And then many things happened at the same moment.

They heard uproar from the distant boundary of the school as what sounded like

Hundreds of people came swarming over the out-of-sight walls and pelted toward the

Castle, uttering lowd war cries. At the same time, Grawp came lumbering around the side

of the castel and yelled, "HAGGER!" His cry was answered by roars from Voldemort's

giants: They ran at Grawp like bull elephants making the earth quake. Then came hooves

And the twangs of bows, and arrows were suddenly falling amongst the Death Eaters, who

Broke ranks, shouting their surprise. Harry pulled the Invisibilty Cloak from inside his

Robes, swunt it over himself, and sprang to his feet, as Neville moved too.

In one swift, fluid motin, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him;

The flaming har fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a

Glittering, rubied handle -

The slash of the silver blade could not be heard over the roar of the oncoming

Crowd or the sounds of the clashing giants or of te stampending centaurs, and yet, it

seemd to draw every eye. With a single stroke Neville sliced off the great snake's head,

Which spun high into the air, gleaming in the light flooding from the entrance hall, and

Voldemort's mouth was open in a scream of fury that nobody could hear, and the snake's

Body thudded to the ground at his feet-

Hidden beneath the Invisibilty Cloak, Harry cast a Shield Charm between Neville

and Voldemort before the latter could raise his stamps of the battling giants, Hagrid's yell

Came loudets of all.

"HARRY!" Hagrid shouted. "HARRY - WHERE'S HARRY?"

Chaos reigned. The charging centaurs were scattering the Death Eaters, everyone

was feeling the giants' stamping feet, and nearer and nearar thundered the reinforcements

That had come from who knew where; Harry saw great winget creatues soaring the heads

of Voldemort's giants, thestrals and Buckbeak the hippogriff scratching at their eyes

While Grawp punched and pummeled them and now the wizards, defenders of Hogwarts

And Death Eaters alike were being forced back into the castle. Harry was shooting jinxes

And curses at any Death Eater he could see, and they crumpled, not knowing what or who

Had hit them, and their bodies were trampled by the retreating crowd. Still hidden beneath

the Invisibility Cloak, Harry was buffered into the entrance hall: He was searching for

Voldemort and saw him across the room, firing spells from his wand as he backed into

The Great Hall, still screaming instructions to his followers as he sent curses flying left

and right; Harry cast more Shield Charms, and Voldemort's would-be victims. Seamus

Finnigan and Hannah Abbott, datted past him into the Great Hall, where they joined the

Fight already flourishing inside it.

And now there were more, even more people storming up the front steps, and

Harry saw Charlie Weasly overtaking Horace Slughorn, who was still wearing his emeral

Pijamas. They seemed to have returned at the head of what looked like the families and

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 638