange like dawn sunlight. Then she spotted something small and black. A figure. No, several figures, standing at the top of the cliff. “People,” she said out loud.
“Our Aurors?” asked Undine, hopefully.
“Possibly,” Ginny said, dubiously. “But why would they be up there? I bet it’s our Aurors. I mean, the British ones. But why? Here,” she said, passing the telescope to Undine. Then she spun to the main gate.
The wreck of the Hogwarts Express was still there, but most of the area was deserted. There was just a handful of red figures near the gate.
The gate protections were back in place and she couldn’t be bothered to unseal them. Instead she called out and waved to the French Aurors. A figure detached itself from the group and trudged towards her. She realised she knew him: It was Criste, the Auror who had arrested her last year, after her predecessor had died.
“Hello Mr Criste,” she said as he approached. “Is everything OK?”
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, he didn’t answer that. “You’re out of uniform,” he said, bluntly.
She looked down at herself in confusion before she realised what he meant. “I’m a headmistress,” she said. “Not an Auror.”
He shrugged. “You did OK,” he said.
“Were there many… Were many of ours killed?” she asked. I should have come back last night to ask that, she told herself unhappily.
“A few,” he said. She couldn’t gauge his expression. “Chief Auror, of course.”
“Yes, I’m so sorry about that.”
“It’s a dangerous job,” said Criste.
“It was my fault,” she said. “My stupid plan.”
He looked at her, head on one side. “You have to break eggs,” he said eventually. “Or everybody goes hungry.”
“Where’s everybody else?” she asked. Even the sprawled figures around the Hogwarts Express had gone, and there were just the half-dozen Aurors a few yards away.
“Paris,” said Criste. “The First Minister needed them back.”
“Oh… It looks like there’s somebody up above the Great Cliff,” she told him.
“Somebody?”
“They’re too far away,” she said.
Criste considered. “What are they doing up there?” he asked.
“No idea. I’d best get back,” she added nervously.
He shrugged. “No-one’s ever invaded this valley,” he said.
When she got back to the house, Undine was still staring up at the cliff through the telescope.
“Can you see anything?” Ginny asked.
“Not really. Stand there so I can rest this on your shoulder…”
Ginny bore this as long as she could. “What can you see?” she asked eventually.
“Seven or eight people… They’re just standing there. They don’t seem to be looking at us. Wait... Something moving.”
“What?” asked Ginny, looking around her in fear. But the rest of the valley remained quiet.
“Stand still! I think…” started Undine. “You look again,” she said. She handed over the telescope. “Can you see something small, moving near the figures?”
Ginny squinted through the telescope. She tried fiddling with the focus, and suddenly everything was clearer. And next to a standing figure… “That’s a Patronus,” she said in mystification.
“Ah! What’s it doing?” asked Undine. She had the telescope on her shoulder again.
“Stay still! Nothing, really. Just going in circles. Wait! I can see another one!”
“That’s what the glow must be,” said Undine suddenly. “Lots of Patronuses! What does that mean?”
Ginny knew but she didn’t want to say it out loud. “Dementors,” she croaked. “They’re expecting Dementors, so they’re protecting themselves. I can’t… I can’t see any burning trees though.”
“Burning…?”
“If you light a tree with Dementors nearby, they come running,” said Ginny, briefly. “I don’t know why.” She was squinting around the valley now, looking for Dementors. Either a cloud of them, or roosting along the cliffs. But nothing…
“So what do we do?”
“I don’t know. We don’t have many Patronus capable here,” said Ginny, anxiously. “Lesassier…”
“What about him?”
“I tried… I tried to get him to teach Patronus, to everyone, but he said it was Advanced level, no room in the curriculum, all that dragon poo. Can you do a Patronus?”
“I’m not sure,” Undine answered. “It’s been a while. So how many Patronus makers do we have?”
“Well, assuming everyone in the staff, and most of the Advanced year, and the guys at the gate, about thirty, I suppose. But Mr Cotte’s still up at Valloup, and so’s Mr de Marcatel. And those two are probably our best.”
“But your Ministry would never do that!” protested Undine. “They’d never bring Dementors! Not to a school!”
But Ginny didn’t have to argue. As she watched, a black arrowed cloud swept over the edge of the Great Cliff and poured down the rockface. Ginny started to Twist, then stopped herself.
“Get Gosse and Goldstein!” she said urgently to Undine. “The three of you, start knocking on doors. Get all the Advanced years with Patronuses you can find. Make the rest of them stay indoors, OK?” She started to Twist. “And close the windows…” she started to say.
But by that time she was outside the staffroom. But it was too early in the morning – the room was deserted. She spun again, to the Senate Room immediately above, then ran across the room to her own portrait. The other Ginny was lounging in her usual pose, and looked at her in surprise.
“Get… Tell the other portraits,” the real Ginny gasped. “Warn everybody there’s a Dementor attack! Move your bottom!”
Fortunately the other Ginny didn’t argue, and pushed herself athletically to her feet. Ginny could see her running along the line of portraits, shouting, and the other portraits were turning, rising.
Ginny Twisted again, and she was outside New Hogwarts. She couldn’t see anyone through the shield, but she shouted until a figure approached the shield from the inside. It was Professor Stonelake.
“Stay inside!” she shouted. “There’s a Dementor attack! I think it’s the Ministry… Stay inside, OK…! Got to go!” She ran back until she was outside the Durmstrang shield, and shouted the same message. She couldn’t see who the figure was, but she couldn’t stay to find out.
She realised with horror she didn’t have her Demmy Slicer. It was in the kitchen drawer, along with the other kitchen knives, and she wasn’t even sure which knife it was…
She Twisted back to the house, ran to the kitchen, rummaged in the drawer, dragged out all the knives that looked like the Demmy Slicer, as far as she could remember, clenched them painfully in her fist then hurried outside.
In that time the sky was already black with Dementors. She had never seen so many. She could see a few figures – Teachers, monitors and other senior pupils - running along the street, their mouths open, their wands at their sides.
“Patronuses!” she shouted at them. She brought up her own wand and unleashed her twin rhinos. Her heart lifted slightly when they appeared, looking huge and capable. She could see a group of Dementors swooping down on a pair of students, who turned and ran. Ginny dragged her Patronuses down to cut off the attackers, and drag them back towards her.
Here they come. Her left hand was wrapped around a handful of knives. Which one…? Her left hand came up and slashed at the Dementors, and she could hear their thudding alarm call, and they dodged past her. She turned and ran for them, slashing at them once more.
To her indescribable relief, she saw a Dementor vanish spraying black, and then another one…. The others dodged away, heading for the other students. She spied a clump of pupils, and Twisted so she was there before the Dementors, and was slashing once more, forehand and backhand, heedless of the students’ eyes and skin around her. Somehow she didn’t stab anyone.
Her Patronuses were driving a cloud of Dementors towards her. She could see other Patronuses out of the corner of her eye – a stoat, a dog, an otter. As she slashed at the Dementors around her she saw Lydia, her fiery Greek monitor, running towards her, a savage expression on her face. She had her Patronus – a goat – on her heels. “Give me one!” Lydia was shouting. Ginny realised she meant the knives she held.
“I can’t!” said Ginny. “Only one of them works…! Wait…” It was hard to concentrate. She steered her rhinos to pin as many Dementors as they could against the hillside above them. Then she could bring her wand down. She dropped the knives on the ground. Which one? She ducked to pick up one at random, and yelled “Demenda Regis… Lydia Kassonis!” To her relief it glowed blue. She tossed it towards Lydia, heedless of the dangers of sharp edges, ducked and picked up another knife.
“Demenda Regis Stelios Artino… Demenda Regis Ruby Balsam…. Demenda Regis…” Each knife briefly flashed blue, and she was flinging each one in turn at the nearest figure. I should have done this before…
She’d run out of knives, but the Dementors were spilling everywhere. The silvery Patronuses were badly outnumbered. The whole valley was filled with black.
“Oh no,” she said to herself. “Oh no…”
I should have made everybody stay inside, she said to herself in despair. I should have protected them…
She could see figures on the cliff high above them. If there had been any doubt in her mind before, it was gone now. The figures merely stood there. They did nothing to help. What were they waiting for?
Something had changed…. Her heart lifted, and then tried to stop. In the distance, the grey shield above New Hogwarts was lifting, disappearing. She could see black appearing at the entrance. Running figures. And then Patronuses. So many Patronuses…
The thudding alarm call of the Dementors grew louder, and they were lifting into the air, leaving a handful of standing figures around her. The Hogwarts Patronuses were sweeping towards her, like a breaking wave.
A huge crash. Then another. What…?
As she watched, Ravenclaw tower seemed to explode. The top turned to dust, and she could see falling masonry. Something huge fell from above, and smashed into the ruined tower. The crowd running towards her scattered as great chunks of masonry bounced across the ground among them.
The British Aurors were dropping massive rocks onto New Hogwarts. She could only look on in horror.
“Help!” shouted a voice, near to her. “Help!” It was so hard to bring her attention back to what was around her. At the other end of the street, a cloud of Dementors was bearing down on several figures. She saw Patronuses disappear into nothing as their owners ducked down and disappeared beneath the onslaught.
It was quicker to twist there, and she was slashing at the attacking Dementors. A quick look upwards: She could see her rhinos circling on the hillside above, still trapping a seething mass of Dementors on the Barbegazi slopes that ran down towards the family houses…
There were no Dementors around her now. She looked around, Spun to the next street down, and the next… Now she was pelting towards another black stain, her knife in her hand, then ripping them into black shreds. The thudding sounds around her were less now.
She Twisted from street to street, and then onto the bridge, and looked around her. The Dementors were fleeing, upwards, apart from the ones corralled by her rhinos.
Now she could spare a glimpse towards New Hogwarts. The shield was back in place, but the shadow of the castle through the grey was definitely different. But she couldn’t do anything about that now. She Twisted around the campus, looking for clumps of black, but found none.
Now she could gather a small group of kitchen-knife- and Patronus-armed Monitors, and urge them up the hill, to the Barbegazi slopes, where the remaining Dementors remained penned. There the slaughter continued, until every last trace of black had gone.
Eventually, she let her rhinos disperse into nothing as she looked down across the valley. The clouds were disappearing, and she could see bright blue sky between them. There were streaks of white descending towards the ground, towards a scattering of prone figures, and as she watched the white streaks arrowed down to touch them and then disappeared.
She held her breath as the sprawled figures lay still, but then they were sitting up and turning over, looking around. She tried to make herself Twist down into the valley once more, but she was too tired now. Instead she plodded down the steep hillside, back towards the school, hoping, hoping, that every figure lying tossed across the ground would wake, would climb to their feet.
Another huge crash; She looked up and was horrified to see the roof of the Dining Chamber crumble. Then another huge rock dropped down the Great Cliff, in almost the same place, and the Dining Chamber was disappearing in a cloud of glistening dust.
The Aurors had changed target. She was running now, and here was the boundary into the school proper, and others were running with her, but what could they do?
With a crackle, countless figures appeared around her: Cliny, and her house-elves, turning now to look in horror at the wrecking of the Dining Chamber. She stopped running with relief.
“Is that everybody?” she shouted at Cliny. Cliny nodded, her huge eyes fixed on the falling rock.
Ginny could see a running figure, hurrying across the central lake bridge. Ginny could see an arm come up, pointing to the sky, and then something was spurting from that hand. Not a Patronus – it was too large. The emanation continued to climb, to grow. What am I seeing?
It was a vertical column now, and it was spreading at the top, mushrooming across the sky. There was another crash, as a huge rock smashed into the Dining Chamber.
Ginny was running for the bridge now, wand at the ready. What was the figure doing? Was this friend or foe?
The mushroom was many colours now – red, blue, purple, green - and was reaching out, sideways. As she watched, one edge reached the Great Cliff, and it was extending in her direction too. It was hard not to duck as it spread above her.
The sun came out, suddenly, and everywhere around her was bathed in colour, every colour she could imagine. The shroud above them was touching both sides now, and hurrying upstream and downstream as well.
She heard a dull thud, and then an unearthly scraping noise: A huge rock, suspended above the Dining Chamber, was sliding down the multicoloured roof and hitting the Great Cliff, making the ground vibrate. Another thud, more scraping, and another.
The shroud was holding back the falling rocks. It was a disturbing sight: The rocks were huge, and almost nothing was holding them up.
She’d reached the Dining Chamber lawn, where the architect of this new defence stood. He turned towards her, and to her amazement it was Anthony. He nodded, casually, his eyes scanning what he had wrought.
From here the rocks looked even bigger, ready to crush them. As she looked, another rock crashed into the others, making her cringe.
“Anthony, that was amazing,” she managed to say. “It’s still amazing…. I like the colours,” she added, stupidly.
He nodded again. “Rainbow,” he said. “It’s sort of a theme of mine.” His face was striped with colour – red and blue. She put her hands out, and her arms were different hues.
There was another crash. The Dining Chamber was darker now, with the massed shadow above it.
“Will it hold?” she asked, nervously.
“I’m not sure,” he said, unhelpfully. He seemed entirely unaware that she was simply seeking reassurance.
“But… what spell is this? Lesassier told me shield spells just aren’t big enough to cover the whole valley.”
“It’s one of mine,” he said. “I created it. Good to see it...” But his concentration was on the wand in his hand.
“What’s wrong?” Ginny asked after a pause.
“It’s not going to hold,” he said. “It’s meant to hold back spells. It’s not designed to hold up tons of rock.” He turned and bolted, back towards the bridge, and in confused fear she ran after him.
He was halfway across the bridge when she saw him fling something – his wand, she realised – into the water. What…?
The ground jolted beneath their feet, and Ginny nearly fell. Then a huge geyser of water rose from the lake, soaking both of them.
The light changed without warning. Ginny realised that the rainbow shield above the valley had disappeared, in an instant. She could see the huge boulders more clearly now, poised in the air above the Dining Chamber, but they were already falling. She cringed as they smashed into the Dining Chamber, and suddenly the building was gone.
Members of the staffroom and a growing number of students were crowding around them now, their eyes out on stalks. Some of them were Durmstrang, she realised. She recognised Ida and a couple of other Prefects she couldn’t name. They must have left their school to help, to bring more Patronuses.
Now the cliff behind the Dining Chamber was collapsing too, until the lines of the Dining Chamber were entirely replaced by a rock slope.
All was still now, but the ground was still shaking. She didn’t know what that meant until cries and screams erupted around her. People were jostling her now, pointing upwards. To her horror, she could see huge figures lumbering into view, looming above the Great Cliff.
The Giants had come to Beauxbatons.