Chapter 13 The Trap

It was a week later, after they tested the weapons, and the team decided to set the trap early in the day. The whole keep was up early and all the teens were sitting to breakfast with the teachers sitting at their table. The two long tables were buzzing with excitement and fear. The whole castle knew what was going on, and they were worried, yet hopeful that it would succeed. The training sessions the last few days had been vigorous; they worked themselves ragged and most went to bed early. So now they were replenishing their energy with a hearty English breakfast and plenty of tea and juice.

Harry looked at Luna, Neville and Hermione. "Did you guys do the boosting ritual last night? If not you need to hurry and get a healer to do it," he stated, worried about his friends.

Luna put a hand on his arm and patted it. "Don't fret so, Harry. We do know what we need to do," she said, then turned to her breakfast. "You are letting the wrackspurts in," she chastised.

"Sorry, Luna, I just worry, you know?" he said sheepishly as he squeezed her shoulder, making her beam a radiant smile, which melted his worries. She was quite pretty and had a calming effect on almost everyone she meet. Well, not her bullies, but they never really understood her.

"Don't worry, mate, we got it done right before bed. And let me tell ya, that made sleeping hard," Neville said as he put some beans on his plate. "I had to meditate for an hour just to a short kip."

"Alright, I'll stop worrying. Hey, Hermione, tell me how you're going to get rid of the Horcruxes," Harry said as he took some toast and put some strawberry jam on it.

"Well, we're going to use the elixir that came out of…" she glanced around the table and changed her words, "well, you know where. If that doesn't work then we're going to use the ritual that Bill used in Egypt. The only reason we don't try that first is because, like he stated, the ones they found there were mostly defunct, so he's not sure if he can take care of a… live one." She took up some eggs and bacon and started her meal.

"Oh," Harry said, "Is it a spell or a ritual?" he asked, and then taking a bit of his toast.

She paused in her eating. "It's really very exciting. The spell is so simple, all you have to have is part of the soul, in Herpo's case it was what was left in his body, anyway, you call the rest to join the soul piece with a simple Latin phrase, 'animacumhic' and presto, there they are. Though, I'm not sure why it's Latin, when Herpo was Greek." She tapped her chin in thought, and then shook her head to clear it. "I really hope the elixir works. It would save so much time."

"Oh, I think your elixir will work just fine," Luna said absentmindedly as she put some syrup on her eggs, breaking the yolk and mixing the two together. That made everyone around her scrunch up their noses and a few say 'ew'.

Harry just shook his head at her quirkiness and wondered if that actually tasted good, but he wasn't going to try it just yet. He knew Dudley likes putting ketchup on his eggs, but that didn't look appealing at all.

"Thank you, Luna, that does help," Hermione said kindly, though she did eye the syrup covered eggs with distaste.

"I tried to talk Dad into letting me help," Ginny said, after swallowing her sausage, "but Mum said none of the Weasleys are allowed, not even the twins. Something about how it goes against family morals. Ron was really upset about that. I finally went and slept with Carol, the arguing got so loud." They all looked down the table at the mulish boy who was half-heartedly shoving toast in his mouth. "He blames Harry. Says if Harry will just forgive him then he'd be going too. He even talked to Kingsley, but was told no."

"Of course he blames Harry. He always blames Harry," Hermione huffed, taking a sip of apple juice.

"No, sometimes he blames you," Harry reminded her, glancing at his former mate and receiving a glare in return. He just shook his head and turned back to the conversation.

"That isn't much better," she sniffed. She had tried to keep a pleasant atmosphere with Ron, but all he did was complain, and finally she had had enough and told him that they wouldn't be seeing each other until he grew up. She had cried all night that night, but in the morning figured it was for the best. She was really tired of crying over the on-again off-again relationship.

"Anyway, forget my prat of a brother. We're going to stay near to protect people if we have to. I don't like it, but you've all heard my mum on a rampage." The teens shuddered for their own reasons. "I'll be near the gate with the DA, the twins, Charlie and Ron. We talked it over the last few days and everyone is set to get to the cavern under the castle if the wards are breached," Ginny said. Others around her nodded their heads.

"Good, you Weasleys are the best. Let the DA know I'm thankful for their support. I'm really sorry your mum won't let you fight. I would have thought the twins would have snuck out," Harry said with a question in tone.

"They decided that they wanted to help the villagers. Those adults are still shaky when it comes to fighting," Ginny shrugged and went back to her meal.

"Great, I'll be happy for the backup," the dark-haired teen stated and turned the conversation to how muggle-borns came to be. He and Hermione told the group what the painting had told them and many were excited to research their family trees.

"There is a potion/spell combination that will help you point out who's magical in your family," Neville said. "It's what most pure-bloods use to make the tapestries. We have one at the Longbottom manor, it's pretty wicked."

"That's wonderful; we can do that after the war. Fleur said there are hundreds of vaults in Gringotts, and perhaps other banks, that no one has claimed in years. If we can get people to claim them, then the bigoted pure-bloods won't hold the economy anymore," Hermione said, bouncing in her chair.

Daphne nodded from her place down the table. "It also tells who broke off from the family to start their own line," she added to the conversation. "Or how one line died, like the Peverells, and another started, like the Potters. So if there are frozen vaults, then perhaps more could be claimed. Though the Peverells died out before Gringotts was founded, so I doubt there would be a vault for them. You should check the older banks." She nodded her head at Potter.

"Really?" Harry asked, perking up at that. This was more information on his family. Though he knew he came from the Peverell line, he didn't really know how.

"Yes, the youngest, and sole-living Peverell died with only daughters. The oldest girl married a potter and they took up the name," the blonde answered stiffly. She still wasn't comfortable around all of these people, they still glared at her for being Slytherin, but she was glad to participate in this little talk. If she stayed calm and helped as much as she could then perhaps she could change some points of view. Oh, they got on well enough during training, and she had Tracy, but still she'd like to be able to eat without the glares.

"I'll have to get that tree going," Harry said as he glanced at his watch it was just going on seven in the morning. "Neville, Luna, we have to go," he stated, taking one more bite of his bacon. "Hermione, you better go too."

"Good luck, you guys," Ginny called to the retreating trio. Hermione took another quick sip of her tea and bustled out the door. "You too, Hermione." She quickly finished her meal and she and her brothers gathered at the doorway. The DA soon joined them. They would all wait until the trap team was in place and then set up.

The trio of teens waited at the entrance and soon were joined by the adults, so the nine spell casters made their way to the woods, and about ten muggles and five centaurs were lining the walls, to rain down arrows if need be. McGonagall and Flitwick had erected a ramp to let the centaurs on the walls, the walkway up there was just large enough for them to walk. If they needed to turn they would have to do it on their hind legs, or go to one of the towers. The two teachers were still working on a way to expand the whole top of the wall, but for now it would have to work.

It was raining pretty hard now that winter set in, but they had been training outside, so it didn't affect them much. They did hope it would stall the Snatchers, but weren't counting on it.

Harry, McGonagall, Flitwick, Remus, Kyle, Dick, Neville, and Luna fanned out in a half circle among the trees. They were near rocks and bushes that they could safely hide in, and McGonagall transfigured some boulders. They all waited near their hiding places for Kingsley to give the call. They were all disillusioned, well, Harry was under his Cloak, and they sported the shield bracelets. It was found, after testing them, that they would indeed keep the bombs from knocking them out. The darkness powder would prevent them from being blinded.

Harry made sure that Dick was far away from him, but in an area he could watch. Luna and Neville made sure to take the spaces next to Harry, to watch his back. None of them trusted that man, but Kingsley would not be swayed to keeping him in the keep. That man still stalked him, even now that the Horcrux was gone. It was downright creepy.

Kingsley looked at his watch, he was the only one still seen. "Hermione and Bill should be done with the ritual in about five minutes. According to them it should work. They'll send a Patronus when they're done. Is everyone ready?" he asked looking around the clearing making sure he couldn't see anyone. You could only tell they were there if you were looking for them, since the disillusion spell caused a small ripple effect in the air and you could see the rain bounce off them. Only Harry was completely covered. He felt better that they were near something that could shield them, but knew if they were going to get a clear shot they needed to be in the open.

"Yes," eight voices called, some in complete exasperation. They wanted this to be over as soon as possible, no one wanted to stand in the cold rain.

"Alright, on my mark," the bald man said as he tapped his wand on his head and disappeared. It was a quiet five minutes, though you could make out Grawp in the background calling for Hagrid, but they had told the half-giant to hold off for a half an hour, just in case.

Suddenly a Jack Terrier Patronus came in to view; "It's done" was the message.

"Shields up," he called and waited another minute and then shouted, "Voldemort!"

They all waited with anticipation, and when the Death Eaters popped into the middle of the clearing, dressed in the uniforms of dark robes and masks, they formed a circle and looked around the area, with wands raised, they had just spotted the rain bounce off where Neville was and were about to start casting when Kingsley threw the darkness power. He waited a few seconds for it to form the black fog and then tossed the bomb.

"BOOM"

A bright light flashed in the darkness, and the Death Eaters cried out, but were soon silenced.

The impact of the bomb caused the team all to stumble back, but the shield bracelets protected them being knocked out. The inky darkness wouldn't let them see what was happening. They would have to wait until the air clear, but they didn't hear any shouting. Righting themselves, they raised their wands and waited. Soon enough the dark fog cleared and the Death Eaters were all laying on the ground.

"Quickly, disarm them," Harry said, going to the nearest man and grabbing his wand. The others did the same and then checked for portkeys, stripping them of everything but their clothes (no one wanted to see them naked, though they did take those ridiculous masks). They cast spells to make sure there were no tracking charms on them, and when they found them they were dispelled. Harry, Luna and McGonagall went around and transfigured them into rocks, which they then placed in a bag.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Kyle stated as he followed everyone through the gate, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. He had been hoping for a little more excitement.

"Yeah, but I'd rather that then them killing us," Neville said with a grim smile. "Besides, it might not be as easy the next time." He clapped the disappointed man on the back.

"Perhaps," was all the answer he got.

Harry reached the gate and had to tug the bag through. The Weasley kids, and the DA, came up and asked if it went alright, and were told that everything went according to plan. The redheads nodded and clapped the team on the back and then went about their business. The twins went to the labs, Ginny went to the training yard, Charlie went to find Hagrid to take care of Grawp and Ron went who knows where. Bill was still with Hermione. The DA dispersed to the castle to get whatever chore they were assigned done.

The trap team made their way down to the cells and when they threw a rock in one it became a man. Each Death Eater was still knocked out. Soon enough five unknown men and women were in the cells. They came to, about five minutes later, and all of them tried to apparate, but were held fast. They frantically searched their robes for their portkeys and wands. When they didn't find them the yelling started.

"Potter," a tall grisly man snapped upon spying the dark-haired teen in front of him, "the Dark Lord is looking for you. He will praise us when we take you to him." He held his head high, like he wasn't a prisoner. He looked down his nose in distaste at the people on the other side of the bars.

"Right, just so you know, you're not getting out of here anytime soon," Harry said, folding his arms and sneering at the man. "See, you can't use magic in there, and I highly doubt you can pick a lock, but just in case, those locks are spelled on this side, to prevent such."

"Our Lord will come for us, you fool. If you think you can hide forever then you are dumber then you've been giving credit for," the man scoffed back as he reached out his pale white hand and rattled the bars. There was a bit of doubt in his eyes when they held tight.

"Okay, I didn't know you guys talked about me, but whatever. Anyway, one of the house elves will bring you something to eat soon. Let me give you a tour. Here is your bedroom, and that hole in the ground is your loo. Well that's that, enjoy your stay," Harry said jovially, and the other teens giggled at his nonchalant ribbing. The adults, barring Kyle, shook their heads and some rolled their eyes.

"You will pay for this, Potter. Mark my words," the still unnamed man screamed as the team made their way out of the area. The other Death Eaters joined in with calls 'our Master will free us' or 'you're gonna die' or other such nonsense.

"Right, okay, whatever you say," he scoffed as he closed the door. "Well, that was a bit disappointing. Does anyone know who they are? I doubt they're even marked." Harry sighed. He had been hoping to catch some of the inner circle, but all they got were flunkies.

"I know a few of them, petty thieves and thugs, but no, they really aren't high in the hierarchy," Shacklebolt stated as he made his way up the stairs. "Go and do something for a while and we'll do this again around noon. I have to talk to our marksmen." He veered off at the top of the stairs.

Harry, Neville and Luna made their way to the ritual rooms to meditate, talking about how easy the trap was, but none of them believed it would stay that way.

They did this three more times that day; all three were just as disappointing in action. They decided to try again in the morning. The cells were filling up, since there were only thirty of them and they now had fifteen Death Eaters. They worried that they would have to double up soon. Harry had tried to convince them to keep them rocks, but McGonagall shot that down, saying it was inhumane. The teens didn't see it, since the rocks didn't feel anything. It wasn't until she explained that they would revert on their own that they backed down.

"Harry, you didn't try the snitch," Luna said, later that night, when she, Harry and Neville had just left the cell area. They were making sure that the inmates didn't try and harm the house elves. They were now making their way to the dining hall.

"Shite, I forgot. Oh, well, like you said, there will be plenty of opportunity," he added, giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Silly boy," she said and quickly kissed his cheek in return and then grabbed his hand.

Neville just quirked an eyebrow, he was getting an inkling that this was the start of a brand new relationship. He had his sights set on Hannah, who was helping the healers. They had spent many hours in the greenhouses, picking potion ingredients for the twins.

Think of the devils and they will come.

"Harrykins, tales of your brave deeds are spreading throughout the castle," Fred smirked as he came up to Harry's left, George to Luna's right.

"Yes, indeed they have, my brother. Stories of how you stood valiantly to the side and let our invention do the work are parting everyone's lips," George said in a triumphant manner.

"Though great tales of Merlin's magnificence also float the walls," Fred added.

"Bugger off, you two," Harry said with a smile. "You know your darkness powder and that bomb won the day. You don't need me to stroke your ego," he said teasingly, nudging Fred with his elbow.

"Right you are, our dear friend, right you are," they said together, puffing up their chest in self-importance.

"People aren't really talking about us, are they?" Harry asked a bit worried, he really hated it when he was the center of attention.

"No, they are praising us," George stated with an evil grin.

"And Merlin, of course," Fred added, sharing a look with his brother.

"Our profits are going to go through the roof," George said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them in a greedy manner.

"You deserve every bit of them," Luna said with a dreamy smile. Neville nodded his agreement.

The five teens went to the dining room and the whole place stood and clapped, barring the teachers, though they did smile at the two. People were shouting things like 'Weasleys are the winners,' or 'The Terror Twins strike again,' or other such praises.

The twins took it all in good grace and bowed to each table.

"We are glad you see our genius!" Fred shouted with a huge smile, making the crowd settle and laugh.

"You can buy our products at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes," George added with another bow.

"When the war is over," they said together.

They made their way to Hermione and started dishing up their meals, there was some mutton and Harry wanted to try it. "Hermione, how did the ritual go?" he asked as he dished up the greasy meat. He took a bit and savored the gamey taste. It was like nothing he had ever eaten before, and he understood why the Vikings like it so. The grease dripped down his chin, and he quickly wiped it away with a napkin.

"It was a bit scary to tell the truth," she said, wrinkling her nose at the fatty food. "When the soul pieces floated through the walls, they were screaming. When they joined the necklace took on a dark aura. I was very tempted to put it on, but Bill stopped me, thank Merlin. Anyway, we dropped some of the elixir on it and it smoked, started to melt and the screaming started again. Thankfully we were outside the circle, because a larger… spirit, I guess, came from the necklace and tried to leave, but it was held by the barrier. It yelled one last time and then faded." She gave a full body shudder. She was going to have nightmares about that. If they had been inside the circle then there was a great possibility they would have been possessed.

Harry wiped his hands, and put his arm around the distraught girl and hugged her close. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said as he petted her curly hair.

"I'll be alright. I just need to forget those screams," she said as she put her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah," the dark-haired teen said, shuddering at the memory of the St. Mungo's rescue.

The talks turned to the trap and many praises were rained on the Weasley twins. They simply smiled and told of all their products and a good meal was had by all, except Ron, who was glaring at the group of happy people. He stabbed a piece of meat and shoved it in his mouth, not bothering to wipe the grease off his chin. The only thing that held him back from snapping at them was the twins' threat to put spiders in his bed.

After dinner they all went to bed early. Harry grabbed a few hours' sleep, and then, around ten in the evening, he silently made his way to the cells. He put on his Cloak at the bottom of the stairs and made his way to the cell block. He stood at the entrance to the keys office and listened.

"Do you think the Dark Lord will come?" asked a woman on the far end. "He might punish us for failing. We're not part of the inner circle."

"Of course he will," barked a man in the middle. "Once we grab Potter he will praise us, and give us the Mark," he crowed triumphantly.

"I'm not sure it will be soon," said another man, his voice full of doubt. He knew they were high enough to warrant the Dark Lord's attention.

"Why do you say that?" the woman whinged.

"Something was distracting him. He was ranting and raving about Potter, you could hear him throughout the whole building. Nagini left. I don't know why, but she just slithered away. It was right scary when she went past me. It happened right before you were sent here. He seems to be frantic, and he sent each of the inner circle on missions, even Snape, and you know he's not supposed to leave Hogwarts," the man replied as he laid back on his cot.

"Do you know what was… distracting him," the woman asked, grabbing the bars to her cell, pressing her face to them, trying to see the man talking.

"No, and I wasn't about to ask," the man snapped, lifting his head off the thin pillow. "Would you?"

"No, anything that would distract the Dark Lord can't be good," the woman whispered frightfully, backing up and sitting on her cot.

"The Dark Lord will come," stated the first man firmly as he rolled over and ignored everyone.

The talking stopped there and Harry made his way back to his room. Well, that answers that question, he thought. Then he meditated and went to sleep.

The next morning they set the trap again, the first time went off without a hitch, but the second one they saw action. When the Death Eaters popped in they came from three different sides, ten in one group and five in the other two. The ones on the right, which was the ten, started blasting everything in sight, causing the team to duck around their blinds. The ones on the left ran to the group in the middle, trying to find them in the darkness. Kingsley threw another bomb and knocked them out.

"Spread out," one of the Snatchers yelled.

Harry waved his wand at the man, using the curse to skin the arm, but when he cast it, the whole body was skinned. It was a grisly sight. The body just stood for a minute, and then the gory mess simply folded to the ground.

Perhaps I shouldn't have done that boosting ritual, he thought as he cast another spell that missed, when the Snatcher ducked.

"He's over there," shouted another man, who was hidden behind a bush.

The team spread out and the fight began, using the trees to hide. Spells were cast and trees were blown to bits. Kingsley, who had just popped his head up to cast, got hit with a stray orange spell that gashed his face, causing his disillusion spell to fail. He fell to the ground and didn't move. The upper half of his body exposed.

"Kingsley!" Dick yelled, and ran to the man. He dragged him behind the tree and started firing on the remaining enemy.

Arrows started to rain down on the Death Eaters and two of the ten died instantly. The rest took better cover. Harry started sneaking up on them and killed them with bludgeoning hexes to the head. He got six of the eight left. The other two died from curses cast by the team. McGonagall and Luna were transfiguring the knocked out ones. Some of them were also dead; they had hit something when the bomb went off, a few had arrows in their chest.

All in all the fight took twenty minutes, but it felt like hours.

A blood covered Harry ran to where he last saw Kingsley and skidded to a halt. Dick was frantically trying to heal him. So Harry knew the man was alive. "We have to get him to the healers," he said, hoping to get Dick to pay attention. He didn't want to touch the man with so much blood on his hands.

"This is all your fault," the surly man snapped, raising off the ground.

"What? How, the hell, is this my fault?" the teen said, snapping up his wand.

"You're supposed to be the bloody savior," Dick accused, pointing his wand at the boy. "You're supposed to prevent this type of shite from happening."

"Dick!" Kyle yelled, making the man twirl. "You will not blame Harry. We need to get Kingsley to the healers," he softened his voice and point to the injured man.

Dick looked around and saw that he was surrounded, all wands pointing in his direction. He slumped his shoulders and nodded.

Harry had to wonder why he was so distraught. He knew they weren't lovers or anything like that, but just what was their relationship? He'd have to ask Kingsley when he was feeling better, but either way he wanted the man off the team. He simply didn't trust him. He shook his head and waved his wand to get the blood off him. When he was clean, he still felt dirty. He'd have to take a shower to get the feeling away.

Kyle and Flitwick floated Kingsley off the ground and everyone started making their way to the castle, leaving the dead Death Eaters to the scavengers of the woods. They knew that there were some, from when Remus took his little romp. That and Charlie and Hagrid were constant visitors.

"Is anyone else hurt?" Harry asked as he grabbed Luna's hand and looked her over. He was glad his cleaned the blood off himself before he joined the group.

"No, everyone else is okay," she answered, looking sadly at the downed Auror, and then glanced back at the headless bodies.

"Good, that's good," Harry sighed with relief, squeezing her hand.

The healers were standing in the entrance and when they saw Shacklebolt they ran towards him. Taking over they rushed him to the hospital floor.

"He had better be okay, Potter," Dick snapped from the gates.

The team turned and noted the man was having a hard time coming through the wards. They all held their breaths and raised their wands again. The Weasley children and the DA joined them. They didn't know what was going on, but they weren't about to let anything happen to Harry.

Dick took a deep breath and stepped through the wards, making everyone sigh in relief.

"He will be fine," Luna said vaguely.

"He had better be," the surly man snapped, pushing past Harry and stomping away.

"We better get the prisoners to the cells," Harry said as he watched the man leave. He really hoped this didn't come back to bite him.