Parvati runs to Lavender the second Fenrir Greyback is blasted from her side. I catch a glimpse of Harry, Ron and Hermione disappearing around a corner before giant spiders crash through the wall and start to attack the fighters, then students and Death Eaters alike are running across my line of vision. I start to cast stunning spells at the creatures, but a terrible scream cuts across the hall and I know without turning that Lavender must have died. What world do we live in, now, where my sister's best friend gets killed and I don't even go to comfort her?
Professor Lupin, our old Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, is backing up against a wall with three Death Eaters firing curses at him. I grab Parvati and pull her towards him, drawing my wand in my free hand and shoot a stinging hex at the closest one. He turns his attention to me and I feel anger rising in my stomach at the sight of Travers' leering face and bushy grey hair, but I force myself to focus on everything we learnt in the DA.
'Stupefy.' He deflects it and it misses me by inches.
'Impedimenta.' He dodges it.
'Immobulus.' He dodges it again, but it hits the Death Eater behind him.
Parvati finally seems to realise I could use some help and she yells 'incarcerous' at the same time as I cast 'levicorpus' and Travers is suddenly 5 metres in the air, upside down, tied up.
'Come On!' Lupin waves to us and we run after him. Nymphadora Tonks follows, and I find it hard to believe that she comes from the same family as Bellatrix Lestrange. The knife concealed in my shoe cuts into my ankle. I don't remember whose idea it was to carry a weapon other than a wand in case we were disarmed, but now I go nowhere without it. Admittedly, it's no more than a silver steak knife stolen from the Hogwarts kitchens, but still, it's effective.
There are tears streaming down Parvati's cheeks but she is silent as we run behind the werewolf towards another group of fighters. A small Hufflepuff girl who is clearly too young to have stayed behind is standing, frozen, in the centre of the room with Bellatrix on one side and Antonin Dolohov on the other. I let go of Parvati's hand and run to the girl, casting a shield charm over my shoulder before grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the door. A flash of green light shoots over my head and then Lupin is there, his arm moving impossibly fast in Bellatrix's direction, but she is faster and suddenly the shadows come to life, rising into the air and forming a rearing snake, and then Tonks is hurling stunning spells at an impossible speed. The Hufflepuff girl stares at me with wide blue eyes and I jerk my head towards the door. She nods, then runs out of the room. I turn back to the combat and see more Death Eaters flying in the Snape-shaped hole in the wall. Lupin duels Dolohov now, Tonks against Bellatrix, and I realise that Parvati is against the Lestrange woman too. I stand back to back with Tonks and I fail to do more than turn the curtains to stone. Exhausted, I fire an arrow from the end of my wand and watch the Death Eater in front fall off his broom with an almost comical look of surprise plastered across his face.
The Hufflepuff girl I had sent away returns now, with George Weasely and Neville, who set off a Decoy Detonator which sends the new arrivals after them. In the middle of the fight, I can see Lupin and Dolohov, all the Death Eaters avoiding them for fear of being caught in the crossfire. My wand arm has reacted without me knowing it, and instantly four of the Death Eaters are struggling to shake off the Impediment Jinx. Lupin sends a wall of fire at Dolohov, but it dissolves, and then a purple streak slams into Lupin's chest and he is thrown to the ground, barely breathing.
Bellatrix has all her attention focused on Parvati and Dean-where did he come from? -so I yell at Tonks to cover my back and I pray that she hasn't seen Lupin yet. I charge headfirst into the combat, pulling the knife from my boot and shouldering people away with the blunt edge. They move surprisingly quickly from it, and I reach Lupin to find him face down on the floor with Dolohov's wand pressed against his back. Even though the sounds of battle fill my ears and I can't hear what anyone is saying, I know exactly what it is.
'Crucio.'
His voice is barely a whisper, but Lupin starts struggling, desperately trying not to scream. I don't know why this makes me angrier than anything the Carrows did to any student this year, but I move without thinking and knock his arm aside. He grins mercilessly and shifts his aim to me, but I fight it back, raising my arm and casting a depulso curse with such force that he is thrown into the wall. I place my arm around Lupin's shoulders and help him up, guiding him towards the wall. The second he is on his feet again, Tonks sees what has happened and gives a scream of anguish and charges towards us.
And then the flash of green light strikes her in the back.
How Bellatrix can duel Parvati and Dean and still have time to cast the killing curse accurately at Tonks, I have no idea. The whole world explodes in light and I see that Parvati, Dean, Cho Chang, Angelina Johnson and Romilda Vane all casting curses and hexes at Bellatrix. She disapparates, the multicolour swirl slamming into the wall behind her and reducing it to dust. I wave my wand at Dolohov and levitate him out of the window before dropping him three floors, through Peeves who throws Snargaluff pods at the Death Eater in retaliation. Parvati runs to Tonks, but everyone else disappears towards the growing combat in the Great Hall. I catch a glimpse of Bellatrix Lestrange's wild black hair as she duels Kingsley Shacklebolt and Arthur Weasely at once. Unfortunately, it would seem she didn't splinch herself.
I slowly lower Lupin to the ground in a side corridor that I knew hadn't existed a moment before. He's trembling and I can only guess what that curse actually does. It seems to be deadly.
'Tonks…' The despair in his voice is so prominent, he sounds so retched and alone, that he isn't Professor Lupin the werewolf any more. He is Remus, husband of Tonks and father of Teddy Lupin who has just watched his wife die.
I realise that I still have the knife in my hand and I move to place it back in my shoe, but his hand stops me. I look into his eyes and see him flinch from the movement. What does he want the knife for?
'Please. End it.'
No. Never. I could never kill anyone.
'No! Teddy… You have to live. Ted no longer has his mum, he needs you. We can get you to Madam Pomfrey. She will know what to do.'
'End it.'
His eyes are fixed on the knife in my hand, not the wand by my side and slowly, I understand.
'I can't.'
'Please. If I can't be free of it in life, then I can be free of it in death.'
My hand is shaking and I stare into his eyes, meeting his pleading gaze with fear. I lower the knife towards his neck and I feel hot tears running down my cheeks. He gently places his hand on mine, moving the blade closer. Lupin, who always wanted people to know that you can live as a werewolf, wanting to take his own life?
It is this thought that makes me move, drag the blade across his neck.
'Thank you.' His whisper is almost inaudible.
But then he's gone.
The whole world seems silent, and then the voice rings out again, my hand still clutching his.
'You have fought, valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.
I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted you friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour.'
I look at Parvati but neither of us speak. We both know what has to be done.
She lifts Tonks' limp body gently and shuffles to the door. I hesitate a moment before lifting Remus up onto my back and following her, down the steps towards the great hall.
One hour.
One hour until nothing exists but chaos.