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// 11839
//== Self Actualization, Pt 2

// 11840
//In the high reaches of Hogwarts where rooms and corridors changed on a daily
//basis, where the territory itself was uncertain and not just the map, where the
//stability of the castle began to fray into dreams and chaos without changing
//its architectural style or apparent solidity - in the high reaches of Hogwarts,
//a battle would soon be fought.

// 11841
//The presence of so many students would stabilize the corridors for a time, by
//dint of constant observation. The rooms and corridors of Hogwarts sometimes
//__moved__ even while people looked directly at them, but they wouldn’t
//__change__. Even after eight centuries, Hogwarts was still a little shy
//about changing in front of people.

// 11842
//But despite that transient permanence (the Defense Professor had said) the
//upper reaches of Hogwarts still had a military realism: you had to learn the
//ground anew each time, and check every closet for secret corridors all over
//again.

// 11843
//Sunday it was, Sunday the first of March. Professor Quirrell had recovered
//enough to supervise battles once more, and they were all catching up on the
//backlog.

// 11844
//The Dragon General, Draco Malfoy, watched two compasses he held in either hand.
//One compass was the color of the Sun, the other had a multicolored, iridescent
//sheen to indicate Chaos. The other two generals, Draco knew, had been given
//their own compasses; only Hermione Granger’s hand, and Harry Potter’s hand,
//would hold a compass that was orange-red and flickered in its reflections like
//fire, pointing always to the direction of the largest active contingent of
//Dragon Army.

// 11845
//Without those compasses they might have searched for days and never found each
//other, which was a territorial hazard of fighting in the upper levels of
//Hogwarts.

// 11846
//Draco had a bad feeling about what would happen when Dragon Army found the
//Chaos Legion. Harry Potter had changed since Bellatrix Black had escaped; the
//Heir of Slytherin had begun to seem truly Lordly now (and how had Professor
//Quirrell known that would happen?) Draco would have felt a lot better with
//Hermione Granger standing alongside him with her twenty-three Sunshine Soldiers
//in tow, but no, the Sunshine General was being stupidly proud and refusing to
//accept aid against General Potter. She wanted to take down Potter herself,
//she’d told him.

// 11847
//The Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy had maintained their influence over
//Britain for centuries by understanding that you couldn’t always be __the__
//most powerful. Sometimes another Lord was just stronger, and you had to settle
//for __merely__ being his foremost lieutenant. You could build up
//__quite__ a position of wealth and power over a dozen generations of being
//second in command. You just had to be careful, each time, not to let your House
//be dragged down with the fall of the Lord you served. That was the Malfoy
//tradition which centuries of experience had honed…

// 11848
//And so Father had thoroughly explained to Draco that if he ran into someone who
//was obviously stronger than him, Draco was __not__ to resent this and
//__not__ to deny it and __not__ to throw a tantrum that could sabotage
//his potential position, but Draco __was__ to make sure that his place in
//the next generation’s power structure wasn’t any lower than second.

// 11849
//Granger, apparently, had never gotten this lecture from her own parents, and
//was still in denial about the obvious fact that Harry Potter was becoming
//stronger than her.

// 11850
//So Draco had secretly met with Captain Goldstein and Captain Bones and Captain
//Macmillan and they’d agreed to all do their best to make sure that Dragon and
//Sunshine didn’t engage each other before they engaged the larger threat of
//Chaos.

// 11851
//It wasn’t __really__ violating the agreement against traitors, you weren’t
//soliciting traitors if you honestly meant to __help__ the other army.

// 11852
//A high ringing tone belled through the corridors to signal the start of the
//battle, and a moment later Draco shouted “__Go!__” and the Dragons started
//running. It would tire his soldiers, it would cost them something even after
//they stopped and caught their breath, but they __had __to put Chaos
//directly between themselves and the Sunshine Regiment.

// 11853
//Harry and Neville walked at a leisurely pace through the corridors, Harry
//watching the yellow-golden compass that pointed toward the location of the
//Sunshine Regiment, and Neville keeping a lookout just in case they ran into
//someone else.

// 11854
//Their footsteps sounded a bit thumpy, if you listened closely.

// 11855
//“So,” the Chaotic Lieutenant said after a while. “That’s why you had us
//practice dueling with all that weight strapped on?”

// 11856
//Harry nodded, keeping his eyes on the compass that led to Sunshine; if the
//apparent direction started to change quickly then they were getting close.

// 11857
//“I didn’t want to say anything in front of the others, but a couple of weeks
//isn’t a lot of time to put on extra muscle,” said Neville. “And the balance is
//different, and I think this weighs __more__ actually, and doesn’t this
//count as Transfiguring a Muggle artifact?”

// 11858
//“Nope,” Harry said. “I checked that in advance. You can see it in Hogwarts
//statues, so some wizards __used__ to wear it, even if they were just being
//fashionable for the Dark Ages.” And since nobody would ever try this if they
//__weren’t__ fighting first-year students using weak spells like the Sleep
//Hex, it didn’t count as giving away good ideas, either.

// 11859
//They came to a Y-intersection, an annoying one; neither corridor bent in quite
//the right way to take them on a direct intercept course toward where Sunshine
//would go as they followed the Chaos Legion following Dragon Army. So Harry
//chose what seemed like the better of the two options, and Neville followed.

// 11860
//“We’d better try a quick Silencing Charm on this stuff when we get close,”
//Neville said. “It’s kind of noisy, they might figure it out.”

// 11861
//Harry nodded, and then said “Good idea” in case Neville hadn’t been looking at
//him.

// 11862
//They trudged on through the stone-floored corridor of the upper reach of
//Hogwarts, lit by windows of plain glass or stained glass, now and then passing
//statues of witches and dragons and even the occasional wizard-knight in plate
//armor or chainmail.

// 11863
//The Sunshine Soldiers were striding through a long, wide corridor with their
//wands out and pointed. They couldn’t use the Prismatic Shield while they were
//maneuvering, but Parvati Patil and Jenny Rustad were currently maintaining
//__Contegos__ around the officer group, who would be the first targets of
//any ambush.

// 11864
//Their tactic for the next battle, she and her officers had decided, would be to
//mix directly in with the enemy soldiers as fast as possible - after having
//practiced among __themselves__ how to support one another, avoid hitting
//each other, and get into positions where enemy soldiers would hesitate to fire.
//They’d only gotten in four hours practice, but she thought her troops would
//already be better at that kind of mixed-in fighting than soldiers who hadn’t
//practiced at all. It seemed like the sort of tactic Chaos would use, but they
//hadn’t actually used it yet.

// 11865
//It was a good strategy, she believed. And yet still, no matter how much she’d
//lectured her soldiers, they’d persisted in whispering fearful rumors about what
//Harry and Neville were learning to do. Finally she’d gone off and talked with
//Captain Goldstein, who understood things like Troop Morale, and Anthony had
//suggested -

// 11866
//“That’s weird,” Captain Macmillan spoke up suddenly, frowning at the fiery and
//iridescent compasses he held in either hand. (Ernie was, as Harry would have
//termed it, “good at spatial visualization”, and so had been designated to hold
//both compasses and try to figure out what their enemies were doing.) “I think…
//Dragon’s not moving fast anymore… I think they got on the other side of Chaos
//from us first… and it looks like Chaos is moving to attack them instead of
//trying to maneuver out from in between?”

// 11867
//Hermione frowned, trying to understand, and she saw similar frowns on the faces
//of Anthony and Ron. If Chaos and Dragon attacked each other straight out, and
//spent all their forces fighting each other, that was practically conceding the
//battle to Sunshine…

// 11868
//“Potter thinks we’re allied so he’s attacking Malfoy now, before Dragon can
//link up with us,” said Blaise Zabini from the common ranks of soldiers. “Or
//Potter just thinks he can beat both armies in a row, if he attacks them
//separately.” The Slytherin boy gave a condescending sigh. “Are you going to
//promote me back to officer now? You lot are hopeless without me, you know.”

// 11869
//They all ignored the talking noises coming from Zabini’s mouth.

// 11870
//“We still moving in the right direction?” said Anthony.

// 11871
//“Yeah,” said Ernie.

// 11872
//“We getting close to them?” said Ron.

// 11873
//“Not yet -”

// 11874
//That was when the huge black-wooden doors at the end of the corridor flew open
//and crashed into the wall, revealing two figures almost completely enveloped in
//grey cloaks, grey cloth stretched over the faces beneath the grey hoods, one of
//those figures already raising a wand and pointing it directly at her.

// 11875
//And then the face of the game changed drastically, as Harry’s voice, high and
//strained with the effort, screamed the word:

// 11876
//“__Stupefy!__”

// 11877
//The dueling-grade stunner blasted toward her, she was so shocked that she
//didn’t start to move until almost too late, as the red jet of light
//__smashed__ right through the __Contego__ shield to their front and
//she just barely dodged, there was a tingle on her arm as the red light went
//past her, and she saw out of the corner of her eye Susan getting hit and blown
//off her feet into Ron -

// 11878
//“__Somnium!__” bellowed Anthony’s voice, followed a moment later by a
//dozen voices crying ”__Somnium!__”

// 11879
//Hermione frantically pushed herself to her feet, and as she rose, she saw the
//two figures in the grey cloaks just standing there.

// 11880
//You couldn’t __see__ Sleep Hexes, the spell was too weak -

// 11881
//But there was no way they all could’ve __missed__.

// 11882
//“__Stupefy!__” shrieked the voice of Neville Longbottom, and another red
//jet shot at her, she fell in an undignified heap as she desperately twisted out
//of the way, and when she scrambled up, panting, she saw that this time the
//stunbolt had gotten Ron where he’d been rising from the ground.

// 11883
//“Hello there, Sunshine,” said Harry’s voice from beneath his hood.

// 11884
//“We’re the Grey Knights of Chaos,” said Neville’s voice.

// 11885
//“We’ll be your opponents for this battle,” said Harry’s voice, “while Chaos’s
//__other__ army slaughters the Dragons.”

// 11886
//“And by the way,” said Neville’s voice, “we’re invincible.”

// 11887
//The two boys in their grey cloaks and robes, grey cloth over their faces, stood
//facing Sunshine’s entire army, seemingly unfazed by a dozen Sleep Hexes.

// 11888
//Daphne heard a soft sigh from beside her, and when her head turned she saw that
//Hannah’s lips were parted, and the Hufflepuff girl’s eyes were huge, and she
//was staring at -

// 11889
//It would have been hard to describe the jumble of thoughts that flashed through
//Daphne’s mind as she realized that Hannah was staring at Neville rather than
//Harry, which in turn seemed to trigger some part of her into noticing that in
//point of fact Neville __had__ been getting pretty interesting lately as
//boys went, in fact right now the Last Scion of Longbottom was seeming downright
//__cool,__ and something woke up inside her and her own lips parted and
//everything the Lady her Mother had ever instructed her about demure demeanors
//and flattery and scented shampoo blew straight out of her mind so hard it
//should have fluffed her hair about her ears, because she’d watched Hermione and
//Harry and she knew how she wanted __her__ own courtship to go -

// 11890
//Her Lady Mother had also recently instructed her on a few spells it might be
//embarrassing not to know if you belonged to the Noble and Most Ancient House of
//Greengrass.

// 11891
//Daphne’s wand swung to point to her left, and she shouted “__Tonare!__”

// 11892
//The wand went over her head, and she spoke the incantation “__Ravum
//Calvaria!__”

// 11893
//And finally she grasped her wand in both hands and shrieked, “__Lucis
//Gladius!__”

// 11894
//The huge magical drain almost sent her to her knees, but she bore it, and when
//the blazing shape had fully formed and stabilized the drain was a little less.

// 11895
//Still, she had a feeling she’d better not try to fight with this for long.

// 11896
//That everyone was staring at her went __quite__ without saying, and she
//__should__ have leaped forward to confront Neville with her hair billowing
//around her, but it was all she could do to walk forward steadily to level her
//Most Ancient Blade at Neville Longbottom. That everyone moved aside and made
//way for her also went without saying.

// 11897
//“__I hight Daphne, of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Greengrass!__”
//she cried. ”__Greengrass of Sunshine!__” The dueling forms had gone
//completely out of her mind, she’d seen enough plays to remember death
//challenges and blood challenges but she couldn’t remember at all what was
//appropriate for this, so she just pointed the incandescent sword toward the
//object of her crush and yelled, ”__Let’s see what you got, Nevvy!__”

// 11898
//Once again Harry’s voice shrieked “__Stupefy!__”, and later on, when she
//was remembering this, she could never quite believe she’d managed to do it, but
//she slashed out with her blade of light like it was a Beater’s bat, and
//__hit the stunbolt back at Harry__ who just barely managed to twist out of
//the way.

// 11899
//“__Tonare!__” shouted Neville, of the Noble and Most Ancient House of
//Longbottom. ”__Ravum Calvaria, Lucis Gladius!__”

// 11900
//For a few seconds, no one did anything but stare at Neville and Daphne as they
//started whacking at each other. They were both moving slowly, and Hermione
//guessed that the spell was taking a lot of strength out of them. It wasn’t very
//impressive by comparison, if you were a Muggleborn and you’d watched certain
//movies.

// 11901
//But you still had to give them extra credit for using lightsabers at all.

// 11902
//“Point of order,” said Harry’s voice. “I know the Defense Professor is
//watching, but I still have to ask, does anyone know whether they’ll slice each
//other in half if they actually hit -”

// 11903
//“No,” Hermione said absently. This had been in one of her history books, though
//she’d had no idea the magical dueling sword looked like __that__. “They
//cast it so it’ll only stun if it touches.”

// 11904
//“You __know__ that spell?”

// 11905
//“Oh, no, it’s the Charm of the Most Ancient Blade, it’s only legal for Noble
//and Most Ancient Houses to use -”

// 11906
//Hermione stopped talking and looked at Harry, or Harry’s grey hood rather.

// 11907
//“Well,” said Harry’s voice, “I guess I could take down the rest of the Sunshine
//Regiment by myself, then.” She couldn’t see his face, but his voice sounded
//like he was smiling.

// 11908
//“You dodged when Daphne hit your own spell back at you,” Hermione said. “So
//whatever you did, you’re __not__ invincible. A __Stupefy__ can still
//get you.”

// 11909
//“Interesting theory,” said Harry’s voice from beneath the hood. “Got anyone in
//your army who can test it?”

// 11910
//“I read about the Stunning Hex once,” said Hermione. “A few months ago. I
//wonder if I can remember the instructions right?” Her wand came up to point at
//Harry.

// 11911
//There was a slight pause, as nearby a boy and a girl breathing in audible gasps
//slowly whacked at each other with lightsabers.

// 11912
//“Of course,” Harry said, leveling his own wand on her, “__I__ can just use
//Somnium on you. That’ll take a lot less effort.”

// 11913
//New __Contego__ shields sprung into existence in front of her, cast by
//Jenny and Parvati, even as Harry spoke.

// 11914
//The tip of Hermione’s own wand began making small motions in the air, a diamond
//within a circle, a diamond within a circle, rehearsing the gesture to match
//exactly what she remembered seeing in the book. It would be a difficult feat
//even for her, but she __had__ to cast the spell right on the first try,
//she couldn’t afford any failed castings that would sap her energy.

// 11915
//“You know,” said Hermione Granger, “I understand that it’s not really your
//fault, but I’m getting tired of hearing people talk about the Boy-Who-Lived
//like you’re - like you’re some kind of __god__ or something.”

// 11916
//“Same here, I must say,” said Harry Potter. “It’s sad how people keep
//underestimating me.”

// 11917
//Her wand kept rehearsing the diamond within the circle, over and over. Harry
//would be recharging his own strength, she knew, even as she practiced as much
//as she could before her attack. “I’m starting to think you need taking down a
//peg, General Chaos.”

// 11918
//“You could be right,” Harry said equably. His feet began to shuffle through
//what she recognized as a duelist’s dance. “Unfortunately there’s nothing left
//that can defeat me now except another Harry Potter.”

// 11919
//“Let me be specific, Mr. Potter. __I’m__ taking you down a peg.”

// 11920
//“You and what other army?”

// 11921
//“You think you’re pretty cool, don’t you,” said Hermione.

// 11922
//“Why, yes,” said Harry. “Yes, I do. Some might call that arrogant, but am I
//supposed to be the last person in Hogwarts to notice how awesome I am?”

// 11923
//Hermione raised her left hand into the air, and made a fist.

// 11924
//It was a signal. Eight designated soldiers in her army would be pointing their
//wands at her, and quietly casting __Wingardium Leviosa__.

// 11925
//They’d practiced __this,__ too, once Hermione had given up on lecturing
//her soldiers, and at Anthony’s suggestion, tried giving them a Sunshine General
//who __looked__ like she could defeat invincible enemies.

// 11926
//“You pretend you’re Superman,” said Hermione. She raised her left fist higher
//in the air, and the eight soldiers supporting her Hovered her off the ground.
//“__Well here’s Super Hermione!__” Her hand pushed forward, and as she shot
//rapidly through the air toward Harry, regretting only that she couldn’t see the
//look on his face, her wand made a diamond within a circle and she summoned up
//all the magic she could, it felt like she imagined touching a live wire would
//feel as the too-powerful spell poured through her when her voice screamed
//”__Stupefy!__”

// 11927
//The red bolt burst from her wand, perfectly formed.

// 11928
//Harry dodged it.

// 11929
//And then, because they hadn’t practiced doing this part inside of hallways, she
//crashed into a wall.

// 11930
//“__Somnium!__” shrieked Draco, and then after only a few seconds to
//recharge, ”__SOMNIUM, CURSE YOU!__”

// 11931
//He __knew__ he was hitting Theodore, the other boy wasn’t even trying to
//dodge, but the scion of Nott only grinned as evilly as his father and leveled
//his wand -

// 11932
//Draco managed to leap aside just as Theodore said “__Somnium!__” but Draco
//was getting winded, he couldn’t keep this up, Theodore wasn’t bothering to
//dodge at all while Draco had to keep moving, this was __crazy.__

// 11933
//He had enough strength now to fire again, but -

// 11934
//__Stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result,__
//Harry had said, this was __Harry’s__ work somehow, it couldn’t be a Muggle
//artifact anymore but Draco couldn’t figure out what it __could__ be, and
//he should be thinking of hypotheses and ways to test them but he was too busy
//frantically dodging as Theodore laughed and shot another Sleep Hex at him,
//Draco felt a little numbness in his side that time as he twisted, that had been
//a very very near miss and finally Draco couldn’t take it anymore, he didn’t
//bother working out what theory he was testing or why as he just -

// 11935
//“__Luminos!__” shouted Draco, and Theodore was haloed in red light,
//”__Dulak!__” and it went out again (so Theodore __was__ still being
//affected by magic), ”__Expelliarmus!__” and Theodore’s wand went flying
//(that had been a good spell to cast anyway now that Draco realized it) but
//Theodore was rushing toward Draco with his arms outstretched to grapple so
//Draco yelled ”__Flipendo!__” and the other boy’s feet were abruptly yanked
//up -

// 11936
//- and Theodore’s back hit the ground with a surprisingly loud and
  //__metallic__-sounding crash.

// 11937
//Draco’s vision was swimming now from casting four spells in such fast
//succession, and Theodore was already scrambling to his feet, so there wasn’t
//even time to think in words, but Draco still managed to say “__Somnium!__”
//and __this__ time he aimed for Theodore’s face instead of the chest.

// 11938
//Theodore dodged (he __dodged!__) and the boy shouted “__Code seven
//on Malfoy!__”

// 11939
//“__Prismatis!__” cried Padma’s voice and there was suddenly a shimmering
//rainbow wall in front of Draco, just as four Chaotic voices cried
//”__Somnium!__”

// 11940
//And there was a pause, as everyone looked at the huge Prismatic Sphere
//protecting the remnants of Dragon Army.

// 11941
//Casting that fifth spell had sent Draco to his hands and knees, but he looked
//up and managed to say, as clearly as he could, “If the Sleep Hex - doesn’t work
//- aim for the face - I think the Lieutenants are wearing metal shirts.”

// 11942
//“You’ve already lost too many soldiers,” Finnigan said loudly from across the
//barrier, “we’ll beat you anyway,” and then the Gryffindor boy laughed evilly.
//He did the evil laughter almost as well as Harry Potter by now, and the other
//Chaotic Legionnaires started laughing with him soon afterward.

// 11943
//Draco could see from the corner of his eye where Gregory and Vincent lay
//unconscious. Padma was still sustaining the Prismatic Sphere, the largest one
//he’d ever seen her cast; but she was breathing hard, still visibly sweaty from
//when they’d all jogged to get into position, the Ravenclaw girl was a strong
//witch but not an __athletic__ one.

// 11944
//He really hoped General Granger got here soon and hit Chaos from behind.
//General Potter and Neville of Chaos were missing, and Draco could guess where
//they’d gone, but two soldiers couldn’t delay the whole Sunshine Regiment for
//too long all by themselves, could they?

// 11945
//She knew it wasn’t fair, that the other girl had given all she could, but
//Hermione still wished that Daphne had lasted longer.

// 11946
//“__Lagann!__” said Neville’s voice from behind her as she flew, and there
//was the sound of a Prismatic Wall shattering, Hannah’s voice desperately cried
//”__Somnium!__” and then a few moments later Neville’s voice calmly said
//“Somnium” and there was the thud of another of her soldiers falling over.

// 11947
//And the force keeping her in the air diminished again, Hermione could feel the
//grab of the Hover Charms straining at her, but now it just wasn’t enough.

// 11948
//Her flight stopped and she began falling in slow motion toward the ground, and
//she should’ve signaled her soldiers to just __drop __her, but she was too
//angry and confused and not thinking fast enough and still trying to muster the
//strength for one last Stunning Hex, and so there was nowhere to go when Harry
//pointed his wand at her and said “__Somnium__” and that was the last word
//that Hermione Granger heard of her battle.