Going Through the Other Side.

The next morning after everyone ate breakfast, Cassia called out everyone involved in the battle including Harry into the room.

When the adults saw Harry in the group of students, most were heavily against it.

"Commander, you can't do this!" A tall young man wearing a dark coat said with anger. "He's the one who'll defeat the Dark Lord. If anything in this operation goes wrong, we're finished. Everything we worked for for the past couple of years will disintegrate!"

"I agree Commander," A half-goblin said. "Having one of our most important member go to a battle right now is just going to cause us unnecessary stress! Why haven't you told us yesterday? At the very least, we'll be a bit more mentally prepared!"

"While I definitely understand your concern, it's not much to worry about," Cassia said. "This is a very minor battle and having 20 of you go with 10 students is definitely safe enough. Furthermore, the students are not pushover either. They've been trained by some of the best at Hogwarts including McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape. All they're missing is a little bit of actual battle experience,"

"But.."

"Luthor, I usually let people voice their opinions in plans, but this will be the one time that I will not allow anyone here to oppose!" Cassia exclaimed angrily. "Harry Potter in this mission is something that I deem necessary! These students have also gone through battles and have practiced for years. They are not babies that need constant supervision. They only need a bit of protection against stronger Death Eaters!"

Hearing the angry screams of Cassia quieted everyone in the room down although they still were not satisfied with Cassia's decision.

"Alright, so now that we got everything out of the way, let's get ready shall we?" Cassia asked with smile. "Everyone go back outside and get ready. Mr. Potter, please stay behind. I want to speak to you on some matters before you leave,"

Harry looked visibly confused as he did not expect to be sent into the battle in the first place.

Everyone including Chris left leaving Harry alone with Cassia.

Outside the room, the adults were all disgruntled with the decision.

"I can't believe the commander did this. If something goes wrong, what did we fight for? So many of our friends died. Some of her closest friends died for all of this," Luthor, the tall young man wearing the dark coat said to his friends.

"Well, it doesn't matter now," The half-goblin said. "We just have to increase the level of protection on Potter for this battle. Luckily, like the Commander said, for every student, we have 2 adults. The Dark Lord's medium sized forces won't distract us so much that we can't protect one student,"

Just as the adults were a bit worried, the students were also concerned about both their safety and Harry's as well.

"Chris, are we going to be alright?" Augustus, a Ravenclaw student a year younger than Chris, asked. "We just escaped a fight against the Dark Lord. Is it really good idea to be fighting so soon?"

"Well we're definitely not going to be at a disadvantage," Chris said. "Like the adults said, 2 of them are protecting one of us. Furthermore, we were trying to run away from the main force of the Dark Lord when we were escaping, but now we're just fighting against a smaller force that doesn't have many strong figures. We have also been learning various duelling spells for the past couple of years. We need this combat experience if we're going to have a better chance against the Dark Lord when the final battle comes,"

"Why did you choose us Chris?" Augustus asked. "I believe that you were the ones who chose us. Mrs. Elks does not know enough about us to choose us. It would also be irresponsible for her to randomly choose between the students. It would only make sense if you chose us. We're definitely not the strongest of the pack. There's Hermione, Glenn, and so many other people that can help the adults out more,"

"Well, I think you guys are the ones who will reap the most benefits out this battle," Chris said. "From my observation, you 8 have been extremely good at learning, but you guys tend to choke up a little during actual duels. You have the foundation, but lack the experience. When are you guys going to get a better chance at duelling other than these small skirmishes?"

"If this is so, I refuse to believe that Harry is a good addition to this," Cathryn, a 6th year Hufflepuff student said. "We might choke up during duels, but Harry is one of the best at duelling. He was even the first one to learn the Patronus Charm and effectively use it on the Dementors. He won against so many Death Eaters as well. He has experience and we don't need to risk him to get a little more experience,"

"Well Harry needs as much experience as he can get. If he is in trouble, I'll make sure to do everything in my power to help him so don't worry," Chris said. "Besides, you guys know my strength. I can definitely help Harry in a pinch,"

The 8 students stopped asking questions. The 29 people were waiting outside for Cassia to finish talking to Harry. After a couple of minutes, Harry finally came out.

'Alright so I guess she finally succeeded in convincing Harry to switch with the Animorphamagus,' Chris thought. 'Harry' joined the student group and soon after Cassia left the room as well.

"Alright follow me," Cassia said going to another room. Everyone followed and entered the room. The room had nothing but a couple of furnitures and a large black cabinet.

"This is not going to be the easiest mission, but it will not be very difficult either. May you all come back home safely," Cassia said. She opened the Vanishing Cabinet and everyone started to enter one by one. Adults went first and then it was the students. Finally Chris went to the other side. It felt as if he was in darkness for a couple of seconds before making it out to the other side, a small wooden cabin that seemed to be full with the 30 people inside. 'Harry' also came through the Vanishing Cabinet. As 'Harry' walked forward, an old man went past him and quickly closed the Vanishing Cabinet.

...