No, until Harry was old enough, this was their war. They could not win yet, but that didn't mean they couldn't fight. The others knew nothing of this, of course. It would be terrible for morale to know that they had no chance of ending the war any time soon. There were plenty of battles still to be fought before young Harry would be ready, and they needed to hold the Death Eaters at bay in the meantime.
But he was getting ahead of himself. This meeting was about the battles that had just taken place that night. There were multiple attacks that night, too many. It had taken nearly all of their forces just to repel the attack on Diagon Alley. And despite their efforts, the Death Eaters managed to cause massive destruction to the center of wizarding life in Great Britain.
There was also an attack in Hogsmeade. He still wasn't entirely clear how they had managed to fend off the Death Eaters there. Minerva and Kingsley were visibly distressed when they arrived back at Headquarters. They had been left, practically stranded, in Hogsmeade with Alastor as well. Alastor would not be there to attend the meeting. He was hit with a rather nasty curse in that battle. The healers at St. Mungo's were still working on him the last time he checked.
He was not the only one absent for the meeting, however. Emmeline Vance would never again attend one of these meetings. She had been struck down in Diagon Alley with the killing curse. He could only take comfort in the fact that she did not suffer in death. Bill Weasley was also grievously injured in the battle, but he would pull through. Absent along with him, his mother, Molly Weasley, refused to leave his bedside in St. Mungo's.
At length Dumbledore finally spoke to the assembled group. "As we had expected, Voldemort has chosen this night to mark the beginning of the Second War. The majority of his forces were concentrated in Diagon Alley, where most of our own number fought to hold the enemy at bay and to save the center of British Wizarding life. There was much damage and destruction, and we did suffer some casualties, but I daresay that things did not go exactly as Voldemort had expected."
He paused momentarily and took a deep breath. "We were able to push back the Death Eaters and Dementors in Diagon Alley with minimal losses on our side; however, it took almost all of our members to accomplish even this, which left us unprepared to handle any of the other attacks that occurred this night. There were several small attacks on wizards and muggles alike throughout Great Britain, but the other main target was Hogsmeade. I understand that Minerva, Alastor, and Kingsley were left to protect the town. Alastor is currently being treated at St. Mungo's, but from what I understand the three of you were able to hold the Death Eaters at bay with very little damage to the small town. Minerva, would you care to give us the details of your battle and how you three managed to hold off a force of nearly 30 Death Eaters?"
The normally collected and rigid professor rose to her feet. Had any of her students seen her just now, they would have been shocked at her appearance. Her hair, which was normally kept in a tight bun on top of her head was laying haphazardly past her shoulders. Her stern expression was gone, replaced with one of contemplation, as though she was trying to solve some riddle. She gave Albus a nod and glanced across the table to Kingsley, the only other Order member present who knew what she was about to report.
"To put it simply, Albus, we didn't. Hold off the force of Death Eaters in Hogsmeade, that is. The three of us were quickly pinned down, surrounded. We barricaded ourselves up next to a building while more than a dozen Death Eaters kept us under a line of fire preventing us from gaining any ground. While we were occupied, the rest of the Death Eaters left to wreak havoc on the town." She paused and shook her head before taking a deep breath and continuing. "We were helpless. They had erected anti-apparation wards, preventing us from even escaping our position. If they had wanted, they could have easily taken over the three of us, but they were content to play with us for the time being, which is what inevitably led to their downfall."
"Alastor fell to a curse, so we activated his emergency portkey, leaving just Kingsley and I to hold off the Death Eaters. But not a couple minutes later, help arrived. Neither of us saw what happened, but somebody attacked the Death Eaters surrounding us. Most of them turned to face the new opponent, leaving only a handful left guarding us. We were able to systematically take each of them down one by one." Throughout her speech she had directed her gaze all along the table. Her voice was almost monotonic, but not quite.
As she continued, she turned her gaze directly to the esteemed Headmaster, and the emotion in her voice rose. "After we felled the last of the ones guarding us, we turned to our savior to find him in a duel of his own. There were numerous Death Eaters strewn about the ground around him. By the time we got to him, there were only a couple Death Eaters left standing. We managed to take out all but one. The last one activated a portkey which transported all of them away.
"It was a boy, Albus. He couldn't have been much older than 17. He dueled a dozen Death Eaters at once. The boy had a few serious injuries. He was hit with a cutting curse on his left arm and his right leg, and that's just what I was able to see from the minute that he was standing before me. He seemed nervous when I talked to him and quickly told me that he had managed to take out about ten other Death Eaters throughout the town and that he'd vanished their portkeys. Then he left, apparated right out." She slumped down in her chair, finished with her monologue.
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