AUTHOR----Right now. Dear god that is one whole page almost without updates! 😐
Harry made for the fire, but McGonagall stopped him. "Wait here, Potter. I'll apparate, and the rest will come back one by one."
Harry nodded wordlessly. The teacher disappeared with a loud whip-crack noise.
True to Professor McGonagall's word, she reappeared moments later.
"They are coming now, Potter," she informed him. "But not all at this fire. They will be arriving all over the castle."
All over the castle? Harry didn't stop to complain, instead occupying himself by dashing around and checking all the obvioius places.
He bumped into Ginny, Dean, and Seamus near the second floor staircase. They had noticed that he had never made it to safety either, and were also extremely relieved to see that he was well.
"What was it like?" Dean immediately asked. "How come the castle's not blasted to smithereens?"
"I was running with Snape and Dumbledore managed to advert the meteor's path. It landed in the lake."
"How bad is it?" Ginny said, subdued.
"The lake's about only half-full right now." he said. "And the giant squid's dead."
Even though it was an animal that lived in the depths of the lake and was hostile sometimes, it had been a symbol of Hogwarts almost. Everyone was sad to know that it had been killed.
"Have you seen Dumbledore?" Harry asked them. "He said he was going to the Ministry to do something."
"Yeah, he Apparated in the Atrium, near Ginny." Dean said. "He told her to gather all of last year's DA and try to find you, Harry."
Harry felt relieved. "How many others have you seen?"
"Well, there's us three, Ron and Hermione refused to go without you....and here comes Ernie and Justin, we told them too."
Ernie and Justin sprinted for them.
"Harry," Ernie said, clutching a stitch at his side. "I am enormously pleased to see that you have made it to safety."
"Thanks, Ernie, I'm OK." Harry assured them. "We need to find the others."
"We'd better split up." Ginny said quickly, assessing the situation. "Say...let's run around and meet back in the entrance hall after twenty minutes?"
The plan was agree on, and worked rather well to Harry's relief. He found Susan Bones, the Patil twins, Neville, and led them back to the Entrance Hall.
"Right, now that we're here, we need to get up to Dumbledore's room straightaway," Harry told them all decisively. No one questioned him. "I dunno if Snape's already contacted the rest of the Order, but he should've by now."
They jogged past the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office, up the escalating staircase, and found Ron and Hermione pacing the floor. Tonks and Hagrid were moving all unnecessary items aside. Luna immediately sprang forward and embraced Ron.
"What're you doing, Tonks?" Harry asked her. She didn't mind anyone calling her without using the honorific Professor.
"Well, Snape told us to get the office ready for an impromptu meeting," Tonks told him speedily. "Good choice for a location too I might add, these past Heads will have some good advice for us, mark my words."
The portraits on the wall, which contained the previous Heads of Hogwarts School, applauded tonk's words lightly. Harry could see Phineas Nigellus looking especially important, and shook his head.
"How long's Snape going to take?" Ron wondered aloud. "And when's Dumbledore going to get back?"
As if awaiting to hear Ron's words, the fireplace spat green flames and Dumbledore stepped out gracefully. He was closely followed by Madam Bones, as deputy Minister for Magic, and several aurors. Harry recognized Kingsley and Dawlish.
"Thank you for being prompt, Harry," he told Harry. "Stand back, please."
He drew his wand, and two long tables emerged. It was quickly followed by rows of straight but comfortable seats.
Harry beckoned that everyone else from the DA sit down. They did, confused as to what was going on, and sneaking glances at Harry occasionally.
Hermione and Ron sat either side of him.
"What do you think's going to happen?" Ron asked them both.
AUTHOR's-----the "poor squid"? 🤨 And yeah I am definitely in a slump at the moment.
"Not sure." Harry shrugged. "Council of war maybe?"
He had meant it as a joke, but Hermione looked thoughtful. "Maybe you're right, Harry."
"What, you think we're going to start fighting them now?" Harry was incredulous.
"No," Hermione said. "But we will soon."
Ron was still working things out. "Why'd Dumbledore get everyone from the DA to come up here?"
"Guess we'll find out soon, when Snape comes back." Harry said anxiously.
Right on cue, Snape emerged from the fireplace. "They are coming, headmaster."
"Good work, Severus," Dumbledore told him. "Please take a seat."
The rest of the Order of the Phoenix came one by one. Harry was amazed; apparently the Order had grown considerably since last summer.
Lupin seemed to read his mind. "Yes, Harry - we have indeed expanded the number of members. Quite a few volunteers were obliging to join. We're lucky that many Aurors did."
"We'd introduce you to everyone, Potter," Moody said, dusting off his travelling cloak of ash. "But we haven't got the time. From what Snape tells me, there's been a meteor hit."
"We'll discuss it later, Alastor." Tonks said sharply.
"Righto, Nymphadora." Moody replied. Tonks seemed to swell with indignation at the use of her first name.
The elder Weasley brothers chose to sit near Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Not suprisingly, the twins were first to try and interrogate Harry on what had happened. Harry was saved by Mrs. Weasley, who was bent between chiding the twins and making sure that Ron and Harry were all right.
"Mum, I'm OK," Ron told his mother exasperatedly. "Go and sit with Dad, all right? I think the meeting's about to start."
She nodded, and peered at the other children in the room.
"What are they doing here?" Mrs. Weasley said.
"Oh, Dumbledore just told us to muster all the previous DA members and bring them up here." Ron said nonchalantly.
" 'DA'?" Mrs. Weasley said, frowning.
"Dumbledore's Army," Ron explained. "Defense club we started last year."
He seemed to shrink in his seat as Mrs. Weasley seemed to grow in hers.
"Do you mean to tell me," Mrs. Weasley said with high indignation. Everyone halted their current activities and stopped to watch. "That you purposely disobeyed my orders specifically not to start anything like that last year?"
"Oh - well....." Ron babbled. "It seemed like the right thing to do last year..."
Mrs. Weasley swelled ominously.
"Well, now," Dumbledore said quietly. "Please be seated, everyone."
They obeyed.
Dumbledore continued: "Now, please allow me to brief you on the situation. While we were watching a excellent Quidditch game between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, Gryffindor taking the lead early in - "
Professor McGonagall tapped her foot impatiently on the floor.
" - oh, sorry. Anyways, it had began to rain, and Cho Chang here happened to look up and see a meteor coming our way. She immediately informed Harry, who had the good sense to warn me straightaway.
"I managed to divert the meteor's path from the Quidditch pitch to the lake, and managed to keep the damage minimal to the castle."
He rested his chin on his fingertips. "Now, I have called you all together because I have an idea of how this came to be. But before I offer you my opinion, I must ask it of everyone else."
No sooner had he finished than Ernie Macmillian raised a tentative hand.
"Yes, Ernie?" Dumbledore said encouragingly.
"Er - I have an opinion," Ernie cleared his throat. "I think that this could only be the work of You-Know-Who, sir. The meteor was far too accurate and no doubt would it have caused mayhem and destruction on a large scale."
There were murmurs of general agreement.
"Very good, Ernie - that was what I was thinking, too." Dumbledore smiled at him.
"What if there are more attacks like this, Professor?" Parvati Patil said concernedly.
"I have no doubt thought of this," Dumbledore said. "And I assure everyone that I will take whatever measures necessary to ensure Hogwarts's safety."
Parvati nodded.
"Um, Professor?" It was Ron. "If it was indeed You-Know-Who's work, and it had the potential to kill everyone in this castle, they why would he have done it if it meant killing the children of his supporters?"
"Yeah, you got a point, Ron." Harry frowned, thinking. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle today. Took it for granted. Do you think they might've ran for it?"
"Maybe." Lupin said. Then he turned to the rest of the students. "Have you seen those three boys?"
"No." they said together.
"Interesting...." Dumbledore said, stroking his chin with his long fingers. "Very interesting."
There was silence for a moment. Then Dumbledore addressed Hagrid: "Hagrid, have Grawp or his friends seen anything unusual in the forest lately?"
"Loads, apparently." Hagrid said. "Grawpy's told that he'd been eatin' sumthin' strange. Gave him an upset stomach."