Summary: Not all of the Slytherins leave before the Battle of Hogwarts; some of them come back. Most fight for the Dark, but a few do the right thing.

A/N — This is obviously an AU and also kind of my headcanon (Slytherins fighting for the Light during the Battle of Hogwarts because it is the right thing to do). I used the past tense for the action prompt, "spun."

House: Hufflepuff
Year: 4th
Category: Drabble
Prompt: [action] spin/spinning
Word Count (not including title or author's notes): 366 (Google Docs)

A Survivor is Born

Her feet hit the ground, sinking into the mud and blood, and she started running.

The protective spells surrounding Hogwarts had fallen, and chaos had descended on the grounds. Tracey tried to block out the screams echoing in the air, but it was impossible. She heard every plea for help, every curse. But she couldn't stop, though.

Why did I come back?

She had to keep moving.

A nasty-looking orange curse shot past her shoulder, missing her by a hair. Spinning around, she nailed a Death Eater in the chest with a slightly overpowered Reducto. Another Dark wizard sent a jet of green her way, and she spun behind a pile of rocks for cover. They exploded. Tracey jumped to her feet and cast a blasting curse at the wizard's feet.

If they were casting lethal spells, she sure as hell wasn't going to play nice, either.

She turned the corner and stumbled into a desolated courtyard. It looked like one of the walls had exploded; strewn across the ground were stone and dust. It was empty, and she took a moment to catch her breath.

Why had she come back? Because it was the right thing to do.

It was a new thing for her—these emotions of conviction, regret, and bravery—and she had a nasty feeling that it would get her killed. All she heard echoing in her mind were the words of Albus bloody Dumbledore.

'There will come a time when you must choose between what is easy and what is right.'

Curse him, and his stupid, wise words.

Screams, this time much closer, interrupted her thoughts. Disoriented, she spun in a circle, trying to locate the source. Where were they coming from—ah, found them. She saw a group of students—too tiny to be of-age—surrounded by Death Eaters. Tracey gripped her wand tighter and took a deep breath.

Maybe she was going to die today. She hoped not, but it was looking like a possibility. But she was going to do everything in her power to make damn sure that those kids lived.

She was going to save them. It wasn't going to be easy.

But it was the right thing to do.