A/N: Sorry this took a long time to update. I know. I have a life though and another story I'm writing. Forgive me. Let me know what you guys think of this. I appreciate the reviews.

Drunken Prince

Standard Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter, just the stuff I make up about him.

Chapter 15 – The End of the Beginning Part 1

The first warning that the battle was to begin was the knocking on the wards. At first it sounded like someone pounding on a large wooden door, then soon after it got louder and started sounding more like huge gong being hit over and over again. It was just a few minutes after midnight and the forces of the light were awoken and were soon getting prepared for battle. Well, those that had been able to sleep anyways. Harry wasn't one of those. He had been awake and ready for hours. He somehow knew the battle would begin this night. His premonitions were getting clearer. He wasn't seeing the future, it was more like certainty of something happening. He knew that Voldemort would show tonight. He felt it in his bones. He of course warned most of his close friends and those that would be instrumental in the battle.

Harry moved as fast as he could to the astronomy tower where he asked Kingsley for a report, as it was King who had been observing the enemy move in from this high vantage point.

"There are probably four hundred death eaters, at least thirty giants, a few mountain trolls, forty or fifty acromantulas, and the dementors near the front. Then there are about thirty werewolves that must have been forced to change along with around the same number of vampires."

"I'm most concerned about the dementors, the vampires, the acromantulas, and Tom himself. King, if you could grab twenty or thirty strong wizards and shield our muggle friends from being slaughtered by dementors, that would be amazing. I have an idea to take care of the dementors though, and I think I can get Neville to take care of the acromantulas, and vampires."

Harry then sent his patronus to Neville with a message to meet him at the muggle command tent.

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As Harry walked up to the command tent Neville ran up alongside him.

"Harry I thought you wanted me to lead the group at the main entrance."

"I've got another idea Nev. I think we can end this with hardly any casualties on our side, but it's gonna take you and me to do it. Come on inside and I'll explain it to you and the Lt. Colonel at the same time."

Lionel Davis turned and looked at the young men entering his command tent.

"Potter, Longbottom, this had better be good, in case you haven't noticed we have a battle about to begin, and some of those things out there are much more intimidating in reality than they are in theory, and there's something out there that we can't see that makes me want to run and hide until I die. My men need to be ready."

Harry responded to the businesslike officer in front of him. "I understand you have things to get done Lt. Colonel, but I have plan that I think will save most if not all of our lives today."

"Well out with it then lad. What's the plan?"

"Well, first of all, that feeling of dread and fear you're experiencing is caused by the dementors. You won't be able to see them at all, but that's not your concern. I intend to deal with them in my griffin form. I don't know why, but I know it will work. The second part of the plan is for Neville here to take his dragon form and take out the vampires and acromantulas with fire. I know we said we were going to save our animagus forms for the end of the battle Nev, but this will save lives. No one outside these grounds knows what our forms are. I'm thinking if we begin the battle as Talon and Scorch, take out our targets, then regroup at the castle we can still join the battle as ourselves after that. Lt. Colonel, your job is to have your men concentrate their fire on the death eaters and werewolves. I have a group of nearly thirty witches and wizards whose only job is to protect your men with shields and spells. So you shouldn't have to worry about the dementors or stray curses. Also, if your rockets and grenades can be used on the giants, that will help."

"My men will do their job lad. Your plan is sound. If you two are going to start out in your monster forms, then I suggest you lads open the battle. Attack them before they get the chance, and we'll follow your lead. If I understand these death eater folks like I think I do, then you attacking first will throw them off their game. No matter what happens we win the day. In the end the bad guys die and the crown will be safe."

"Right. Let's get to it then. Neville I'll meet you at the front entrance in fifteen minutes."

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After checking with the twins and confirming the plans for their part of the battle, Harry was feeling fairly confident.

He had set a shield around Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. The girls were to stay in the castle and defend it, but Ron was key to the whole day. Ron was going to take his eagle form and hunt Nagini.

The problem was that Voldemort had a tendency to ruin Harry's confidence. The Dark Lord's demented mind always seemed to throw some sort of kink into Harry's or the Order's plans. He had to put that out of his head as he had literally done everything he could possibly do up to this point.

He walked up to the entrance of the castle as casually as he could under the circumstances. Neville turned and watched him approach. They shared a look of determination. It was time to end this. They both knew it. Harry, for his part, had been walking this path since the day Voldemort attacked his family on Halloween so many years ago. To see it done was the mission of his life up to this point. Neville asked him if he was ready. He nodded. Harry cast a powerful notice me not charm on the area just to the left of the front steps. He and Neville both stepped into the area and changed into Talon and Scorch.

The two massive beasts took to the air and each circled the castle once, then headed for the front lines. The wards of the castle had yet to be breached, but that didn't stop the two Altor Regnum from initiating the fight. In fact, the intent ward that Harry and Bill had added to the castles defenses would keep the forces of the dark outside the castle grounds unless Voldemort himself found a way to bring them down. The defenders of the light could attack from within the wards for as long as they held and be safe from harm. The only hitch in this plan was the dementors. Harry, nor Bill, could come up with anything that could stop the hooded soul suckers if they truly intended to enter. As powerful as Harry was, the magic of the dementors was something unique, and seemed to be on a different frequency than any magic that wizards could do. As he thought of this, his resolve to destroy them became that much stronger. They approached the ward lines and viewed their targets on the other side. A few of the dementors had already wandered across the wards anticipating a feast waiting for them when their master finally gave the order to strike.

The mighty griffin swung wide and headed towards the dementors. At the same time, the enormous black dragon located the vampires huddled together just a few steps back from the main gates. The nearest dementor tried to get away from the griffin, but it was no use. The griffin moved so fast that the dementor had no time to even face its attacker. Harry felt the crunch as he bit the dementor clean in two. The creature, part of a race that everyone thought was immortal, fell to the ground dead. The next two didn't last any longer.

The powerful dragon that was Neville Longbottom swooped down for a pass at the vampires. The fire that sprayed from his maw was hot enough to melt rock. More than half the vampires were vaporized in the first pass. A sharp turn back and another spray of dragonfire was enough to end the vampire threat for the day.

Soon after the attack began, a black chimera stepped forward to the edge of the forbidden forest and began assaulting the wards with all his might. His minions had failed to cause a dent in the wards and he knew it was up to him to do this. The thing, for it was a thing, started sending blasts of some purple magic at the wards of Hogwarts. On the fifth wave of powerful magic the mighty and reinforced wards of the castle fell.

As soon as the British soldiers saw the black dragon spew fire, they took their cue to open up on the werewolves and death eaters. The first volley of bullets from the automatic rifles they used was enough to down all but three of the werewolves and at least seventy of the death eaters. A mere two minutes after the fighting started the vampires, werewolves, and over half of the death eaters were no more. Even so, the death eaters attempted to advance despite their comrades falling before them.

Neville made a wide turn and headed towards the edge of the forest where the acromantulas had gathered. It took him three passes, but when he was done the giant spiders were all dead, burnt to a crisp.

Fred and George Weasley led a group of twenty fighters on brooms. Their job was to concentrate on the giants. They were armed with the newest of the twin's inventions. Katie Bell, and Cho Chang hit the first giant in each eye with banishing grenades. When they went off the massive creature's eyes had been permanently banished. Fred waited for his giant opponent to roar then threw his favorite new toy into its mouth. Fred and a few others were the only ones who saw one hundred and fifty spears, each three meters long, explode out of the giant's head in a mess of gore and blood. Many other giants were taken down by the muggle military. Their rocket launchers were even more effective than Harry had hoped. Each rocket that hit its mark resulted in a kill.

High above the battle a large eagle surveyed the land beneath for a snake. He spotted it on the edge of the forest just a few feet behind a black three headed chimera.

Harry flew through the dwindling cloud of dementors. Every time he bit one, he could feel his magic overpower whatever magic sustained the foul creatures. Until there were only nine or ten left, the last few retreated as quickly as they could.

Harry saw the remaining dementors disappear from sight, and he turned in the air to survey the progression of the battle. The werewolves were all dead. The vampires were gone. The death eaters were dwindling quickly with most of their number either dead or dying. The trolls were nowhere to be seen. The acromantulas were burnt husks. There were four or five giants still trying to fight but they would soon be overwhelmed as well. The battle was as good as over, and as far as Harry could tell their side hadn't suffered a single loss.

This observation wasn't entirely true. Demelza Robbins, a Gryffindor sixth year had gotten too close to one of the giants on her broom. The giant swatted her from the air and she landed in a heap on the ground. Time would tell if she would live to see another day.

The only task left was Voldemort. Harry saw the giant form of Ron's eagle begin a dive from above the forest. He could only assume Nagini was there.

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Ron started his dive. He had the snake clearly in his view and he was confident of the kill. He was confident in Harry's shield, but still the powerful form of that black chimera and the knowledge of who it truly was scared him half to death. Even so he streaked towards the unsuspecting serpent on the ground. As he drew closer he extended his talons and grabbed for Nagini. He felt the snake as his talons wrapped tightly around it. Nagini fought for her life, but it was a losing battle. Ron had scooped up the giant snake and lifted her a good twenty meters off the ground, then reached down and bit into the neck of the great snake. He could feel the bones give way and snap. With a second bite from his powerful beak the head of Nagini was snapped clean off and fell to the ground. The resulting backlash of dark magic knocked the great golden eagle out of the sky and he fell to the ground near the black lake.

Hermione saw the eagle fall from her place at the castle. The desperation she felt at watching him fall to the ground sent her running as fast as she could. She made it to the base of the castle stairs and wished for more speed to get her to the lake faster. As she ran she began to change, with just a slight leap she changed mid stride into an elegant red fox and continued running without missing a beat. The fox was fast and soon she came upon the fallen form of the eagle. She ran up to it and began licking its large beak. The eagle opened its eyes and rolled slightly to correct itself. Its eyes focused on the fox at its side. Then it shifted back into the lanky form of Ron Weasley.

"Hermione you did it. You're an animagus."

The fox paused for a brief moment then changed back into Hermione's form.

"Are you alright Ron? I saw you fall and I was scared for you."

"I'm alright Mione. Harry's shield isn't going to fail just because of a little fall. I just got jarred a bit there. Needed to get my bearings back see."

"You did it Ron, you killed the snake. I can't believe it."

"Oi, so little faith. If I wasn't so happy right now I might be offended."

A tender punch on the arm preceded her fall onto his chest. He wrapped her up in a warm embrace and kissed the top of her head.

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Harry returned to his spot near the castle and changed back. As soon as he did he began running towards the spot where he had seen Voldemort. He reached the edge of the forest a few minutes later. As he slowed up Neville, still the black dragon, landed next to him. A small unit of elite soldiers also made their way forward at his flank. The monster that was Voldemort took a few steps forward.

"It's time to end this Tom Riddle. Your dark army is destroyed, you've been embarrassed beyond measure. You have no hope of winning this fight. I would ask you to take your beating like a man, but you aren't even a man anymore are you Tom?"

Voldemort roared and let loose a massive green blast of magic towards Harry. Harry lifted his hands like a some sort of ancient deity calling forth his power, and a two meter thick wall of earth raised in front of him and took the force of the magic. The explosion of earth filled the air so heavy with dust and particles that no one could see for several minutes. When the air cleared there was no sign of Voldemort in any form.

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Back at the castle Harry, the Order, Lionel Davis, and a few others were gathered in an empty classroom.

"Kingsley, I think you should take most of the Order, and some of Lt. Colonel Davis' men and take back the ministry while we have the chance. Voldemort will not think to go there and what supporters he has left within the ministry shouldn't put up too much of a fight."

"I agree," the big auror responded, "but what about the castle? We need to protect it as well."

"I'll stay. If half of the muggle soldiers stay, and myself and Neville are here as well, I feel confident that the castle and the grounds will be safe, even if Tom himself comes back."

"How will we find him if he does not expose himself."

"Leave that to me. I have an idea, but I'll wait until the ministry is back under our control to do it. Take back the ministry and contact the ICW right away. We need to reestablish ourselves as a free nation."

Kingsley got the people together that he needed and went off to secure the future of magical Britain while the others all went their separate ways for some much needed rest. Bill, Harry, and McGonagall reestablished the wards and set a watch in the towers.

Voldemort was still out there, but he wasn't long for this world.