Chapter 82: Assault
The time was 23:30.
About thirty minutes had passed since Leo, Dumbledore, and Harry had set off in search of the Horcrux.
With Albus Dumbledore, the top of the Order of the Phoenix, and Leonard Taylor, the strongest force at Hogwarts, absent, the teachers and Order members dispatched for defense were tense.
Ginny Weasley, who had been informed of Leo's absence, and the students who were receiving special combat training were also unable to sleep and were tense in the dormitory.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
It was sudden. An alarm rang throughout Hogwarts. It was a warning magic by Leo, who had anticipated an attack on Hogwarts. This meant that someone had appeared to invade the grounds of Hogwarts.
The teachers and Order members go outside with caution.
At the school gate, Death Eaters wearing masks and cloaks were coming in one after another.
It was completely unexpected that they would attack from the front.
The group of Death Eaters started running straight towards the school building. Their number is about thirty.
Furthermore, the number of Death Eaters continues to increase.
On the other hand, there are more than a dozen of personnel on the Hogwarts side.
"Stop them!"
Someone shouted. They cast Stupefy and Expelliarmus at the incoming Death Eaters. The Death Eaters didn't dodge any of it. Naturally, the spells hit their mark. Even when blown away by Expelliarmus, they quickly got up and started running again. Stupefy only made them stagger; none of them fainted.
The Death Eaters kept running eerily, not casting any spells, just running straight towards the school building. Despite attempts to stop them, they were too many, and the spells only slowed them down. Eventually, one of them reached the school building.
He collided with the wall of the school building at full speed. The next moment, the man exploded, and intense flames burst from his body. The flames spread rapidly.
A member of the Order of the Phoenix nearby tried to extinguish the fire, but the flames didn't die down.
"It's Fiendfyre!? All of them!?"
A member of the Order of the Phoenix relayed this to everyone. They couldn't let them pass at any cost. If all of them had Fiendfyre, it would be enough to burn down Hogwarts.
"Sectumsempra!"
Snape's spell severed a Death Eater's leg. He fell but tried to crawl forward. However, his speed had significantly decreased.
"Stupefy and Expelliarmus seem to be useless. Aim for their legs!"
Hogwarts' side started to disable the Death Eaters' legs with cuts and shocks. Still, they were outnumbered and gradually allowed attacks on the school building.
"Professor! We'll fight too!"
Ginny Weasley and her friends appeared on the battlefield where the teachers were fighting.
"Miss Weasley!? What are you doing!? Go back to your dormitory now! This is an order!"
"No! This is our Hogwarts. If we don't do anything, it will be gone. We can fight too! Please!"
"That's right! If we run away now, the wizarding world will be over!"
"We've made up our minds!"
"We Hufflepuffs will show what we can do!"
"We're not afraid of dark wizards! We'll blow them away!"
"You guys... Alright! But you have to follow us! And! Prioritize your lives!"
"Yes!"
The students formed small groups and took positions under the teachers and the Order of the Phoenix. With the help of the students, they were able to hold back the invasion somehow, but the Death Eaters kept coming one after another. The attack, which they didn't know when it would end, the fear of being burned to the ground if they broke through, the overwhelming numerical difference, and the pressure from all of these gradually wore down the students who had no combat experience, and they gradually began to be pushed back.
"Darn it!"
"At this rate...!"
A Death Eater approached Ginny Weasley, who couldn't keep up with her magic. She instinctively closed her eyes. But the expected impact and heat didn't come. Instead, she felt a gentle embrace.
"Are you okay?"
"Ah... Ku-san...?"
"Yes. It was too noisy, so I came to help."
The Death Eaters who had approached the castle were torn apart. Flames of evil spirits rose from their flesh.
"It seems that if I kill them, they will ignite at that moment. I have to dispose of them quickly so that my mother can sleep peacefully."
Ku walked towards the Death Eaters who were coming straight at her. From her maid uniform, she transformed into a jet-black armor outfit, her hair grew and turned into sharp blades, and she activated all the cells in her body and started running. The Death Eaters were torn apart every time Ku passed by. Each time, the flames of the evil spirits attacked Ku, trying to burn her to ashes. But even while being burned, Ku did not slow down and continued to tear apart the foolish invaders one after another.
"Incredible..."
Someone muttered. Most people had never seen Ku fighting like this, as she usually stays behind Leo and Hermione as a maid.
Since Ku started dealing with the Death Eaters, the Hogwarts side was able to start a full-scale firefighting operation in the spreading area. They decided not to attack with magic recklessly, as it would only interfere with Ku. As long as Ku is repelling the enemy, there will be no damage to Hogwarts. The dark camp probably understands that, but they still keep coming out of the school gate one after another.
"This is getting annoying."
Ku said that and split. One of them turned into a giant snake and tried to charge towards the school gate.
That was the moment. The Dark Mark was launched above the school building.
Whether that was the signal or not, the enemy who had been moving straight ahead stopped abruptly and ran in the opposite direction to escape.
"What...? Well, whatever. Phew, now my mother can rest assured and welcome Leonard."
Kuu decided to wait for her mother and master in the lab, back in her maid outfit.
Despite the attack, which burned a significant area of Hogwarts, there were no casualties thanks to the efforts of the faculty, Order members, and students, and above all, because Kuu was there.
Afterwards, Leo, Dumbledore, and Harry, who had received a message from Kuu, returned. Leo quickly returned to the lab, but Dumbledore was analyzing the purpose of the attack and the enemy's strength with other Order members in the headmaster's office.
"Headmaster, I don't recognize these Death Eaters. Probably, like the incident at the Ministry of Magic, they used Muggles or Muggle-borns as suicide bombers. Moreover, not Muggle-made bombs, but Fiendfyre. This is quite troublesome. I will go to the Dark Lord to gather information."
"I think this attack was a diversion. There must be some real purpose behind it. And the fact that the attack happened when Leo and I were not there is a problem. We should assume that they have a spy or a way to monitor our movements."
"Headmaster, we will continue to guard the school building."
Snape went to spy on the Dark Lord, and McGonagall and Sprout went on patrol, leaving the headmaster's office.
(...What was the target? Something in Hogwarts? Assuming that they used the attack as a diversion and infiltrated, what was their purpose? We need to wait for information from Severus. The current situation is the countermeasures against the intruders and the whereabouts of the Horcrux, the R.A.B. ...Horcrux, could it be!?)
Dumbledore came across one possibility. Tom Riddle, Voldemort, had a strong attachment to Hogwarts. He had applied to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and many of his Horcruxes were derived from the four founders, which showed this.
In other words, there was a high possibility that a Horcrux was hidden in Hogwarts!
What if it was taken away in this commotion?
Although it was only a guess, Dumbledore judged that the possibility was high.
(Despite Leo's cooperation, we were unable to achieve our goal, and Hogwarts was attacked. This is bad.)
The fact that Hogwarts was attacked even though Albus Dumbledore and Leonard Taylor were there would surely have a big impact on the wizarding world.
Leonard Taylor, who had no interest in such things, was sound asleep with his beloved girlfriend.
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Hogwarts was attacked. The alarm was a magic for intruders from the outside. Unlike the original, Foy and others did not guide, so they attacked from the front.
This time, the Death Eaters used Muggles and Muggle-borns to attack as human Fiendfyre bombs. If Kuu hadn't been there, Hogwarts would have been burned down.
Communication came in reporting that Leo has been attacked since Ku started to move.
The frontal attack was a diversion. The real purpose will be revealed next time. Somehow Dumbledore survived.
So, stay tuned for the next chapter.
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This is the end of the sixth year.
From the next chapter, finally the final chapter of this volume!
At the moment,
I plan to write an extra edition after the main story is completed.The end is coming into sight.
I will write the content I am thinking of writing in the extra edition in the activity report.
If you have any requests, please comment there and I will refer to it.
And as I wrote in the activity report, the basic update from now on will be at 0:00 on Sunday.