"Now, Harry, you need to start an incantation to deactivate a three kiloflamel ward system and drain the charm into the rune stone system we just set up."
Harry frowned. Three kiloflamels. Damn. Whatever they were doing was serious business. This definitely wasn't practise.
Dumbledore desperately legged it around yet another corridor corner and down into a secret passageway that he was sure only he knew about. He barrelled down the secret passageway, and emerged out into another corridor, this one so dusty that the dust pilled up in the corners almost like snow.
Hogwarts had some strange geometry, but it did usually follow some common sense rules — rules like, if a room has a wall, then somewhere, there has to be another side to that wall.
And the other side of the mirror room outer wall should be right about… here.
Harry focused every ounce of his will on making sure the magic drained out of the old ward system without causing what could be charitably described as a problem. When problems happened with this much magic you were lucky to get out of it staying the same shape. Mere explosions were easy to deal with compared to something as powerful as a collapsing defence system trying to turn you into a polka dotted frog with nine legs and a taste for only kangaroo.
Suddenly he felt something smack into the magical shield ward he'd just set up. "Daphne."
"Yes, Harry?"
"Something just tried to attack the magic defence ward system."
Harry heard Daphne's intake of breath and subsequent rapid question. "Hermione, where is Dumbledore?"
He heard a tiny, tinny voice say, "He's not on the map."
Daphne cursed. "Harry, will this force be able to get through?" Harry shook his blindfolded head. "It does feel strong enough to be Dumbledore or Voldemort, but they'll never be able to get through alone, the ward system's too powerful."
Harry heard Daphne let out a sigh of relief. "How close is the ward to being drained?"
"Close."
Harry continued to supervise the draining, while feeling what Daphne seemed to think was Dumbledore fruitlessly pounding on the magical shield surrounding the room. Eventually the pounder gave up.
The final few Merlins drained into the new ward system.
"Daphne, it's done." Hermione's head shot up from where she'd been staring at the Marauder's Map. She remembered! Harry had done it! "Daphne!"
"Yeah, Hermione, it's done! Get in here, now!"
Hermione jumped up and dashed though the still open hole in the pipe and into the muggle studies defence room.
Dumbledore almost dropped his wand in shock. The fidelius was down! He stopped staring at the wall in front of him and dashed back the way he'd come. This was bad. Really, really, bad.
"Expecto
patronum!"
A
silver
phoenix appeared in front of him. "Minerva! The third floor defences have failed. I'm putting the castle into lockdown. Get the students to their common rooms."
Hermione skidded into the centre of the mirror maze, trying desperately not to look at any of the reflections. Many of them prominently featured Older Hermione hanging from a prison ceiling without a head. "Harry!"
Harry turned to her, just as Daphne untied Harry's blindfold. "Hermione?"
Hermione reached into her bag and brought out several flasks of memories. "Take these."
Harry dutifully accepted the memory vials and started transferring the silvery strands back into his head. Hermione pointed her wand between Harry's eyes. "Memoria salutem."
Harry's eyes flicked for a few moments. Then he staggered. "Whoa." He shook his head and looked around. "It worked!"
"Yes, but we now need—"
"—Fidelius charm, got it." Harry sat down on the floor in front of the small rune stone in front of him and closed his eyes.
Dumbledore reached his office at a dead run. He lunged for one of his devices prominently displayed in an alcove behind his chair, well away from preying little fingers, and slammed his hand down on it. "Castle lockdown!"
Magic swirled through the room. His windows slammed shut.
There.
Sophie Roper looked up from her book in alarm as every one of the windows at the top of the tall library walls slammed shut one after the other. "What's going on?"
Her fellow Ravenclaws, Lisa Turpin and Padma Patil, shrugged.
"Students!" Madam Pince strode into the normally quiet study area. "Back to your dormitories immediately! Quickly now! Go!"
John halted Susan in the middle of their duel and watched with wide eyes as every window and door to the duelling arena slammed shut and bolted itself. Powerful magic rushed through the space, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on edge. What the hell?
Chief Auror Sirius Black snatched his shield up from where it lay on by the door and bolted outside, almost colliding with Shacklebolt who'd rushed out of his office at the exact same moment.
A blaring siren was sounding, almost deafening him with its wail. The department's normally soft lighting was pulsing pure red.
They both tap-danced down the department stairs to find the two dozen aurors of the main office already dressed and ready game faces on, helmets, shields, the full nine yards. Sirius strode into the middle of them. "Hogwarts is on lockdown! The moment we get a request for help, we leave."
All twenty-two aurors nodded.
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