What about Hogwarts?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 157824

I don't know about anyone else, but I feel as if Hogwarts is a
character in the HP books and HP won't be HP without Hogwarts. What's
going to happen to her?

I don't mean that I expect Voldemort to blow up the school so that
it's really a ruin. I doubt that could happen, and besides, he'd find
other uses for the building. But Hogwarts is more than a building. It
has a history, literal and figurative ghosts. (What is that bloody axe
blade doing hidden in the RoR? Was Walden Macnair killing Thestrals at
an early age?) It's full of hidden chambers and passages and other
mysteries. And, AFAWK, it still holds the Sword of Gryffindor, the
last relic of Godric Gryffindor. If Nagini isn't a Horcrux (and if
Harry is one, Voldemort doesn't know about it), then Voldemort is
still one Horcrux short of six (the diary, the ring, the cup, the
locket, and something from Ravenclaw makes five). Wouldn't he want to
steal that sword and make it a Horcrux? and if the tiara in the RoR is
the Ravenclaw Horcrux (not saying that it is), wouldn't he want to
retrieve it?

What about the protections on Hogwarts? I thought as I was reading the
broom scene in HBP that Dumbledore was only temporarily clearing away
the anti-flying protection so that he and Harry could land on the
tower, but if that's the case, how did Madame Maxime's carriage land
on the Hogwarts grounds for the funeral? And what about the Vanishing
Cabinet connection? We never heard about it being closed off or the
RoR cabinet being destroyed or deactivated. And even if those
protections are in place, a certain rat named Peter Pettigrew knows
about seven secret passages. If the school is closed, it would be very
easy to invade. True, the Shrieking Shack one would only get the DEs
onto the grounds and one is blocked (not that being blocked would make
much difference to a rat--Peter himself could get in through it) and
Filch knows about four of them, but if he's in the castle by himself,
he's not going to be able to watch all four at once (though the ghosts
could alert him), nor could he fight off the DEs by himself if they
got in. And the Honeydukes passage wouldn't even be watched because
Filch doesn't know about it.

I suppose that there are other magical defenses--those suits of armor,
for example, and the ghosts might be able to do something though I
don't know what. And we haven't seen the last of the house-elves.
Peeves could wreak a little havoc dropping inkwells on the heads of
the invading DEs--they can't kill him--and Hagrid would still be
living on the grounds. (Imagine Hagrid coming to Filch's aid and
Peeves fighting alongside them. The Sorting Hat's exhortation to unity
acted upon and no one there to see it!) I rather expect both Filch and
Hagrid to be killed (no, I don't think Filch will ever do magic, but
he might throw furniture polish in someone's eyes before he's AK'd.)

Of course, if Hogwarts isn't closed, the teachers and staff could join
in the battle, if it occurs during the school year. And Harry could
just happen to be present to witness it, either because he wants to
talk to DD's portrait or because he wants to retrieve the HBP's
Potions book from the RoR despite its being Snape's.

What does everyone think? Will there be a battle of Hogwarts? Are the
protections in place? Are there other protections we don't know about?
Will help still be given to those who ask for it even though
Dumbledore is dead?

Carol, who really hopes that Hogwarts reopens, with McGonagall as
headmistress and Ginny as Harry's Hogwarts liaison, using Sirius's and
James's (repaired) mirrors to communicate