AN: Once again, sorry about the wait. I meant to post this yesterday, but the stupid finals got in the way again. (school's out now, so I won't have that excuse anymore) And sorry in advace if the next chapter gets delayed too; it needs some major revisions before I can salvage it for this site (plus I've got to play at graduation tomorrow: I'm in the band)

Luna, Ginny, and Neville were trying not to look inconspicuous. They walked much more quickly than needed, pointlessly pounding their feet against the ground and acting exactly like one would expect a mediocre criminal running from a crime scene would act, all the while listening for the sound of—

"ALECTO!"

A pause.

"ALECTO, GET OVER HERE!"

"Yes!" Ginny whispered almost imperceptibly, right as the door in front the trio burst open, and a stocky woman flew out, just in time to run smack dab into Luna.

"Gah!" Alecto Carrow jumped a mile in the air before noticing the (possibly over exaggerated) guilty expressions on the three faces. She broke into a wide, toothy grin. "And what are you three doing up here, I wonder?" She rubbed her hands together maliciously, still smiling that evil smile of hers that she used whenever she caught students doing something wrong.

"Alecto, come here!" cried her brother's frantic voice again, and her head snapped in the direction it was coming from.

"I found a couple o' kids. I wanna deal with 'em first!" she shouted back.

There was another pause, before: "That's great, 'cause they're going straight to Snape's office. Alecto, come over here!"

Unnoticed by Alecto, Ginny, Neville, and Luna exchanged glances of triumph while the professor dragged all three of them back up the corridor they had just run through. Turning the corner she suddenly froze, her small, piggy eyes widening in horror.

On the wall, in red leaking letters, were the words: Harry Potter is the Chosen One… Voldemort is going down.

Five minutes later, they were thrown roughly into the office of a livid Severus Snape. He stood clutching the edge of his desk, his cold eyes boring angry holes into each of them in turn. They all tried very hard not to gulp.

For a second, it looked like he was going to scream at them, but instead, with barely contained anger, he spat through clenched teeth, "Explain yourselves."

"Harry Potter is the Chosen One," Neville looked straight into his cold black eyes and said in a level voice, "and Voldemort is as good as dead."

Snape was shocked into silence, Amycus jumped a foot off the ground, and Alecto made a funny little squeaking noise like a mouse being trodden on before glancing quickly toward the door, as though expecting Voldemort to leap out from behind it. Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he hissed at them, "You dare speak his—"

...But before he could say anything more, a resounding BOOM echoed throughout the corridors and shook the castle to its core. Screams and yells sounded from somewhere below them. Two more explosions went off as the three Death Eaters traded panicked looks, their faces whiter than ghosts. Only as a third explosion reverberated through the school and smoke was seen billowing out the windows on the first floor did they rush out the door, closely followed by the portraits of old headmasters. Luna thought she saw Dumbledore wink at her, and she waved serenely back at him.

As soon as the sounds of footsteps faded away, Ginny said loudly, "Thank you Seamus! That was perfect timing!" unable to suppress the grin slowly creeping its way across her face, she continued, "Okay, remember the plan. Luna, you wait outside and make sure Snape doesn't come back. If you see him, start singing 'Weasley is Our King.' Once we get the sword, head for the Room of Requirement. We'll hide out there until we get the chance to smuggle it out."

Luna smiled and stepped back down the moving staircase that led up to the office. Another blast shook the floor as the last box of Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs caught fire in the Entrance Hall, courtesy of amateur pyrotechnic, Seamus Finnigan. Smoke filled the corridor now, making it hard to see further than ten feet on either side. Content to just stand there and watch the patterns in the haze, Luna waited.

Five minutes later she hadn't heard anything from in the Headmaster's office, but that was to be expected. Ginny and Neville had to hide the sword in order to smuggle it out of the castle.

Ten minutes later, there still hadn't been a sound. Luna wasn't worried yet, though.

Twenty minutes later there was an ominous crunching sound, but the door didn't open. Now Luna was starting to get concerned.

A half hour later, when they still hadn't left the office, she was seriously considering going in after them to see what the matter was. There were so many things that could have gone wrong. The sword could have been moved, or they couldn't fit it in the sack Ginny brought to hide it in, or maybe—

The sudden sound of footsteps in the corridor caused Luna to momentarily panic, but there was no need, since seconds later a group of laughing Gryffindor boys making their way back to the common room appeared out of the smoke. Luna avoided them by staring out the window, where a long firework dragon had escaped and was now chasing the Carrows across the grounds, with Professor McGonagall standing off to one side looking like she was trying very hard not to laugh… until the dragon attempted to eat her hat, that is.

She was so immersed in watching the former deputy headmistress run around the grounds struggling to fend off a firework dragon, Luna almost missed the angry sound of footfalls striding along the now-empty corridor. Professor Snape marched towards her with a look of distracted frustration on his face.

Panicking (and trying not to let it show), she burst into song:

"Weasley can save anything,

He never leaves a single ring,

That's why Gryffindors all sing:

Weasley is our King."

Snape started, only just noticing Luna was there.

"Weasley is our King,

Weasley is our King,

He didn't let the Quaffle in,

Weasley is our King!"

"Silly girl!" Snape spat, "What are you still doing here?"

Luna decided to act innocent, "We didn't want to get in any more trouble, sir, so I decided to wait here for you to get back."

"And where are the others?" he asked suspiciously.

"They're still upstairs," she replied truthfully. Luna realized that she didn't have to look up anymore to look into Snape's face.

His eyes narrowed as they bore into hers. "Where are the others, Lovegood?" he repeated threateningly.

"I—" Luna started to say, but she never got the chance to finish. Snape swooped past her and onto the spiral staircase, shouting the password as he did so. But he didn't get far.

Snape was no higher than the second step when he ran right into Neville and Ginny, who was clutching a bulky object underneath her cloak.

Everyone froze. Neville swore loudly.

Luna hadn't even realized when she drew her wand, but suddenly she was shouting, "Expeliarmus!" while at the same time Ginny yelled, "Stupefy!"

Snape slumped to the floor, his wand arcing through the air.

Neville swore again, "We are going to get in so much trouble for that!"

"Never mind that, we need to get out of here!" Ginny shouted, her eyes wide, clutching the sword close beneath her cloak. Sprinting now, she rounded the corner—

—And ran straight into Alecto and Amycus…

Dun dun duuuuun! Cliffhanger! Next chapter should be the last (for now). Thanks to everyone who's stuck through with this!