~

As the preprations for the war began the malfoy manor was chaotic, people were running everywhere. The deatheaters donned their black coats and iconic masks to protect their identities. The dark lord himself was in his room, all but waiting for the signal to make hogwarts his own. Valena and Annanya had woken up to a siren that morning, scrambling to fulfil all requirements. There wasnt a single moment of peace as people started to line up in the lawn, apparating to the mountain in front of hogwarts.

Valena scurried down the hallway pushing people out of her way in her hurry to find Ananya. She ran around the castle opening multiple doors unable to find her girlfriend.

As she got to the last hallway she felt someone grabbing her arm and being pulled into a room. The door closed and she turned around to look at Ananyas confused face.

"Valena? Whats happening?" She asked in a daze looking around the room as if she had never been there before.

"Nothings happening love, come here" Valena said

"No! Don't ask me to come here! Tell me where I am!" Ananya argued

"Ananya, calm down.' Valena said as she approached her, holding her wand behind her back.

"Don't tell me to calm down! I have a fucking dark mark! WHATS HAPPENING!?" Ananya screamed at Valena looking her in the eyes but with every step Valena took towards her she took one back. Soon enough she was against the wall full of fear.

"Im doing this for you love. Its for the better." Valena said before pointing her wand at Ananya and reciting a spell

"Imperio"

Annaya's expression changed from that of shock to compliance in a matter of seconds. Valena held her in her arms holding her back to her chest as she whispered soft apologies. "Im sorry love. This was the only way" she said as a soft tear rolled down her cheek.

Together they walked to the lawn, hand in hand as they stood in formation. The dark lord opened his balcony window and stood outside, looking down upon each and everyone of his followers.

"My friends. Tonight we take our first step towards building a better world, we take our first step to eradicating all filthy mud bloods and half breeds alike, and restore Hogwarts to what the noble Salazar Slytherin had intended for it to be - A sanctuary for people like us. A token of purity. My friends, Tonight, We Win."

~

The train station filled up with people as they awaited the arrival of the hogwarts express. Everyone hoped that there would be enough fighters that would join them tonight. The people that had considered hogwarts their home for at least 7 years were now standing here as a duty to protect it.

They saw a faint red engine in the distance and the anticipation grew. Each person held their breath in their throat as the train came to halt and the doors opened. For a moment there was silence, no sound of footsteps or people disembarking. As seconds passed disappointment set in and right as Y/N was about to leave the train moved.

She heard sounds of movement behind her and as she turned she was greeted with the faces of almost all of the seventh year students and most of their parents. They all stood there, their eyes glossy and wands held tightly. See looked to see many of the slytherin students ready to fight against their parents that stood on the other side.

Y/N's smile grew from ear to ear as she began handing out the protective clothing to every individual. She recognised most of her friends and thanked them for coming but her eyes kept searching for Ananya. She had hoped she would come but for now there was no sign of her. Y/N climbed onto the train to make sure that it was empty before they all left.

She walked to the last cabin and as she slid open the door her eyes were met with the figure of her Mother, standing beside a deatheater. Y/N's eyes grew wide not expecting her mother to go back to the dark side.

"Get her" Narcissa said as Y/N took a step back.

The masked deatheater started approaching Y/N, who stood there, rooted to the spot. He raised his wand, pointing it at her child but before his lips could form words and his wrist could flick the wand, his corpse lay on the floor, eyes never seeing again.

Y/N hadn't used her powers or her wand, the question begging then, who had?

She looked up to see her mother lowering her wand, tucking it away before saying, "Ive never liked him anyways"

Y/N broke out into a small smile before running forward to hug her mom. She melted in her embrace, holding her close having missed her so dearly. She cried into her mothers shoulder, breaking down in front of her.

"Shh, its okay baby. Im here now" Narcissa consoled "Im sorry for everything I've done love, I should've stood up for you"
"It's okay mom, you're here now and that's all that matters" Y/N cried.

"I love you so much"

They disembarked from the train and as soon as cissy set foot on the platform many wands were raised in her direction before Y/N explained that she wasn't a threat.

"First of all, Thank you to each and everyone who is here today, willing to protect this castle. Now I am not going to sugarcoat this because this is all very real and very scary, I'll admit. Of course its scary, we're all standing here prepared to fight Voldemort and his army! I would be surprised if you weren't scared! But the main point is that its good to be scared. It means that this matters to you. This castle is all but bricks and cement but to each and everyone of you, it means something different. Its holds so many memories, most of us have spent our best years here! That is why were are here. Its not just to protect this building, its to protect this emotion, this feeling of home so that the children coming after us have a chance to live it! Hogwarts isn't a place, Hogwarts is an emotion, Hogwarts is home!"

"Hogwarts is home!" Everyone cheered and as Y/N's motivational speech drew to a close she started explaining the plan with renewed vigour.

"I need most of the adults on the perimeter outside casting as many protective spells as possible. Once that is done half of them will move to assigned posts inside and stay there until asked to move. The children will stand inside the castle and courtyard, hidden in plain sight. This will provide us with the element of surprise." She said.

"Sirius, Remus, Fred and George, You all go to the roof and take up separate sections, inform us of what you see."
"Professor Mcgonagal and Mrs Weasley can activate the hogwarts guards"
"Mattheo I need you to be on the lookout for Valena and Ananya"

With every line she breathed the people obeyed and soon enough everyone was in position.

Professor Mcgonagal walked through the courtyard with the others before looking at the wall and reciting, "Piertotum Locomotor!"

The stone guards that stood on the walls leapt down at once and marched to the entrance of the school.

"I've always wanted to use that spell" Minerva exclaimed, pleased with herself.

=== End of part 36 ===

Hi loves!

Day 2 of 12 days of updates

Sorry this one was a bit late! I wasn't in a network area so forgive me. I will be uploading the next one soon enough! I hope you enjoy!

*what do u want to see in the war?*

Thank you for all the love

Love,
P / Paridhi Prabhakar

Word count : 1327