Hello all!

First - I just want to thank everyone for their reviews and comments over the years. I am grateful that anyone has thought of me as even an average writer. I did my best to put thought to words built upon this foundation that the Harry Potter universe has given to all of us. Like many other fanfic authors, life and motivation has impeded my ability to continue writing. When I first began HBS and my other works, I was in a much different place in life. Like many of you, I worked a job that paid the bills, stayed up too late, went out too much, and was more interested in the HBS and HP universes than I was with real life.

But - life goes on - the job started paying more than the bills, I got married, bought a house, adopted a dog, and now I have to do my best to keep my baby alive. Time catches up to all of us and as you grow older, your time is demanded by things that you did not think possible when you're younger. Still - I felt bad about this abandonment of HBS because I truly did have the outline completed. As any other author will know, the outline is just the outline. Putting the prose down on paper (or Google Drive) is much different than the outline. I deviate quite often from the outline I create. Characters that seemed small blossomed in different roles. Paths I intended to traverse end up abandoned while others pop up out of nowhere. Still - below is the detailed outline of the final chapters of Book 2 and below that is the outline of Book 3 and the finale of HBS.

Again - it is just an outline. While the Book 2 chapters are more or less concrete, there was a lot of room to grow with Book 3. The destination is there, but the journey often meanders. The outline also does a disservice to all the minor characters that I enjoy writing. That is my usual writing process - the plot is laid down and the characters flesh out the world. Sometimes a character affects the plot so much that the plot is changed.

Completely omitted from Book 3 are the minutiae of minor characters: Pansy's snobbish reluctance as she leads a team she does not want to have. Viktor Krum's dominance and then withdrawal from the MMM. Karim Tireur's thirst for revenge eventually consumes him as he misses one too many targets. The question of Fleur. The fallout from Tracey's father as he leads the charge for the Ministry to create two separate governments. Luna continues her role advising Harry but recognizing his weakness. The wide array of Hogwarts Champions that would play minor but pivotal roles during the battle against Voldemort. Percy and a new cast of characters from the Ministry and the MMM all vying for power and influence of this new government. The Unspeakables. Joseph Carter's doomed mission. Aristophanes stirring up the masses against the MMM and Ministry. Sirius and Lupin as two different voices for Harry. The Slytherins who have rallied, abandoned, and then rallied by Harry's side again and again.

So many characters that the outline omits but would grow in the story as I write. Unfortunately, I find it impossible to even think I could finish Book 3 of HBS. The final chapters of Book 2 are partially written but it would be a disservice to publish them in their current state.

Hogwarts Battle School was of course inspired by Ender's Game. I read the books late but devoured them and was fascinated by the concept and how it could be applied to the Harry Potter universe. Sometimes I cribbed from Ender's Game heavily. Sometimes it was more of an homage. The further I wrote, the further I strayed from the outlines, themes, and conceits of Ender's Game, but the inspiration remained.

At the core of the story is Harry, Hermione, and their parallel journeys of finding their role in the world. Harry begins with a high level of competence and confidence. He knows he is powerful and explores how to wield this high level of power. But as he wields this newfound ability to lead, create, and destroy - he becomes disillusioned with his own powers. Like many a hero's journey - he asks himself - what is the point if everyone comes to hate me? But by the end of Book 2, he accepts what he has to do. To ignore the critics and release the need of absolution by his peers and his enemies. But just as he accepts his role as hero, he is robbed of his powers in the beginning of Book 3. Without the innate ability to over power everyone, he finds the difficult machinations of the Ministry, MMM, and Unspeakables draining as well as trying to battle a much older and smarter Voldemort. He is again, relearning his role in the world, but finds this path much more difficult. Clawing his way to the top once more, Harry cements his role with his own belief that he knows better than all. He gains absolute power, disregards other's validation, and begins to write his own story…but also everyone else's as well.

Hermione is on the other side of this journey. She, while powerful in her own right, is maligned because of her personality, her blood, and not being the most powerful in the room. She both envies and disparages Harry's innate abilities, wishing she had them of her own but not wanting to admit he is better than her. She tries to employ every advantage, but cannot overcome the perception of her strength always being less than his. Striving for a way to beat him, she executes dark magic - imbuing herself with power but losing her sanity slowly along the way. This culminates with taking drastic action as she tries to kill Voldemort and accepts Harry as a potential casualty along the way. It is only after her consequences come into effect that she discards this thirst for greater power. Relegated and removed from both Harry and Cedric, she finds a new role in life as protector. Pitying Percy, she embraces a less proactive role but finds herself too competent for the job. It culminates in doing her best to influence Percy in a certain direction but Voldemort has other plans for everyone. She returns to the MMM and assists Harry as best she can with the help of Luna, but finds herself depressed by it all. In the end, she relinquished her offered role as second in charge and seeks a more peaceful life than the warring and vying for power that Harry embraces.

These two threads - what am I do with the power I have? What is my role in this world? How hard do I fight against the fates and circumstances that have been given to me? Do I accept what the world grants me or do I want more…or less? Who am I and what am I to do with the powers I have? In retrospect, it is revealing I wrote the story I did as these were the questions I had in my life.

So I leave you with the outlines of HBS and what I hoped to accomplish and know that the outline misses much of the detail. I will do my best to answer any additional questions in the reviews and thank you all for the fuel to keep writing during the time that I could.

And leave you with one last thread - should I ever find the gift of time again - I do have one more story to write in the HP-verse before I depart it completely.

Book 2 Ending -

Ch53 - Death Has Come

Harry wakes up and has a conversation with Fleur about carrying own their relationship after Hogwarts. Fleur says it won't be easy, but Harry is willing to experiment. He leaves the carriages and makes his way to the Great Hall but there is a giant commotion outside. As Harry investigates, he finds Tracey's body and doesn't believe she's actually dead. Teachers arrive and try to shush away the students, but it's too late. News has spread like wildfire. The rest of the champions arrive and try to console him, but Harry ignores them - marching towards the headmaster's office.

He crosses the Great Hall and finds Trow and yells at him to find Snape. When Trow tells him that Snape has been summoned away to the Ministry to answer questions over Tracey's death, Harry calls him a liar. He repeatedly calls him a liar and tells him that this isn't a game anymore. Finally he asks, "Tell me where she really is. I know she's not dead."

At this point, everyone in the Great Hall is watching as Harry accuses Trow and Snape of playing another one of their little games and that Tracey isn't really dead and keeps asking where she is. Trow keeps pleading with Harry that he's telling the truth and that Tracey really is dead and it looks like a suicide. Trow and Harry keep going back and forth until Draco enters the hall and orders him to stand down. Harry turns to Draco and starts to yell at him, but Draco hands him a note. Draco says she left it on her desk. Harry grabs the note and reads the love letter and tries to reconcile with his thoughts that this is just another a test, but he knows Tracey's handwriting. He knows how she really felt about him.

Later, Harry is despondent in his room. No one will approach him and very few other people come to talk to him. Draco then approaches him and talks to him about his time in Hogwarts. Uses suggestive language to imply that Snape and Trow were behind Tracey's suicide. Tells him he has evidence but indicates that he knows Hogwarts is always listening. Tells him to meet outside in the Forbidden Forest tomorrow.

POV switch to Trow

Trow is lamenting Tracey's death and muses over Harry's potential. Very vague references to history behind Voldemort and Hogwarts. Is patrolling the school at night and thinks how the Ministry is going to respond negatively to a death at Hogwarts especially at a high profile event like the ToC. Thinks that Voldemort is up to something, but he doesn't know what it is. Comes upon a breathless Draco that says he needs help and that people are picking on some other Slytherins and they're fighting back because they taunted Tracey's death.

Guilted with regret, Trow follows him without keeping his instincts up and rounds on the third floor girl's lavatory. Gets stunned by Draco and pushed down the tunnel. Wakes up and finds himself bound, silenced, hands broken, and wand broken. Also blindfolded and gagged.

Draco then starts talking and mocking him, saying that him and Snape had it all figured out. Tells him that Trow's little experiment in Hogwarts was just a disguise to hold power for himself. Tells him that Trow is just as cowardly as he is, afraid of death and willing to do anything to avoid it. Tells Trow that it's not a bad thing to fear death and that Trow is a hypocrite. Finally reveals that he knows Trow is Dumbledore and that he created a Horcrux by killing Grindewald.

Dumbledore is trying to find some sort of spell to break free, but he is weak now that he's a shade. The body he occupies has been dying for some time, and only Snape's potions have kept him alive. Can't get off any spells. Voldemort removes the gag. Argues with Draco and reveals that he knows Draco is Voldemort. Voldemort laughs and continues to taunt him over his fear of death and how alike they are. Says it was surprisingly easy to fool them because of their hubris with his Polyjuice potion.

Finally reveals that he has been disappearing at odd points at night to create the destruction of Hogwarts at the lower levels. Reveals he has created magical equivalents of bombs that are all tied together by a constructed string. He sets the brewing timer and tells Dumbledore that death is coming for him. Last thoughts of Dumbledore is that he has failed Harry.

CH54 - Hogwarts Battle School

Hermione and Luna are walking down to the cave. Luna asks if they should try and summon Harry, but Hermione says that it's better he's left alone for now. Working on the board project, Hermione reviews the year and how she has grown and what she still has to work on. Worries about the lion tattoo keep ongoing, but she uses Occlumency to keep it at bay at night and tries to overcome it during the day.

Luna asks her to teach her Occlumency but Hermione says no. Confides in Luna that she thinks Occlumency created a link between her and Harry. Does not know what the full ramifications are, but she believes her dreams are tied to the Occlumency link. Luna relents but shows her that she has figured out the spell to identify users on the board. Luna enchants the board and the names start popping up. Hermione scans the board and starts panicking when she sees Harry walking outside with a name that terrifies her. Just as she's about to leave the cave, she hears an explosion.

Cut to Harry POV

Harry and Draco are walking outside to the Forbidden Forest. As they walk, Draco is more chatty than usual and Harry notes that Draco is unusually happy. Draco explains that Snape has misled them all, using their fear to create a tomorrow in his own vision. He says that the school is nothing more than a playground for their sick activities. That when they're finished, he would just enter another school and be a slave to another headmaster who ordered him around. He says that Harry is under their complete subjugation.

When they reach the Forbidden Forest, Harry asks how Draco knows any of this. Draco says that he knows much more than Harry could ever know. Hogwarts rumbles in the background and Harry sees the same explosions from his dream. Draco asks him to join him and be free of Hogwarts. Says that they do great things together and that he's not alone. Harry considers it but rejects him because of the connections he's made. He believes Voldemort when he says that Snape and company were just using him, but he has made friends and people that trust him and he can't turn back on them just because Snape and Trow did wrong on him.

They prepare to fight.

Cut to Blaise POV

The school starts exploding around them. Students scatter and run, trying to escape the castle. Cedric and a group of other older students, including champions, organize and gather everyone first to the courtyard and then further away so they can escape. Majority of teachers are trapped inside and killed trying to help the students get away. No one from the Ministry is there. Basilisk escapes and tries to kill people. Moody leads them away and manages to blind the Basilisk's eyes but it continues hunting students. The harpies are set free and start attacking them.

Blaise and company think that they're going to lose the fight but the two other schools show up to fight with them.

Cut to Hermione POV

Hermione and Luna devise a plan to escape the cave by letting water in and then escaping with bubble head charms and swimming up through the lake. Hermione and Luna barely manage to escape the lake. Hermione notices fighting in the forest, but she tells Luna to head back to the castle to find anyone that's still alive - not knowing about the battle that's occurring.

Hermione sneaks in and spies Harry fighting Voldemort. She can tell Harry is putting up his best, but Voldemort is more skilled and does not want to appear to kill him. She can sense that Voldemort is holding back and that Harry is blinded by grief. She makes the internal decision that she might have to use the AK.

Cut to Blaise POV

They are trying to fight the Basilisk by raising shields when the snake attacks. They're having a hard time holding off the harpies at the same time, but are managing to keep everyone alive. Luna manages to sneak in with the group to help them, but there are just too many harpies and the Basilisk is getting closer and bolder. Cedric then starts a spell to bring a wall of water around them. Blaise notices that he's transfiguring the matter around them as the dirt starts drying up, the grass starts dying, and his skin gets really dry. The harpies start taking runs at the wall of water testing them. He watches as Luna crawls towards Cedric, their bodies slowly being dehydrated. Just as the harpies are about to attack, Luna touches the wall of water, turning it into steel..

The harpies get cut apart trying to fight through the steel, but the snake jumps through the transformation and starts racing towards Luna and Cedric. Blaise runs in after the snake, and just as the snake opens his mouth, he jams his arm into the snake's mouth and kills it with a spell, just avoiding the basilisk venom. The pops show up and a bleeding Remus Lupin is there to take them to safety. They see an explosion out at the Forbidden Forest.

Cut to Hermione POV

Harry and Voldemort are fighting and Hermione gets the sense that Voldemort is weakening Harry to capture him. She doesn't yet understand why Voldemort would bother keeping him alive when Voldemort could obviously kill him. She weighs the odds and is trying to do the math on the correct decision. Finally arrives to the decision that she has to try to kill Voldemort even if means potentially hitting Harry.

She lines up the shot and summons her hate for Snape that he caused her parent's deaths. She casts the killing curse when Voldemort's back is turned but she doesn't clear her line of fire. The killing curse strikes Harry.

Voldemort reapparates some feet away and his enraged at Hermione, his arm is broken nearly clean off from the apparition and he stalks forward to attack Hermione, but a black crow drops from the sky and Flamel appears. He carves out a rune in the air and tells Voldemort to leave now. Other pops are heard in the distance and Voldemort apparated away. Hermione screams why didn't you kill him but Flamel ignores her.

Other Aurors and Remus appear and have to restrain Hermione from harming Flamel. Flamel walks over to Harry and kneels beside him, whispering something in Harry's ear. Hermione continues to scream and shriek, the tattoo itching to destroy everyone around them. Flamel turns to Remus and tells them to disarm her since she is marked by darkness. Flamel surprisingly picks up Harry and starts walking away, but Hermione tries to fight through the Aurors and ultimately fails, screaming and howling the whole time.

Chapter 55 - A New War

Sirius and Remus recap the attempted attacks by Voldemort. The bulk of Voldemort's forces attacked the Ministry, wreaking havoc and killing several important politicians - most noticeably the Minister of Magic. Remus and Snape were attacked. Remus got away but no one has seen Snape. With the head of the DMLE also killed, Sirius is actually the highest ranking member of the MMM (Ministry Magical Military). Sirius is not happy with this turn of events.

Auror forces were decimated fending off the attacks and Sirius notes that not all of them were known Death Eaters. Some were foreigners and others were complete unknowns that were not flagged as Death Eaters. Almost all of the Hogwarts teachers were killed trying to evacuate the students - Pomfrey included. Death Eaters also attacked the hospitals and killed some of the medi witches. Azkaban was surprisingly not broken into. Sirius and Remus are both complaining the whole time about warning Snape of the dangers of an attack and not having them listen. Finally, Remus and Sirius have both been unable to find Trow and no one reported seeing him during the attack on Hogwarts. There were a few student casualties, but most of them got out alive - the rest are going to be drafted into service to fight Voldemort.

Percy Weasley has been named the acting Minister of Magic through some archaic rules and they're already lamenting that they have to have an emergency vote by Wizengamot during a time of war and that they are already on different pages on what to do with the MMM. They have about 500 capable wizards and witches for the fight, enough to take on Voldemort but they have gone into hiding and do not know his next move.

FInally, they discuss Harry.

At first, they skirt around the topic - talking about what happened in the forest and what Hermione did. They go into more secrecy and wonder what Flamel did when he took them away. Finally, Flamel enters and tells him that he has passed the Sorcerer's Stone to Harry and Harry survived because he was the last Horcrux. Remus says that Dumbledore was right all along. They openly discuss the next move and Sirius decides that they have no choice but to move to declare war against Voldemort.

Book 3 - The Last War

Act 1 - Flamel tells Harry that he gave him the Sorcerer's Stone in order to keep living. Flamel is now gone from this world, but he leaves Harry with one other stone as well. When Harry asks what the stone is, Flamel tells him (reader doesn't know). Harry relearns how to fight and duel with Sirius because his magical strength has disappeared with the destruction of the Horcrux inside him. He is tasked with trying to lead the student part of the MMM (Ministry Magical Military), but he finds it far more difficult in a real battlefield with different rules of engagement. Voldemort requests to meet with him several times and appears to try and negotiate for a truce by setting up two different magical governments of Britain - one for Purebloods who do not mix with Muggles and a Muggle mixing government. Appeals to the Purebloods by saying that it's better for the government to be divided by those who want interaction with Muggles and those who don't. Voldemort avoids open battle with Harry because he knows his forces are not as well trained. Instead, he performs quick hits on critical Ministry parts like hospitals, government outposts, and Diagon Alley - including repeated attempts to break into Gringotts. Harry tries to engage him in open battle, but Voldemort keeps getting away and it starts frustrating the rest of the MMM. Harry refuses to fight because he's not confident in his abilities and he also works on back channels unbeknownst to anyone.

In a subplot, Harry has Sirius and Lupin track down Snape. Harry confronts Snape and finally gets his first kill as he murders Snape for not doing more to protect Tracey.

Meanwhile, Hermione gets assigned to guard duty for Percy, the Minister, and hates the role. She has a lot of guilt over the tattoo, killing Harry, and her position. Percy takes a liking to her, however, and confides in her since he's a weak Minister. She recognizes that it is not Voldemort's group looking to displace him, but the MMM instead. Her Arc 1 culminates in stopping an assassination effort on Percy from what ostensibly is Voldemort, but she deduces it is actually the MMM - led by the Unspeakables are using the MMM as a front to take over the Ministry as well.

Cedric is leading the MMM troops into battle and his fellow troops keep suggesting that he should lead the MMM and not Harry. Cedric is popular with the troops, but he does not want to replace Harry and understands some of the difficulties that Harry is facing. Meanwhile, Cedric still continues his romance with Hermione - taking it further with her but not feeling some distance between them. He eventually decides to propose to her, but she rejects - saying that she's not the upstanding person he think she is, but he disagrees and says she'll find her way around soon enough. Blaise is working with Voldemort and discovers a traitor within Voldemort's ranks - it is revealed to be the spy Joseph Carter and Voldemort has Blaise prove his worthiness by torturing and executing Carter. Sirius alerts Harry that Carter is most likely dead and they lose any inside information on Voldemort.

Act 2 - begins with Voldemort staging a daring raid on Gringott's and their sister Muggle bank, the HSBC. Harry has recognized Voldemort's pattern and traps everyone inside the HSBC building, Muggles included. In their first major engagement, Cedric triumphantly captures several of Voldemort's followers and successfully stops the raid, but a few Muggles die in order for that to happen - causing faux outrage within the Ministry that says MMM is purposefully antagonizing the conflict. Voldemort and Harry meet again and Voldemort tells Harry that he will not quit and the raids will continue. More and more people within the public and the Ministry are beginning to believe Voldemort's belief that the worlds shall be separated and internally, the Ministry tries to restrict the MMM from engaging Voldemort in areas that could encourage public harm. Harry becomes more and more disillusioned with the Ministry and starts taking steps to solidify his role as leader of the MMM, but meets resistance from the rank and file over his reluctance to join battles, as well as the Unspeakables who want to use this opportunity to take control and expand their magic into the Muggle universe. Harry distrusts both his rank and file from the MMM, the Ministry, and the Unspeakables now. He uses Aristophanes to put out articles that would dissuade those from the two government solution, but she is already bought and paid for by Voldemort.

Hermione deals with the fallout from the assassination attempt of Percy as those around Percy try to coalesce power to keep him as their puppet. When others start to recognize the influence she has around Percy, Hermione starts making decisions on who can and who can't speak to Percy. She eventually goes behind her team leader's back to make sure that Percy speaks to those more friendly with the MMM so they can continue supporting Percy. Eventually, this leads to Voldemort attempting to kidnap Percy and forcing the security team to Apparate with Percy to protect him. Hermione realizes it's a trap and Voldemort has willingly engaged the MMM in an effort to reduce their forces - unfortunately she can't communicate back to MMM HQ because of Voldemort's complex warding.

Cedric, desperate to protect Hermione, rebels and orders his troops to go after Percy and rescue them. Harry tries to stop him, but they listen to Cedric instead of Harry. Cedric apparates a majority of his forces to rescue the Minister, but becomes trapped in a ward that Voldemort created. Harry decides it's time to go back into battle and joins them. The battle inflicts major losses on both sides, and Voldemort captures Cedric. He tells Harry to dispose of Percy and let the two governments be created, but Harry refuses. Blaise cuts off Cedric's head and Voldemort retreats.

Act 3 - the loss of Cedric fractures the teams into ineffective subgroups. Harry has trouble responding to the increased raids and threats from Voldemort, and the Ministry gains influence in separating the governments. Even Percy, after witnessing Voldemort's prowess, is open to separate governments, much to Hermione's disgust. Hermione is distraught over Cedric's death and goes through drastic measures to get rid of her tattoo. She permanently damages her body and loses power as a result. Her team leader sympathetically lets her go from their team, recognizing Hermione's disillusion with Percy and the Ministry, and she rejoins the MMM - but just to fight for Harry-. She fights hard to reach team leader status over a series of missions, but she's still distrusted by a lot of people. Harry eventually takes her on as his second and she realizes he is prepping her to take over for him.

As the Ministry comes closer to brokering a deal with Voldemort, Harry secretly meets with Voldemort in person, knowing that he will just use the separate governments to crush the Ministry eventually. Harry meets them alone with Voldemort's lieutenants and Blaise. Voldemort takes the opportunity to gloat over his victory and the upcoming capitulation of the Ministry as well as turning Blaise. Harry stays quiet the whole time and continues to let Voldemort gloat. Harry then asks how about Tracey, speaking for the first time. Voldemort mocks her but finally looks uneasy.

Harry finally says, "You don't understand what it's like to lose someone you love, do you?" When Voldemort mocks him one more time, Blaise says, "I loved her too." Blaise uses the knife he killed Carter and Cedric with to chop off Voldemort's hand - rendering him unable to cast a spell in time to stop Harry.

Harry uses Fulminare for the first time since his recovery to take out the rest of Voldemort's body guards and kills Voldemort.

He brings Voldemort's body to the floor of the Ministry vote to create the two governments and dumps the body in front of them. When Percy tiredly tells him that it's not enough and they will move forward with the two governments, Harry steps in front of the gathered Wizengamot, MMM, and Unspeakables and reveals the Bewitched Stone he received from Flamel. Everyone is puzzled by this action. Then, he uses the Bewitched Stone that Flamel created to steal everyone's magic. Harry declares himself King of Magical England and completes his coup with no one able to stop him as he is the last magic user.

Epilogue - Hermione rejects the position of the King's Wand, stating that she didn't want to live in the magical world anymore. It has only brought her death and destruction. Harry says she can take some time off but he will ask her to reconsider. She asks him about his plans and he reveals some vague details about the changes he wants to make - limiting magical users and ruling by King's decree. Also lets her know that Snape left him a letter to open once Voldemort was dead. He leaves her and lets her know that there will always be a place for her. She opens the letter and reads it to reveal that Snape never killed her parents and they are in Australia. Snape always believed Potter would be the one to defeat Voldemort and go onto greater things. He implores her to keep him in check but tells her that he hopes Harry changes the world forever.