Chapter 573: -End... (2 in 1)

"Granger - and, oh, dear!" Professor McGonagall came running from the distance and darted her head back in mid-sentence as several brooms whizzed past above her head. Her chest rose and fell violently as she stared at the distant Neville and the boys.

"You guys - they - what the hell is going on?" She asked under her breath.

"Well, it's rather obvious, isn't it? They went to reinforce Harry-" Hermione made her tone as light as possible.

" What about the whole Harry thing?"

"Hagrid's in danger-"

"I know, I've sent Sirius and Snape over there."

"And Little Grawp-"

"Don't tell me you know about the giant, Miss Granger, or did you just come up with a name on the spot?" Professor McGonagall asked exasperatedly.

"I know," Hermione answered stiffly, now no one else was present, she felt it is her duty to explain, especially speaking up for the already exposed Little Grawp: "That's Hagrid's brother, we spend our time with him listening to music and watching films when we were free. He's quite fond of the song 'A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love' -"

She couldn't go on anymore, because Professor McGonagall clutched her chest, gasping for breath, and looked like she would pass out soon.

"Professor? Is there anything we can do to help?" Hermione asked cautiously.

The dozen or so students who had followed her nodded silently, although from the looks on their faces you can tell they all seem to have shaken too - Giants are considered fairly brutal creatures in wizards' books, so they admired the courage of Hermione who was able to listen to music with the giant along with Harry and Ron, who aren't present.

If it weren't for the bad timing at the moment, they would have asked a hundred thousand questions now.

Professor McGonagall glared at Hermione and swept her gaze over the students behind her, "I heard that Professor Black had taught you a few practical combat formations in class? Let me see what you have learned, work in groups of three, and hide behind armours and gargoyles, don't venture out easily, and only attack the Inferi that the professors missed, remember! If you are injured, report it immediately, even if it is just a scratch. The claws and teeth of the Inferi are poisonous."

The students nodded silently, and the excitement on their faces lessened a little.

"Luna, Ginny, you're with me." Hermione whispered, and Ginny pulled Luna closer. Hermione stretched out her hand and clawed it toward the sky, golden flames created by the ancient magic poured out from her fingers and coalesced into the shape of a firebird before it reached the ground. It stretched its swan-like wings and flew off into the distance. The other students looked at her enviously.

The firebird swept across the castle ground, illuminating a wide flat area halfway to the hill, where a whole array of armours and gargoyles, both big and small, and even in the shape of creatures, stood in rows at the moment, forming a solid defensive line to hold off the Inferius; at their back a dozen adult wizards stood, both professors from the school and men from the Ministry of Magic.

But they are paled in comparison to the sheer number of Inferius, and can only hold the main path.

They were forced to stand scattered, each group in charge of an area, but they are unable to do much about the places further away. Some distance away Inferius seemed to have taken an interest in getting their arse whooped by Whomping Willow.

" All we can do is make sure that we clear this path first, and wait for daylight for the rest." Professor McGonagall said as she rejoined the fight, waving her wand as the small grasses peeking out of the ground grew wildly, tripping up the approaching Inferius while Hermione controlled the firebird to spew a blaze of flames that burned them to ashes.

In the distance, two dementors floated in mid-air, like tattered rags blown up by the wind. They seemed a little dreaded all of a sudden, and when Hermione looked up again, the dementors had disappeared.

A wolf howls were heard from the forbidden forest, and she wasn't sure if it was a werewolf.

"I hope no one is dead. Although we have prepared for something like this in advance, there are still a few things we can't control." Professor McGonagall said as she looked at the green skeleton hovering in the sky.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the huge constellation-like Dark Mark suddenly became dazzling and exploded from within into a myriad of bright fireworks. People from all over Hogwarts looked up, and with a huge explosion, the skull's jaw shattered and the snake writhing in its mouth disappeared, replaced by a brightly coloured dragon that swam merrily through the sky.

The skeleton's eyes were replaced by two spinning, sparking wheel-shaped fireworks, making the whole thing look hilarious. With the help of the dazzling bright light, Professor McGonagall saw several black dots bursting out of the green cloud, and she let out a low groan, "It must be Fred and George. Even at this time..."

"They did a good job this time." Ginny said as she stared up at the sky while shaking her wand sharply and flinging out a hex.

"Bat-Bogey Hex won't do anything to an Inferi, Ginny," Hermione said, "you'll have to use a flame-based spell, try Bright Fire-" she froze, staring at the hapless Inferi.

"Wow, what a big bat." Luna said with a look of awe.

Finally, the dark mark disappeared along with the Weasley fireworks, and the castle turned dark again. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna are standing at the front at the moment, and Luna who is controlling a white flame turned her head back and said, "We need a little light."

Someone also had thought of the same thing as her. At the entrance to the castle, Cedric held a bright ball of light in his hands, which radiated a soft glow in all directions, and behind him, a group of students stood with their hands outstretched, with coordinated gestures, and soon a number of balls of light flew into the air like lanterns and small moons, dotting the sky above Hogwarts.

Once they had finished this, they trotted down the stone steps to Professor McGonagall's side.

Professor McGonagall had already gotten a little numb, "Thank you, boys, in a group of three, don't get too close to the front ..."

"Professor McGonagall, Mr. Kingsley asked me to inform you that the back entrance to the castle is secured. He won't need that many men on his side." Cedric said.

"Excellent." Professor McGonagall said with satisfaction, "We are in need of men on our side, there are so many places to defend ... Since you are here, I can spare a few professors ... There is more than one battlefield."

She was right. In addition to the Ministry of Magic in faraway London, the Hogsmeade village neighbouring the school, the school is also divided into several battlegrounds - the wall near Hagrid's Hut, the front and back gates of the castle, and even the relatively peaceful headmaster's office counts as a 'battlefield'.

Umbridge made a mess of the office.

At first, she disguised herself as a student brimming with curiosity, claiming to have obtained Dumbledore's permission to do an interview for the 'Wall of Mystery tabloid'. She looked around, poked around, touched and pawed, even grabbing the Sorting Hat and shaking it off, with no result other than choking on the dust and making her eyes tear up.

She had rummaged through everywhere she could, books were scattered all over the shelves, the wine cabinet had been roughly pushed aside, and a few oily fingerprints were stuck on the inlaid wooden panels as if checking for hidden compartments.

As the minutes ticked by, the shouts and commotion outside spread like a plague throughout Hogwarts, but Umbridge didn't look the least bit alarmed or surprised, she even tried to barge into Dumbledore's private bedroom on the floor above, making it impossible for the portraits of successive headmasters to ignore her antics any longer.

The portraits in the Headmaster's office shouted at her in anger -

"Never seen a student like you before!"

A fat, red-nosed wizard in the portrait said, "Stop it! What House are you from?"

Umbridge tried several more times and found herself blocked by an invisible film, and her magic also had no effect whatsoever. With no other choice, she turned her attention to the headmaster's desk, and Umbridge sat laboriously in the headmaster's chair as a scowl appeared on the Mafalda's face she is using.

"Obviously, I'm a Slytherin." She answered casually.

"Liar!" The portrait of Phineas Black, Sirius' great-grandfather, the one who had been voted as the least popular Headmaster at Hogwarts, exclaimed, with his eyes squinted as if he had only just woken up.

"My name is Mafalda, and you can have someone check it out," Umbridge said sweetly, "that is, if you can Headmaster Black." She then stopped paying attention to the accusations of the portraits and concentrated on a drawer in the desk.

This drawer is locked when she first checked it, and she tried the regular unlocking spells, which did not work at all.

There is no other way at the moment, so she can only put her mind on this again. "I need a key." She said to herself, "I hope he isn't wearing it, then I would get nothing." She tried to think, "If that key was in the room, where would it be?"

It took her a not too short time to finally rummage through the bottom drawer on the other side and find the key, which is hidden under a thick pile of documents and a few letters. Normally she would have been interested in prying into Dumbledore's privacy and social network, preferably to get hold of some dark materials.

But now she just haphazardly rolled the documents and letters into a ball and fumbled her hand around the interior of the drawer to pull out an ancient key.

She held her breath as she slipped the key into the lock and the sound of 'click' was almost heavenly to her. She yanked the drawer open and the glow of magic instantly blinded her eyes. She stared greedily at the contents: a purple wand, a black jewelled ring, a locket, a diadem, and a tattered diary.

Apart from the wand, the locket, and the diadem, the other two looked dull.

"Slytherin's locket ... Ravenclaw's diadem ..."

Umbridge, who is trembling with excitement, disregarded the shouts of the portraits at the side "Thief! Disgraceful thief!" And stuffed the target of her trip, a relic said to 'hold the mystery of the Hogwarts Big Four, Slytherin and Ravenclaw powers' into her pocket, before jumping out of the chair and making her escape.

She knew she had delayed too long, the You-Know-Who had promised to buy her time, but she couldn't afford to bet everything on it.

After a few steps, she abruptly paused.

An unstoppable thought crossed her mind: You-Know-Who's desire for the locket and the diadem was overwhelming, what about the other treasures that were placed alongside it? Is that wand a powerful wand? Is there any hidden secret behind the black jewel ring? Diary ...

Umbridge, however, did not bother to think about the tattered diary with a large hole in the centre.

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Greed and desire once again prevailed as she turned back and reached out towards the drawer when she heard a high, resounding chirp and a phoenix materialized out of the fire in the circular office.

Umbridge was horrified. She hadn't considered this situation at all, is Dumbledore coming back? She could only fool stupid portraits with her appearance, there is no way she could fool Dumbledore ... For a moment, she seemed to forget how to breathe.

Fawkes spread his wings and landed on the gilded perch in the office, and looked at her critically.

There was some silence in the circular room and Umbridge slowly retracted her hand, and curtly showed her empty hands to the phoenix as she moved towards the door step by step, "Don't let her leave! Fawkes, she's a thief!" A portrait shouted.

Umbridge's mind went 'buzz', damn you, stupid portrait, I'll destroy you sometime! She had already heard the angry chirping of the phoenix and the flapping of its wings, and with a pull, the door opened, and thanks to her now slim and much smaller figure than the phoenix with its wings spread she was able to close the door quickly before it could enter. At the last moment, Umbridge saw Fawkes' long, sharp beak peck the door frame, sending a few sparks through the door.

"Bang!"

The door slammed shut and Umbridge sighed with relief. "Thud!" There was another thud, and she jumped up in fright, scrambling to the spiral staircase, which began to slowly descend automatically, but she couldn't wait, so with her short legs she stomped down the steps to increase her speed, the wall started to split open a gap, and she leaped out impatiently, followed by a mad dash through the empty corridor.

Her heart was in her throat when she heard the door slam open, and she rolled and crawled all the way to the grand stairway on the main block, where she nearly rolled down the stairs. She took a couple of gasps of air and ran desperately down the stairs, looking like a mess. She didn't care though, it isn't her face that's being used anyway.

She had planned it from the start, to make the girl the scapegoat.

All she had to do now is run to that abandoned classroom on the ground floor and switch over with the real Mafalda, Umbridge's eyes glinted menacingly as she ran.

To destroy the evidence and get rid of suspicion, leaving a corpse in the school would be the best option.

The chirping of the phoenix echoed through the castle corridor and Umbridge spooked and sped faster.

But she didn't really have to worry too much; the phoenix's cry wasn't aimed at her, instead, it was aimed at a certain ancient rune professor who has laid his hands on him. Fawkes stormed out of the door, only to be caught by a hand that suddenly appeared out of a thin air and caught his neck in a smooth jolt, and Fawkes, who had never been treated so roughly before, simply exploded with anger.

"Easy," Felix said with a grin, holding Fawkes like a hen and stroking his pretty feathers soothingly with his other hand, "take it easy, you have to give her some time to escape or she can't get away ... ..."

Fawkes lifted his long, graceful neck, his eyes filled with anger.

Felix leisurely pulled out a silver pocket watch and popped open the front cover to check the time, "Kee?" Valen's voice came from inside. "It's not over yet, it is best for you to stay inside." Felix said soothingly.

"Kee!!!"

"Erm, sorry, you can't have the little snake yet, there's a potential risk in using it inside a space created with Undetectable Extension Charm, and you don't want it to suddenly blow up ..."

Felix closed the lid of his watch and carried Fawkes down the stairs of the Headmaster's office, and gazed into the distance through the window in the corridor of the seventh floor.

It looked bright as day outside, and a broomstick flew past the castle. He saw some familiar faces and - as if competing with each other - balls of illumination light flew out from various locations in the castle, their soft white light superimposed to turn Hogwarts into a world of light.

Inferius immediately started to rush out of their place like headless flies, instinctively fleeing into the distance, only to be set ablaze by the white flames spilling from the flying broomsticks that whizzed past in midair.

Dozens or hundreds of illumination spells converged, lighting up even a small part of the forbidden forest.

Felix finally loosened his grip and Fawkes broke free from his hand, and angrily spewed several golden projectiles at him, Felix waved his hand at it, "Go go go, keep Umbridge mobile, don't be idle, Voldemort shouldn't be able to wait ..."

Fawkes turned gracefully in midair, the two long plumes trailing behind him whipped over Felix's arm, as he flew headlong towards the grand staircase of the main block of the castle.

...

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the empty hole in the wall; as they fought, he knew that the enemy would never succeed, with a steady stream of support from their side -

At first, it was just Hagrid and Grawp, then he came and took down several dark wizards in one go and dispersed the dementors in the area; then Mad-Eye Moody and Tonks joined them without incident, later Ron came with Neville, Fred, and George, and they followed Moody's orders to form a bullhorn formation, leaving little Grawp to stand behind and throw rocks, and from just a single hit the werewolves, vampires and dark wizards were out of the game.

Sirius and Snape were also sent over by Professor McGonagall; Hagrid whistled and summoned the Centaurs, and when Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout also arrived, the situation was completely stabilized. The intruders were forced to retreat beyond the broken wall.

"Let's wrap it up and march forward!" Moody shouted, as he nonchalantly grabbed the flying broom from Ron, Fred, George, and Neville - the twins cursed but relented, tonight Moody didn't use the Polyjuice Potion because he and Tonks were stationed at the school wall, so his magic eye which freely darted in his eye socket made him look a bit intimidating.

Moody glanced at Harry and didn't ask him for his Firebolt, much to Harry's relief.

He distributed the broomsticks to Sirius, Tonks, and Snape and kept the last one for himself. Moody stared at Harry and said in an irrefutable tone, "You stay here and don't interfere! Listen to me -" he growled, "I heard you're a good seeker, so play your part. I'm not assigning you any tasks."

Moody, Sirius, Tonks, and Snape mounted their broomsticks and flew outside the wall, a move that certainly caught the opposite side off guard as a chorus of shrieks and bodies falling heavily to the ground rang out from outside. "Time for us to make our move too, boys." Flitwick said pointedly, "Please stand behind me."

With Professor Sprout he stood together, like a sharp arrow, and headed towards the huge hole in the wall, with sufficient light at hand, there is no danger of being sneaked up on. The four students followed close behind, followed by the Centaurs, Hagrid, and Grawp.

Harry held his Firebolt with a little bewilderment, then climbed onto his broom and flew into mid-air, and now he could see more clearly: the Moody team of four were simply flying across with the help of the broom, and then descended from it when they had reached the enemies, and Harry understood his position at once.

The sky is his domain.

He swooped down, the Firebolt seemed to have merged with him, Harry swept past a Death Eater like a ghost, he could even see his reflection in the man's pupils, a red light flashed and the dark wizard fell to the ground.

"Look out! It's Harry Potter, he's, he's flying!"

"Well done, boy!" Moody shouted happily, taking advantage of the opportunity Harry had created to instantly take down two dark wizards, while the rest of the group also fought their own battles.

Harry was able to manoeuvre the Firebolt with ease, his body covered in a humanoid shield charm as he continued to fly low and fast, the ear-splitting whistle produced by his flight frightened the dark wizards, and after a few moments, the remaining enemies could not hold their own.

They fled in a panic with Apparition, and more than one had suffered an extremely serious splinch.

" A few got away." Moody muttered.

Harry slowly dropped down and Sirius ran over to him excitedly and slapped Harry's shoulder so hard that Harry sat on his butt, which hurt like hell from all the gravel, and he couldn't help but glare at his godfather.

Sirius grinned broadly and sat near him, " You did well, Harry."

"What about us?" Fred came over with a resentful look, still upset about the broom, George, Neville, and Ron also sat around, exhausted from the hectic last ten minutes. Together they watched as Professors Flitwick and Sprout made comments about the huge gaping hole in the school wall.

"It's a lot of work to fix ..."

"It's better than building something from scratch." Professor Sprout said as she sprinkled a few seeds in the gap and waved her wand, where tender sprouts burrowed out from the earth, growing rapidly and soon blocking most of the gap along the wall. "Just a moment, Pomona-" Moody said gruffly from outside as he and Tonks dragged the tied-up dark wizard in, " Alright."

Professor Sprout waved her wand and the vines immediately filled in the last bit of empty gap.

"At least it will last till dawn." She said.

Grawp carried many stones the size of a man's head in his hand, like small pebbles, and seemed to be aiming at the wall of vines; Hagrid hurried to stop him, and half a dozen Centaurs looked warily at the giant sitting on the ground, but because of the battle they had shared, they were too embarrassed to aim their bows at him at the moment.

" Finally, it's over. I'm going to die of exhaustion." Ron, who had just watched a great show, said, leaning over George, who leaned back a little, so Ron slumped into his lap, and George lowered his head, staring at his brother.

"Do you want me to fix your nose for you?"

"Ahem!" Ron immediately got up and said with a straight face, "I wonder what's going on in the castle now?"

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[ Author: I don't think I'll be able to finish this arc before tomorrow, I have so much I want to express since this arc focus on a group.]

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